The Feminist Women

in History Group

(FWHG)

In fall 2003, the Feminist Women in History Group was succeeded by the Working Group in Feminism and History (WGFH).  Their website is at http://www.duke.edu/web/wgfh/.

What's below is an unchanged version of the webpage as it existed when the FWHG ceased to be active.  It will tell you about the purposes for which  FWGH was formed in 1990 and what it did between 1990 and 2003.  

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Organized in 1990 for conviviality, discussion and general support for female graduate students and female faculty in History at UNC-CH, Duke, NCSU, and other area universities, the FWHG has provided a meeting place for women faculty and students in the Triangle area for thirteen years.  It has been one of the key, informal institutions that has made this such an exciting area for feminist scholarship.  It is one of the few events that brings women from different institutions together and gives us all an opportunity to meet scholars who are visiting in the area.  It is space where faculty and graduate students can get to know one another on an informal basis, and where scholars at all stages in their professional lives can make new friends and cement ties of collegiality.  Finally, FWHG allows us a glimpse into the exciting work being done by a range of scholars in the area.  Many graduate students have indicated that FWHG’s blend of fun and intellectual exchange, in the welcoming environment of a faculty member’s home, has been one of the highlights of their graduate careers.

JOINING THE GROUP: If you are a female graduate student or female faculty member in History at a local university or a female independent Historian in the area, please join us!   To join our listserv, write this address: listproc@informer.duke.edu with this message: subscribe femhist yourfirstname yourlastname (for example: subscribe femhist Jane Doe).  You'll then receive a notice telling you that your request has been successful.  The listserv is now our sole method of announcing meetings.   [Should you want to get off the list, send this message: unsubscribe femhist.]

POSTING MESSAGES TO THE GROUP: If you want to send a message to everyone on the listserv, send it to this address: femhist@informer.duke.edu.

THIS WEBSITE: Judith Bennett maintains this website.  If you have suggestions, email her at bennett@email.unc.edu.

ABOUT THE FHWG: .

• HISTORY:  The Feminist Women in History Group was founded in 1990 by Judith Bennett (who teaches at UNC-CH) and Cynthia Herrup (who teaches at Duke).   Judith and Cynthia hosted it every other year, and in alternate years, it was hosted by other UNC-CH or Duke faculty.  Past hosts include Jacquelyn Hall, Suzanne Lebsock, Nancy Hewitt, Sylvia Hoffert, and Claudia Koonz.  In spring 2000, Judith and Cynthia "retired" from their organizing duties, so FWHG is entering a new phase.  For more details, see What We've Done in the Past below.

• WHY: With a stated purpose of "conviviality, discussion and general support," the FWHG was founded primarily to provide a supportive space for women working in History in the Triangle area.

• INSTITUTIONAL CONNECTIONS:  The FWHG has no institutional affiliation.  It is an autonomous and self-funded group.

• MEMBERSHIP: FWHG is open to women who are graduate students or faculty in History Departments at area universities, who are visiting historians at the National Humanities Center, or who are independent historians in the area.  

• SCHEDULE: We usually have 6 meetings a year--three each semester--on Friday evenings.  The 6 presentations for the year are set up by the hosting faculty.   As a rule, one or two presentations each year consist of panels that address professional issues of concern to feminist academics (e.g., "chilly climate," or combining family and work), and the other presentations involve individuals discussing their work.  

• WHAT HAPPENS AT MEETINGS:  Our meetings follow at fairly standard format.  We gather at 7:30; hear a short paper around 8; talk formally for a while; and then break for more informal talk.  Drink and snacks are provided.

• FINANCING OURSELVES:  Graduate students are asked to contribute $1 toward expenses at each meeting they attend; faculty are asked to contribute $5.   

• ORGANIZING OURSELVES.  When Judith & Cynthia "retired" in spring 2000, they created a Manual for Organizers.  It conveys all their ideas about how best to organize the FWHG.

WHAT WE'VE DONE IN THE PAST:  Our records are not what they should be (esp. considering that we are historians!), but below is Judith's best effort to reconstruct the past agendas of FWHG.  If you have additions or changes, contact Judith at bennett @email.unc.edu.

1990-1991: Hosted By Judith Bennett and Cynthia Herrup   (In its first year, the group was called the Feminist History Group):

Sept 21: Susan Levine (East Carolina University) talked about "Workers' Wives: Gender, Class and Consumerism in the 1920s"

Oct 26: Miriam Shadis (Duke) talked on "The Practice of Power: Royal Mothers in Thirteenth-Century France and Castile."

