1
WOMEN’S HISTORY SCOTLAND NEWSLETTER
(September 2013)
Please send items for inclusion in the next newsletter to Elizabeth Ewan at eewan@uoguelph.ca
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
News from WHS
Conferences, Workshops
Seminar Series
Calls for Papers
Help Wanted
Websites, Blogs
Items from Members
And Finally
1.NEWS FROM WHS
New Convenor Nominated
WHS Convenorship. Lynn Abrams will stand down as WHS convenor at the AGM in October. Alison
McCall, a longstanding member of the Steering Committee, has been nominated as the new convenor
with the unanimous support of the Steering Committee.
I am sure all members join me in expressing our sincere thanks and gratitude to Lynn for her
dedication to WHS over these last years!
The next AGM will be 26 Oct 2013
Launch of Documentary History
We are delighted to invite you to celebrate the launch of Scottish Women: A Documentary History, 17801914, edited by Esther Breitenbach, Linda Fleming, S, Karly Kehoe and Lesley Orr and published by
Edinburgh University Press. The launch will take place on Monday 9th September from 5.00 - 7.30 pm at
the Saltire Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University. We hope that you will be able to join us. Please reply
to confirm your attendance, or call 0131 650 4218 and ask to speak to Catriona Murray at Edinburgh
University Press.
Getting there:
The Saltire Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA - GoogleMaps
The Saltire Centre of GCU is next to the bus station in Glasgow and is only a 5-10 minute walk from both
Queen Street and Central train stations. There is a multi-story car park next to the bus station, with an
entrance on Cowcaddens Road. The Centre has excellent disabled access.
Catriona Murray, Acting Marketing Manager (maternity cover for Carla Hepburn)
a: Edinburgh University Press Ltd | 22 George Square | Edinburgh | EH8 9LF
e: Carla.Hepburn@eup.ed.ac.uk t: 0131 651 1286 w: www.euppublishing.com
Forthcoming talk at the National Library of Scotland, 28th October, 2013
Sex, Sin and Spirituality: the lives of women in nineteenth century Scotland
Linda Fleming, Karly Kehoe and Lesley Orr, co-editors of ‘Scottish Women: a Documentary History, 17801914’ will illustrate the varied experiences of Scottish women in the nineteenth century. Drawing on
women’s own words and writing, they will explore matters intimate and personal, from sexuality to
2
religious belief, and women’s public behaviour, from infringing laws and transgressing norms to
campaigning for change.
This talk will be given as part of the National Library of Scotland’s autumn Events series, on
28th October, 2013. The talk will be illustrated with sources from the NLS used in book. It will
take place in the NLS, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. It will be publicised in the NLS
newsletter ‘Discovery’. NLS events are free but ticketed, and places tend to be filled up
quickly.
2. CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS
ARC-funded workshop ‘Uniforms and Identity’
Venue: Northumbria University, 13 Sept 2013 9.00am-5.00pm
This one-day cross-disciplinary workshop, ‘Uniforms and Identity’, analyses the role of clothes and
textiles in the organisation of professional and social groups across the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. Speakers include: Dr Charlotte Alston (Northumbria University), Dr Clare Rose (The Royal
School of Needlework), Dr Laura Ugolini (University of Wolverhampton), Dr Geraldine Biddle-Perry
(Central St Martins College of Art & Design) and Professor Mike French (University of Glasgow).
BOOKING: The event is free but please register for a place (before 4 September) at:
http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/research/networks/tailoredtrades/events/
This event is part of the AHRC-funded research network “Tailored Trades: Clothes, Labour and
Professional Communities (1880-1939)” organised by Dr Vike Martina Plock (University of Exeter) and Dr
Nicole Robertson (Northumbria University).
‘Economy and Society in Rural Scotland: a conference in the memory of Malcolm Gray’.
Venue: Inverness, Friday 20th – Saturday 21st September 2013.
Keynote speakers: Emeritus Professor Eric Richards, Flinders University, Emeritus Professor Jim Hunter,
University of the Highlands and Islands, Professor Ewen Cameron, University of Edinburgh.
Bookings are now OPEN at www.dundee.ac.uk/cais
The registration fees are £85 ((£75 for students/unwaged) for the two days including coffees, teas and
lunches. In the event that you can only manage to attend one day of the conference, the rate is £50 (£40
pg/uw). On Friday 20th September there is an optional conference dinner, cost £35. Also, on Friday
morning before the conference start, there is a FREE optional tour of Highland Archives - spaces on this
are limited and bookings will be on a first-come basis.
Additional enquiries can be directed to iain@keapub.fsnet.co.uk
The provisional conference programme follows.
Friday 20th September: Day One
10.00am: Optional pre-conference tour of Highland Archives, Bught Road Inverness. Places will be
capped and must be reserved in advance.
