Comments on: We dwell in possibility

By: After Days of Being Serious I Need To Post This - Tenured Radical - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 21:33:55 +0000

[...] here for Historiann’s report on this year’s Little Berks. As everyone has inferred, I missed [...]

By: Ellen M. Shea

Ellen M. Shea — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:20:16 +0000

Just FYI– The Schlesinger Library has recently processed the records of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. See http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00445 for the finding aid, including a brief history of the organization. The library also holds a collection of the papers given at Berkshire Conferences through 2005: http://:nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00446

Ellen M. Shea
Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University

By: Knitting Clio

Knitting Clio — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:23:47 +0000

@Bridgett — I’ve seen growing numbers of scholars from disciplines other than history (e.g. communications, literature, sociology, anthropology) attend and participate in the Big Berkshire conference. So, definitely check it out.

By: Monica

Monica — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:55:13 +0000

I, too, am not a historian of women, but a woman who is a historian. I do religious and cultural history and most of the people I work on are men. (Although I’m very friendly to the history of women. And gender, for that matter.) But I’m a woman, and I do history, and the college where I teach is less than an hour’s drive from Mount Holyoke, and I’m excited about the idea of an organization for women who are historians, and I had absolutely no idea that the Little Berks was ever intended to be that. Cool.

By: GreenMtGirlinDixie

GreenMtGirlinDixie — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:23:06 +0000

I seem to recall that there is also a sampling of scholars at the Big Berks who engage in gender history who are not doing women’s historians per se. And for Bridgett: I think the answer is yes!

By: activist historian

activist historian — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:02:03 +0000

Let’s go Historiann, cough up the good stuff that always goes down at the baby berks! I had to miss it this year…

By: Bridgett

Bridgett — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:57:38 +0000

As someone who is not a historian, this is an interesting discussion. I am an educator in a health profession that is about 90% women. My profession has a rich history tied to many social justice movements in the early 1900s, and I have been interested for quite some time in exploring the history and trends of my profession in the context of women’s history.

Aside from wanting to attend the conference out of sheer personal interest, I have looked at the Berkshire Conference program for the last several events and have wondered if there is even a place there for a non-historian to discuss women’s history in this regard.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:53:33 +0000

I think there is room for both organizations. But the Big Berks *is* strictly women’s history – and I think Knitting Clio is right, it’s had great success in demonstrating the importance of gender perspectives across the discipline. And what constitutes women’s history has in some ways expanded.

I think I feel more marginalized as a European historian of an early period than I do as a women’s historian, and within my specialty area, I think not being a political historian is more important than most other things.

By: Knitting Clio

Knitting Clio — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:48:48 +0000

First off — jealous! I wanted to go but just had too much going on this past week, including another conference in Philadelphia.

To address your question — in addition to the CWH, there are other organizations to which I belong that have committees on women in the profession (e.g. History of Science Society, American Association of the History of Medicine, Society for the History of Technology).
Other organizations may do the same thing.

The success of the Big Berks in legitimizing the field of women’s history should not be underestimated. Can anyone think of an arena in which women’s history is featured so prominently and taken so seriously?

As to the Little Berks — I’ve only been once, as an invited speaker. It was fun although I didn’t get to the full experience since I commuted from home. It’s great to mix with other women historians but it’s expensive and hard to find the time to attend (and I don’t have children). I’m wondering if this is really the best way to build a community of women (both cis and trans) in the historical profession?

By: Belle

Belle — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 22:00:36 +0000

I’m planning on going to my first Big Berks next year – simply because it’s not only women’s history, but includes women historians. Like Katrina and notabattlechick, my research is not on women’s history, although I am on the WS faculty at RNU. I love the idea that there are organizations that will welcome us!