Nov 30: Anne Scott (Duke) offered her thoughts on "An Old-Fashioned Historian in a New-Fashioned Environment."

Jan 25: Barbara Harris (UNC-CH) discussed "A New Look at the Reformation: Upper-Class Women and Nunneries 1450-1540."

Feb 22: Jan Ewald (Duke) explored "Did African Women have a Precolonial era?"

April 5: Jill Snider (UNC-CH) talked about "'Brave Bessie Coleman, Aviatrix: Class and Gender in Black Journalists' Conceptions of a Heroine, 1921-1927."

April 20: Potluck & discussion of the group's future.  At this meeting, the women-only membership of the group was confirmed, and it was renamed Feminist Women in History Group.

1991-1992: Hosted by Jacquelyn Hall

Sept 20: Laura Edwards (UNC-CH) talked on "Gendered Strife and Confusion in their Midst: Reconstruction and the Politics of Gender, Race and Class in Granville County, NC."

Oct 25:  Tera Hunter (UNC-CH) discussed "Contesting the New South: The Politics and Culture of Waged Household Labor in Atlanta, 1861-1920."

Nov 22: Susan Thorne (Duke) explored "Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Imperialism."

Jan 31: Linda Nicholson (then at NHC) talked about "The Social Construction of the Naturalized Self."

Feb 28: Claudia Koonz and Julia Hell (both at Duke) discussed "Gender Myths in German Historical Consciousness after 1945."

March 20: Ann Farnsworth (Duke) discussed her research on "Gender and Industrial Discipline: The Case of Medellin, Columbia, 1910-1940."

1992-1993: Hosted by Judith Bennett & Cynthia Herrup

Sept 25: Temma Kaplan (then at NHC) talked on "Cultural Citizenship and Women's Political Mobilization in Argentina and Nigeria."

Oct 23: Kathy Nasstrom (UNC-CH) and Christina Greene (Duke) hosted a panel on "The Chilly Climate for Women & Others in Graduate Education."

Nov 20:  Nancy Hewitt (Duke) talked about "Living on the Edge: Feminist Teaching and Feminist Research."

Jan 15: Lisa Heineman (UNC-CH) talked about "Single Women in Postwar Germany."

Feb 19: Stephanie Yuhl (Duke) and Johanna Schoen (UNC-CH) hosted a discussion about "How We Juggle our Personal and Professional Lives."

April 23: Susan Porter Benson (then at NHC) discussed her work on "Gender and Breadwinning in American Working-Class Families, 1919-1941."

1993-1994: Hosted by Suzanne Lebsock and Nancy Hewitt

Sept 10: Judith Bennett (UNC-CH) talked on "The L-Word in Women's History."

Oct 29: Lu Ann Jones (UNC-CH), Laura Moore (UNC-CH), Colleen Seguin (Duke), and Annie Valk (Duke) facilitated a discussion on "Starting a Dissertation."

Dec 3: Nan Enstadt (UNC-Greensboro) talked about . . .

Jan 14: Kathy Nasstrom (UNC-CH) talked on "Down to Now: The Gendered Memory of Leadership in the Civil Rights Movement."

May 2: Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (then at NHC) discussed "The 'Subject' of Resistance in African American Women's History."

1994-1995: Hosted by Judith Bennett & Cynthia Herrup

Sept 23: Christina Greene (Duke) talked on "'I don't know nothing about Robert's Rules of Order': Low-Income Women & Racial Solidarity during Durham's Black Economic Boycott, 1968-9."

Oct 28: Heather Streets (Duke) and Ann Mitchell (UNC-CH) facilitated a discussion on "Demystifying Conferences."

Dec 2: Anna Clark (UNC-Charlotte) talked about "Anne Lister and Sexual Identity in Nineteenth-Century England."

Jan 20: Monica Green (Duke) discussed "Using the Master's Tools, or How I Realized that I was Fundamentally a Conservative Scholar.

Feb 24: Virginia Noble (UNC-CH) discussed her work on "Conditional Benefits: Gendered Citizenship in the Post-1945 British Welfare State."

March 24: Luise White (then at NHC) talked about "'They Could Make their Victims Dull': Genders and Genres, Fantasies and Cures in Colonial Southern Uganda."

April 21: Paula Giddings (then at NHC) talked about "'What's Love Got to Do with It?': The Social World of Ida B. Wells."

1995-1996: Hosted by Judith Bennett & Cynthia Herrup

Sept 15: Amy Froide (Duke) talked about "Passing the Buck: The Transmission of Trades Between Single Women in Early Modern England."

