English 689: Institutional History of Composition Studies
Professor Kelly Ritter
Spring 2011
karitter@uncg.edu
T 6:30-9:20
3119 MHRA
3207 MHRA
Office Hrs:
T 4:00-5:00, W 2:15-3:15, or by appt.
Course Overview:
English 689 this semester will focus on the modern history of composition studies in the United
States, starting in the early twentieth century. We will look at this field’s history through a
variety of secondary perspectives, and will also undertake historical research of our own, through
local archives, in an attempt to add to this historical narrative. As such, English 689 is designed
to be of value not just to graduate students who are specializing in rhetoric and composition, but
also to graduate students in other specializations who have interests in the methods of, and
conversations within, historiography and/or archival research. We will track the development of
composition studies in the context of the larger trajectory of English studies (and its other subhistories of literary criticism and theory and creative writing theory and pedagogy).
Course Readings:
Books (Available at UNCG bookstore, unless otherwise indicated):
Brereton, John. The Origins of Composition Studies in the American College, 1875-1925.
Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1996.
Donahue, Patricia and Gretchen Fleisher Moon, Eds. Local Histories: Reading the Archives of
Composition. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2007.
Gaddis, John. The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past. New York: Oxford
UP, 2004.
Gold, David. Rhetoric at the Margins: Revising the History of Writing Instruction in American
Colleges. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2008.
Graff, Gerald. Professing Literature: An Institutional History. Twentieth Anniversary Edition.
Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2007.
Masters, Thomas. Practicing Writing: The Postwar Discourse of Freshman English.
Pittsburgh: U of Pitt Press, 2004.
Myers, D.G. The Elephants Teach: Creative Writing Since 1880. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2006.
Ramsey, Alexis, Wendy Sharer, Barbara L’Epplantenier, and Lisa Mastrangelo, Eds. Working in
the Archives: Practical Research Methods for Rhetoric and Composition. 2nd Ed.
Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 2010.
Ritter, Kelly. Before Shaughnessy: Basic Writing at Yale and Harvard, 1920-1960. Carbondale,
IL: Southern Illinois UP, 2009. (NOTE: Full text PDF on Blackboard site).
Articles and Chapters (Available on Course Blackboard site):
Connors, Robert. “Writing the History of our Discipline.” In Lindemann, Erika and Gary Tate,
Eds. An Introduction to Composition Studies. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. 49-71.
- - -. “Gender Influences: Composition-Rhetoric as Irenic Rhetoric.” In Composition-Rhetoric:
Backgrounds, Theory, and Pedagogy. Pittsburgh: U of Pitt P, 1997: 23-68.
- - -. “Shaping Tools: Textbooks and the Development of Composition-Rhetoric.” CompositionRhetoric 69-111.
Glenn, Cheryl and Jessica Enoch. “Drama in the Archives: Rereading Methods, Rewriting
History.” College Composition and Communication 61.2 (2009):
Ianetta, Melissa. “Disciplinarity, Divorce, and the Displacement of Labor Issues: Rereading
Histories of Composition and Literature.” CCC 62.1 (2010): 53-72.
L’Epplantenier, Barbara. “An Argument for Archival Research Methods: Thinking Beyond
Methodology.” College English 72.1 (2009): 67-79.
Miller, Susan. “The Story of Composition.” Textual Carnivals: The Politics of Composition.
Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1991: 19-44.
- - -. “Rereading for the Plot: Putting Writing in its Place.” Textual Carnivals 45-77.
North, Stephen M. “composition Becomes Composition.” The Making of Knowledge in
Composition: Portrait of an Emerging Field. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1987:
9-18.
- - -. “The Historians.” The Making of Knowledge in Composition 66-90.
“Octalog: The Politics of Historiography.” Rhetoric Review 7.1 (1988): 5-49.
“Octalog II: The (Continuing) Politics of Historiography.” Rhetoric Review 16.1 (1997): 22-44.
Varnum, Robin. “The History of Composition: Reclaiming Our Lost Generations.” JAC 12.1
(1992): 39-56.
Course Requirements and % of Final Grade:
•Two critical responses (3-4 pages each) to assigned readings; facilitation of class discussion
with/using one of these responses—see course calendar (30%)
•Oral presentation on “Cool Thing” artifact object/document (10%)
(so named in honor of the Kansas State Historical Society’s “Cool Things” web page; see
http://www.kshs.org/cool2/index.htm if you are curious)
•Final 12-15 page paper (or equivalent web-based project) on archival research as relevant to
composition studies’ histories, or histories of literacy more broadly construed (50%)
Course Outline (Subject to Change):
Unit 1: Who/What/Where is “History?”
Week 1:
1/11
Intro/Overview: Composing Histories/History of Composing
Reading: Gaddis, The Landscape of History
Week 2:
1/18
Reading: Connors, “Writing the History. . .” ; Ianetta,
“Disciplinarity,” and “Octalog I” (BB)
Unit 2: Disciplinary Histories of/in English Studies
Week 3:
1/25
Reading: Graff, Professing Literature
Discussion Leaders/Response Authors:
______________________________________
Week 4:
2/1
Reading: Myers, The Elephants Teach
Discussion Leaders/Response Authors:
_______________________________________
Week 5:
2/8
Reading: Connors, “Gender Influences” and “Shaping Tools” ;
Miller, “The Story of Composition” and “ReReading for the Plot”;
and North, “composition Becomes Composition” and “The
Historians.”
