News from American Studies Centres
The David Bruce Centre for American Studies, Keele University
The David Bruce Centre for American Studies welcomed two Research Fellows for the second semester 1997/98. They are Dr. Daniel Preston of the College of William and Mary, Virginia, and Regents Professor of Political Science and Statistics at Oklahoma State University, Robert Darcy. Dr. Preston is editing the papers of James Monroe. Professor Darcy is researching the role of women and minorities in American politics.The Centre also hosted the Canada United Kingdom Colloquium held at Keele from 23 to 26 November. The theme of the conference was the 'Implications of the Communications Revolution for Canada and the UK.' The dinner was addressed by Sir Nicholas Bayne, former British High Commissioner to Canada and His Excellency the Hon. Roy MacLaren, Canadian High Commissioner.
The Centre was also the recipient of a number of books from the estate of the late Jim Hardy, who graduated in American Studies from Keele in 1968. He went on to teach at Queens College, New York, and then became Vice President for Human Resources at Citibank, New York. He had asked for the books to be dedicated to the memory of the late John Lees, who had taught and inspired him.
Recent research acquisitions include: Chicago Defender, 1985-1997; Variety, 1991-1997, US Statutes at Large (complete) and Lyndon B. Johnson National Security Files: Vietnam, 1963-1969 and Vietnam: Special Subjects. The Centre welcomes inquiries about its other holdings.
In addition, the Bruce Centre and the Centre of American Studies, University of Hong Kong, have concluded an Academic Exchange and Collaboration Agreement. The Agreement provides for exchange of postgraduate students and faculty, joint research activities and the organization of joint conferences. It is envisaged that the general area of U.S. foreign policy will constitute core activity.
Applications for the Centre's MAs in American History, American History and Politics and American Literature and Culture are still being considered, as are applications for doctoral degrees.
Institute For United States Studies
The major public event of the Institute's year is the James Bryce Lecture on the American Commonwealth. Inaugurated in 1996 by the Institute's Chairman, Lady Thatcher, the second lecture was delivered in 1997 by Professor Arthur M Schlesinger, Jr. In addition, the Institute has established the Cleanth Brooks Lecture on American Literature and Culture which was inaugurated by Joseph Epstein in 1997. The second Cleanth Brooks Lecture will be delivered by Sir Frank Kermode on October 28th, 1998. The Thatcher, Schlesinger and Epstein lectures are all available for purchase from the Institute.In addition to many public lectures and seminars, the Institute organises the John M Olin Programme on Politics, Morality and Citizenship. The Olin lecturers to date have been Professor Roger Scruton, Martha Bayles, F Carolyn Graglia, Professor Lino Graglia (University of Texas at Austin) and Professor Stephen B Presser (Northwestern University School of Law), Professor Jean Bethke Elshtain (University of Chicago), Professor Harvey C Mansfield, Jr, (Harvard University), Professor Kenneth Minogue (formerly of the London School of Economics), Professor JR Pole (formerly of St Catherine's College, Oxford). All the Olin Lectures are available as monographs by the Institute. On May 5-6 the Institute hosted a two day international conference on Lessons on Federalism: What Europe Might Learn from America at the Royal Institute of British Architects. The keynote address was given by L Douglas Wilder, former Governor of Virginia; other speakers included Bill Cash MP, former United States Attorney General Edwin Meese III, Ambassador Philip Lader, Sir Roy Denman, Hugh Brogan, Robert McKeever, AJ Badger and AE Dick Howard. The conference was supported in part by the United States Information Service.
In addition to its public programmes, the Institute offers a one-year full time and two- year part time MA in United States Studies with courses in American History, Political Thought, International Relations, Politics, Constitutional History, Music, Literature, Hollywood and the History of Popular Film, War Studies and Economic History.
The Institute has also recently re-established its research programme leading to the MPhil/PhD in United States Studies. The Institute also has two non-stipendiary fellowship programmes: the John Adams Fellowships and Visiting Research Fellowships, both of which are open to members of the British Association for American Studies. Information on all of these activities, including how to join the Institute's mailing list, can be obtained from
Mrs Anna Brooke
Programme Officer
Institute of United States Studies
Senate House
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HU.
Please note new telephone and fax numbers:
Tel: (0 11 44) 171 862 8691
Fax: (0 11 44) 171 862 8696
Email: abrooke@sas.ac.uk
American Studies/Middlesex University
When not preparing for our QAA inspection (result: 22 out of 24), staff in the American Studies programme at Middlesex University have been busy with the following:Clive Bloom has published Cult Fiction (Macmillan and St Martin's Press, 1997) and, as editor, Gothic Horror (Macmillan and St Martin's, 1998). He is speaking at the 'Coming Down Fast! Replaying the 1960s' conference at the University of Wolverhampton, July 10-12.
Douglas Eden has edited The Future of the Atlantic Community (Middlesex University Press, 1997), and is currently working on two further collections for Macmillan. He is also organising a conference on European Integration and the Transatlantic Relationship and Trade, to be held at Middlesex's Trent Park campus on Friday 12 June (for details e-mail D.Eden@mdx.ac.uk).
Vivien Miller's book Violent Crime, Sexual Deviancy and Executive Clemency in Florida, 1889-1918 will shortly be published by the University of Florida Press. She recently gave a paper at the Cambridge University conference on Southern Women's History.
Having spent much of last year teaching and researching in the US on a Fulbright Scholarship, Hugh Wilford is currently writing Britain, America, and the Cultural Cold War, 1945-60. He is speaking at the conference on 'Anglo-American Relations in the Twentieth Century', ICBH (Senate House, London University), 6-8 July. Dr Hugh Wilford Curriculum Leader for American Studies Middlesex University White Hart Lane London N17 8HR Tel: 0181 362-6018
American Studies at Glasgow
We are proud to announce the creation of the Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies at the University of Glasgow, named to honour Andrew in the year of his retirement. In addition to administering a new taught M.Phil. in American Studies, the Centre will build on Glasgow's traditional strengths in American history, literature, and media studies, and will sponsor conferences, lectures, seminars and a variety of events. On May 22nd the Centre will sponsor a seminar entitled 'American History: The View From Glasgow,' which will include a roundtable discussion of the books published by Glasgow staff members Michael French, Simon Newman and Phillips O'Brien, and a lecture by Professor Tony Badger entitled 'American History in Britain: The Glasgow Model.' We are collaborating with Waterstone's to bring major writers to campus over the coming year, including Toni Morrison and Gore Vidal, and with the United States Consulate in Edinburgh in order to stage seminars and lectures to celebrate their bicentennial. In March of 1999 we shall host the annual conference of the British Association for American Studies, and in the summer of 2001 the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture will hold their annual meeting here, which will be the first occasion on which they have met outside of the United States.Simon Newman
American Studies/University of Central Lancaster
The team has established a series of research seminars in American Studies-related areas, and guests this year have included Professor Laura Mulvey, and Professor Wilfred Samuels from Ohio State University. We are looking to develop the series further next year, and will be glad to send out details of seminars to colleagues, particularly those in the North-West. Contact Dr Alan Rice a.rice@uclan.ac.uk.American Studies is closely involved in the Maastricht Center for Transatlantic Studies, which has taken its first students and staff on short term exchange at the campus in Maastricht. Further details are available from Dr Will Kaufman w.kaufman@uclan.ac.uk.