Oct 13: Sarah Chambers (UNC-CH) talked on "Private Lives in the Public Eye: Thoughts on Gender and Republicanism in Arequipa, Peru."

Nov 17: Jacquelyn Hall (UNC-CH) discussed "Reticence and Reclamation: Writing about Women Writing in the Modern South."

Jan 26: Discussion about "Feminist Teaching."

Feb 23: Annie Valk (Duke) and Anne Enke (Minnesota) talked about the challenges of researching feminist activism in the U.S. between 1960 and 1985.

March 22: Catherine Peyroux (Duke) talked about her research on female monasticism in medieval Europe.

1996-1997: Hosted by Sylvia Hoffert

Sept 6: Katherine Jolluck (UNC-CH) discussed "Patriotic Motherhood: The Maintenance of Female Identity and the Polish Nation in Exile."

Oct 11: Sucheta Mazumdar (Duke) talked on "The Challenge of Thinking Globally in Women's History."

Nov 15: Mary Laur (UNC-CH Press) talked on "The Golden Rules of Publishing Women's History."

Jan 31: Sarah Chambers and Sarah Shields (both at UNC-CH) discussed "Teaching About Women in the Third World."

April 11: Kirsten Delegard (Duke) talked on "Taking Action, Stopping Words: Female Anti-Radicals and Civilian Censorship on the 1920s."

1997-1998: Hosted by Judith Bennett & Cynthia Herrup

12 Sept: Pamela Tyler (NCSU) talked about "Some Southern Responses to Eleanor Roosevelt."

24 Oct: Cora Granata (UNC-CH) and Elisa Slattery (Duke) led a discussion about "Survival Strategies for Graduate Students."

21 Nov: Kären Wigen (Duke) discussed "Gender and Regional Identities in East Asia."

23 Jan: Stacy Braukman (UNC-CH) talked about "Sexuality and Cold War Politics in the South: The Investigation of Lesbian Teachers in Florida, 1959-1963."

27 Feb: Claire Schen (Wake Forest) discussed "Aged Women in Early Modern London."

3 April: Wendy Wall talked on "Breastfeeding, Toilet Training and the Creation of Nations: Motherhood and the Resurrection of National Character Studies During and After World War II."

1998-1999: Hosted by Claudia Koonz

Sept 4: Theda Perdue (UNC-CH) talked about her new book on Cherokee Women: Gender & Culture Change 1700-1835.

Oct 23: Jane Mangan (Duke) talked on "Potosi Pawn Brokers: Credit, Cash and Companeras in the Colonial City of Silver."

Nov 13: Laura Moore (UNC-CH) discussed "Elle Meets the President: Marketing Navajo Weaving in Modern America."

Jan 22: Gerda Lerner (Duke) talked on "Taming the Monster: Sexism, Racism, Anti-Semitism, Homophobia, and Ethnic Hatred."

Feb 12: Genna Rae McNeil (UNC-CH) discussed "Freeing Joan Little."

April 23: Paula Giddings (Duke) talked about her research on Ida B. Wells.

1999-2000: Hosted by Judith Bennett & Cynthia Herrup

Sept 17: Tami Davis Biddle (Duke)  talked on "The Bombing of Kosovo: Who Suffered and Why?"

Oct 22: Laura Gowing (at NHC) talked about "The Ghost Story of Susan Lay: Mistresses and Servants in Early Modern England."

19 Nov: Natalie Fousekis (UNC-CH) discussed "Private Matters Made Public: Women's Struggles for Child Care in California, 1945-1960."

21 January: Eliza Ferguson (Duke) talked on "Reciprocity and Retribution: Intimate Violence among the Working Poor of Fin-de-Siecle Paris.".

25 February: Jerma Jackson (UNC-CH) discussed "African American Gospel Music and the Politics of Sacred and Profane."

7 April: Karin Shapiro (Duke) talked on "Boundaries of Dissent in the New South: The Battle Against Convict Labor in the Tennessee Coalfields, 1871-1896.".

2000-2001: Hosted by Theda Perdue.  Organized by Jacquelyn Hall, Kelly Navies, Rachel O'Toole, Theda Perdue, and Susan Thorne.  

15 September: Pamela Grundy, an Independent Historian from Charlotte, talked on "Cheerleading, Womanhood, and Race."

7 October:  Practicum on dissertation fieldwork to talk about the issues facing graduate students, especially women, during the research months or years!

1 December: Martha Vicinus, from the University of Michigan (at the National Humanities Center this year), talked on  "'The Gift of Love': Nineteenth-Century Religion and Lesbian Passion."