Unit 3: Doing Archival Research, Recovering Field Histories
Week 6:
2/15
Reading: From Ramsey et al, Working in the Archives:
Gaillet, “Archival Survival”
Morris and Rose, “Invisible Hands”
Ramsey, “Viewing the Archives”
Warnick, “Locating the Archives: Finding Aids”
Masters, “Reading the Archive of Freshman English”
Lerner, “Archival Research as Social Process”
Meet at UNCG Library, Archives (2nd Floor of original building)
Week 7:
2/22
Reading: Brereton, The Origins of Composition Studies
Discussion Leaders/Response Authors:
_______________________________________
Week 8:
3/1
Reading: From Donohue and Moon, Reading the Archives:
Moon, “Locating Composition History”
Lindblom, Banks, and Quay, “Mid-Nineteenth Century Writing”
Fitzgerald, “The Platteville Papers Revisited”
DeGenaro, “William Rainey Harper”
Hoogeveen, “The Progressive Faculty/Student Discourse”
Donahue, “Disciplinary Histories: A Meditation”
Discussion Leaders/Response Authors:
_______________________________________
Week 9:
3/8
Spring Break—No Class
Unit 4: Local Histories of Composition and Rhetoric
Week 10:
3/15
Reading: Gold, Rhetoric at the Margins
Seminar Paper Proposals Due
Week 11:
3/22
Reading: Masters, Practicing Writing
Discussion Leaders/Response Authors:
_______________________________________
Week 12:
3/29
Reading: Ritter, Before Shaughnessy (full text scanned into BB)
“Cool Thing” Presentations
Week 13:
4/5
No Class—4Cs Conference (Prof. Ritter out of town)
Unit 5: Enduring Conversations (and Controversies) in Historical Work
Week 14:
4/12
Reading: Varnum, “The History of Composition,” Glenn and
Enoch, “Drama in the Archives,” and L’Epplantenier, “An
Argument” (BB)
Guest speaker: Dr. Wendy Sharer, East Carolina University
Week 15:
4/19
Reading: “Octalog II” (BB)
Peer workshops on seminar papers
Week 16:
4/26
Course Evaluations and Wrap-Up
Seminar Papers Due
The following list is of other select local university archives. Note that most institutions have University Archives
as well as Special Collections. These units may be housed together, or separately.
1. Duke University Archives
http://library.duke.edu/uarchives/
Open 9:00 AM-09:00 PM M-TH; 9:00 AM-5:00 PM F; 9:00 AM-1:00 PM SA
Duke also houses the Sally Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture
(http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/bingham/index.html), of interest to students who are researching women
and composing/women and rhetoric, particularly in the South.
Duke’s “Town and Gown” reference collection may be of interest to students whose research concerns the views of
non-academic citizens toward academia (and vice-versa), particularly related to literacy, schooling, and other related
matters. This collection is indexed at http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/rbmscl/uatowngown/inv/
Duke’s campus publications are indexed at http://library.duke.edu/uarchives/holdings/campus_publications.html.
This database might be useful for students whose research involves gathering on-campus (student and faculty)
perceptions of literacy and learning. Often these archival publications provide information not found (or discussed)
in “official” university archival materials.
2. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Archives
http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/uars/
Open 9:00 AM-5:00 PM M-F; closed weekends.
UNC houses the Southern Historical Collection (http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/shc/index.html), of interest to students
who are researching composition and rhetoric in the South/Southern cultural practices relevant to literacy education.
UNC also has an unusually comprehensive archive for their English department, described at
http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/uars/40081.txt
Professor Erika Lindemann (English, UNC) has created a digital project entitled “True and Candid Compositions:
The Lives and Writings of Antebellum Students at the University of North Carolina.” This very interesting project is
fully online at http://docsouth.unc.edu/true/index.html.
3. Peace College (Raleigh) Archives
Archives are appointment-only; Call library for more information
4. East Carolina University Archives
http://www.ecu.edu/lib/archives/
Open 8:00 AM-5:00 PM, M-F; closed weekends.
ECU has a number of Oral Histories posted online as sound files, accessible at
http://www.ecu.edu/lib/archives/faoh.cfm (note: these are not necessarily related explicitly to comp/rhet, however,
oral histories can be good sources for institutional remembering and sometimes relate to larger issues of
schooling/literacy in their content).
ECU’s “First in the Family” project also spotlights oral histories of first-generation college students who attended
ECU across the 20th Century. This is found at http://media.lib.ecu.edu/firstgeneration/index.cfm. This collection may
be of interest to students whose research involves literacy and schooling for first-generation attendees, or for
students who are studying the history of literacy and access in colleges more generally.