16 February: Laura Edwards, who is joining the faculty at Duke (but is also at the National Humanities Center this year), discussed "Women's History after Gender, Race, and Class"

30 March: Blair Murphey, Ph.D. candidate, Duke University, spoke about "'Do no talking, but walk, walk, walk': Women's
Leadership in Boycott of Segregated Streetcars in Richmond, Virginia."

20 April: Kathryn Burns, a new faculty member at UNC-CH, presented, "What's in an Exclamation?: Women, Truth, & Notaries in Colonial Peru."

2001-2: hosted by Laura Edwards.

21 September: Laura Moore (History Department, University of North Carolina, Greensboro), “By Her Weaving”: Gender, Artwork, and the Navajo New Deal, the 1930s"

26 October: Deborah Cohen (National Humanities Center and History Department, American University), “Personality on Display: Home and Self in Britain, 1870-1914"

30 November: Eugenia Y. Lean (History Department, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), “A Crime of Filial Vengeance: Gendered Passion and the Law in Nineteen-Thirties China”

18 January: Practicum:  “The Stages in Graduate Student Life” Gwenn Miller (History Department, Duke University), Noeleen McIlvenna (History Department, Duke University), Susan Pearson (History Department, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Laura Micheletti (History Department, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill).

1 March, 7:30-10 p.m., Yasmin Saikia (History Department, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), “War, Women, and Historical Memory in Bangladesh”

2002-3: hosted by Laura Edwards.

No meetings of FWHG were organized in the fall.  When it met in the spring, some changes were introduced.  Here's how Laura Edwards described these in her posting to members, "As part of FWHG's reorganization, there will be two changes, besides the discussion format of the meetings. First, please note the change in our meeting time: although we will still meet on Fridays, the time will be earlier from 4:30-6:30. It is difficult (if not impossible) to accommodate everyone's schedule; but this change seemed to better fit the needs of many in the group. Second, please note that men as well as women are welcome to the meetings this spring: As we consider where the group is going, it seemed an opportune time to open up discussion to include all those working on feminist topics in history, men and women. So please spread the word."

17 January Lisa Lindsay (UNC-CH), Laura Edwards (Duke), and Jocelyn Olcott ( Duke) facilitated a discussion about "Thinking about the Future of Women's History."  

21 March Meg Devlin (UNC-CH), Pam Lach (UNC-CH), Willoughby Anderson (UNC-CH), and Alisa Harrison (Duke) facilitated our further discussion of "Thinking about the Future of Women's History."  

A "Manual" for Organizers of the

Feminist Women in History Group

            Written in March 2000, this manual summarizes what Judith & Cynthia know about organizing the FWHG.

            We'll post this to the listserve, but we'll also give hard-copies to those who will manage the group next year--that is, Jacquelyn Hall, Claudia Koonz, Kelly Navies, Rachel O'Toole, and Theda Perdue.

 SETTING THE PROGRAM:

 There are six sessions a year (three each semester), and planning them is a careful balancing act.  These are the principles:

1.       Don’t ask people who have presented to present again.  Not sure who has already presented?  All past programs are on the website.

2.       Plan one practicum session each year, ideally in the fall term (but not the first session).

3.       Avoid conflicts.  At the beginning of the year, check with the GHS co-presidents at UNC-CH to be sure that no UNC-CH events are scheduled (or will be scheduled).  Ditto at Duke.  You might also check with NHC as to their “pig-picking.”  Avoid SHA and OAH weekends.  And in spring, avoid all spring breaks.

4.       Don’t have too many outsiders (e.g., NHC presenters).

5.    Balance graduate students & faculty.

5.       Balance Duke, UNC-CH and “other” (that is, NCSU, NCCU, UNC-G, NHC, and independent scholars).

6.       Don’t feel obliged to accommodate volunteers.

7.    Balance fields.   First, balance geographic areas—that is, US vs. everything else.  Second, be sure to have sessions that address matters of race and sexuality.  Third, balance chronology (mostly, this means having one pre-modern session a year).

Here’s a mock-up of the sort of balancing that needs to be done: 

                              balancing people                           balancing topics & chronologies

September: UNC-CH faculty                           US topic

October:      practicum                                       practicum

November: Duke graduate student                    LatAm topic/sexuality

January:      NHC speaker                                 US topic/race

February:    UNC-CH graduate student             Eur topic/pre-1750

March:        Duke faculty                                    Africa/Asia topic

ARRANGING PUBLICITY AT BEGINNING OF YEAR: 

1.  ANNOUNCEMENT. For the first meeting, distribute the only hardcopy announcement of the year.  This first announcement should have all the usual information about the first session, but in addition, it should have four special items:

a.       a map with directions about how to reach the faculty home where FWHG will be meeting during that year.

b.       a special reminder that everyone should invite new female graduate students & faculty to join the FWHG.

c.       a reminder that this is the only hardcopy notice people will receive this year, and that anyone interested in receiving further announcements needs to get on the listserv (with directions about how this is done).

d.       a list of dates & speakers for future sessions.

e.       whatever specifications about the membership criteria seem necessary.  At the moment, the FWHG is open to female graduate students & faculty in History Departments--that is, no men, no undergraduates, no non-historians.  This might well change, but if there are membership criteria, they should be spelled out in the first notice. 

2.  DISTRIBUTION. For the first session, it is customary:

            --to put notices in the boxes of every female graduate student & faculty at Duke & UNC-CH.

            --to invite any NHC people who are female & in history.

            --to send notices for the History Dept. at NCCU to Sylvia Jacobs.   These can be sent through the UNC system’s inter-campus mail.

            --to send notices for the History Dept at NCSU to Gail O'Brien, Holly Brewer, or Pamela Tyler. These can also be sent through the UNC system’s inter-campus mail

            --to send notices for the History Dept at UNC-G to Nan Enstad, Phyllis Hunter, or Jodi Bilinkoff. These can also be sent through the UNC system’s inter-campus mail.

            --to send notices to members not reached via these blanket distributions (at the moment, these include Sue Levine, Paula Giddings, Anne Whisnant, Claire Schen and Michelle Gillespie at WFU).

--to post all this info in a listserv announcement too. 

3.  REMINDER.  On the Tuesday before the meeting, post a reminder on the listserv. 

4.  WEBSITE.  If Judith gets the info via the listserv, she’ll post it to the website. 

SUBSEQUENT PUBLICITY:

            After the first announcement, publicity gets easy.  All you need to do is to announce each session on the listserv (sample attached).  We usually announced twice: a full announcement two weeks before and then a reminder on the Tuesday preceding the Friday meeting.   When Judith gets new info via the listserv, she’ll post it to the website 

THE LISTSERV:

              This was set up by Claudia Koonz several years ago, and we know nothing about it save the directions for subscribing.  It is more or less self-sustaining, but there could be long-term problems in that there is no “listmaster” with control over the list.  In other words, it is possible that no one is monitoring (or can monitor) membership of the list and that, if Duke changes their listserv protocols at some time in the future, the list might disappear.  If someone has the energy, know-how and Duke connections, sorting this out would be a good idea.

            HOW TO SUBSCRIBE:  send a subscription message (subscribe femhist your name) to listproc@informer.duke.edu.

            HOW TO POST MESSAGE: send to femhist@informer.duke.edu. 

THE WEBSITE:

              The website is under Judith's control on a UNC-CH site.  She will add to it whatever is sent to her to add.  She’ll automatically update based on listserv announcements.

            ADDRESS:  www.unc.edu/~bennett/fwhg.html

 PREPARING FOR MEETINGS: 

1. PREPPING THE SPEAKER.  It’s wise to remind speakers that they should speak for only 30 minutes or so and that the general ambience is fairly informal.
2. SIZE.  In recent years, the smallest audience has been about 15, the largest about 50.  It really varies by speaker and time of year.  The first session will be the biggest.  Most will likely have about 20-25 people.
3. CHAIRS.  We now have 20 plastic chairs for FWHG.  These need to be moved to the new host house each year.
4. SUNDRIES.  Stock in cocktail napkins and plastic glasses.  Make ice in advance of the event.
5. DRINK.  We always stocked in more than needed (hostess anxiety) and kept extra from one group to the next.  So, our estimates are large: 4 6-packs of beer, 2 white wines, 1 red wine, enormous amounts of non-alcoholic drink (cider, quibel).  Recently, the most popular item seems to have been individual bottles of water.
6. FOOD.  We did this the low-effort way--a couple of bowls of pretzels & doritos, a Calif Onion dip w/ carrots & celery, sometimes some finger-food (grapes, chunks of cantaloupe).  Basically, lots of munchies.
7. M&Ms.  These are an essential tradition, circulated during the discussion (that is, right after the formal paper ends).  Both peanut and regular.  You might warn the speaker about the disruption this causes.
8. FINANCES.  The customary donation is $5 for faculty and $1 for graduate students.  This won’t cover your costs, but you can write part of the rest off on your taxes.

 We think that's it.  If you have any questions, you can always run them by Judith (bennett@email.unc.edu).