11.00am: Registration and coffee
11.20am: Welcome by Patricia Whatley, Chair, ESHSS
11.30-12.30: Keynote address, Professor Eric Richards, Flinders University, Australia
‘Malcolm Gray (1918-2008) and the Scottish Highlands: a Critical Appreciation’
12.30-1.15pm: LUNCH
1.15pm-2.45pm: Session 1 – Clearance and Improvement
Malcolm Bangor-Jones ‘The establishment of the crofting system in Sutherland’
David Taylor ‘And cattle upon a thousand hills:’ commercial cattle in 18th century Badenoch’
Alistair Mutch‘The architecture of Improvement: 18th century home farms of north east Scotland’
3.00-4.30pm: Session 2 – Social histories of rural Scotland I
Elizabeth Ritchie‘A smattering of both languages:’ Highlanders, Gaelic and English, 1811-1872’
Paul Dukes‘David Toulmin as social historian’
3
Helen Young‘Contributing to the community debate: a micro-historical perspective on social change in
rural Scotland during the 20th century’
4.45-5.45pm: Session 3 – Social histories of rural Scotland II
Ted Cowan‘The silent migrations: 19th century Dumfries and Galloway’
Ben Thomas‘Let the sheep and deer fight?’ Highland perceptions of the Highland regiments, c.18761902’
Vivienne Dunstan‘Glimpses into a time of turmoil: examining the regality court records of Melrose,
Roxburghshire, 1657-1706’
Conference dinner, 7.30pm, (optional). If you have reserved a place at the mid-conference evening
meal, we will assemble at Rocpool Restaurant, 1 Ness Walk (on the riverside) at 7.30pm.
Saturday 21st September: Day Two
9.00am: Coffee (and registration)
9.30-10.30am: Keynote address, Professor James Hunter, UHI
‘Learning to love the marquis: A family story from clearance era Sutherland’
11.00-12.30pm: Session 1 – Health in rural Scotland
Miles Mack, Patricia Whatley, Annie Tindley‘The Dewar Committee (1912) and the Highlands and Islands
Medical Service (1913): social and medical reform in rural Scotland, past and present’
Barry Wright‘The use of water therapies in the early modern Highlands and Islands, c.1600-1800’
Iain Hutchison ‘Disability in the Victorian south-west’
12.30-1.15pm: LUNCH and AGM of the ESHSS
1.15-2.45: Session 2 – Industry in rural Scotland
Peter Symon‘Mr Craufurd has desired you may be furnished with everything you have occasion for:’ a
look at the laird’s linen weavers in 18th century Errol’
Catherine Mills Lead, life and labour: Tyndrum mine in the mid-19th century’
Margaret RitchieInto the public and political arena: Scottish herring gutting crews taking action in the
interwar period’
3.00-4.30: Keynote Address, Professor Ewen Cameron, University of Edinburgh
‘Economy and Society in Rural Society’
‘A Radical Inheritance? Commemoration, Memorialisation, and Traditions of Protest in the History
of Political Radicalism
Venue: University of St Andrews 23 Nov 2013
The University of St Andrews, in conjunction with the Society for the Study of Labour History, the Scottish
Labour History Society, and Liverpool University Press, will host a one-day conference on Saturday 23
November 2013. Entitled,’ and featuring keynote addresses from Dr Tom Buchanan (University of
Oxford) and Dr Gordon Pentland (University of Edinburgh), the conference will explore contested
histories, popular memory and forms of commemoration in both radical politics and in the writing of
labour history itself. Please find the full conference programme at
http://www.sslh.org.uk/perch/resources/a-radical-inheritance-conference-programme.pdf
Online conference registration is available from 1 August through the University of St Andrews Events
page at http://onlineshop.st-andrews.ac.uk/browse/product.asp?compid=1&modid=2&catid=29
Registration fees are £15 for full delegates, with a discounted rate of £10 available to postgraduate
students and members of both the Society for the Study of Labour History and the Scottish Labour
History Society
.
3. SEMINAR SERIES
Gender and History in the Americas
2013/14 is the second year of the ‘Gender and History in the Americas’ seminar series at the Institute for
Historical Research, London. Held at 17.30 on the first Monday of the month, the series offers a forum for
speakers to present research investigating women’s and gender history from a hemispheric perspective
that stretches from Canada to Argentina, Mexico to the Caribbean. The presentation of works-in-progress
4
and contributions from postgraduate and early career scholars are particularly encouraged, reflecting our
desire to create a series in which new and cutting-edge ideas can be shared and discussed in an
intellectual and supportive environment.
For further information, visit the website (http://www.history.ac.uk/events/seminars/370) or contact the
Society for the History of Women in the Americas (shawsociety@gmail.com)
7th October 2013 Janet Floyd, King’s College London, “Letter-Writing, Friendship and the Foote-Gilder
Correspondence”
4th November 2013 Antonia Mackay, Oxford Brookes University & Goldsmiths University of London,
“The Influence of Architecture in Cold War Literature”
2nd December 2013 Joy Porter, University of Hull, “The Woman who Changed Nixon: LaDonna Harris’s
Lessons on How Small Nations Can Successfully Relate to Entrenched Power”
4. CALLS FOR PAPERS
Smashing the Patriarchy in 100,000 Words? The Use of Feminism in Academic Theses,
Venue: University of Dundee, Monday 13th January 2014.
Abstract Deadline: 1 Oct 2013
A seeming resurgence of student feminism has become visible over the last couple of years; feminist
societies and feminist students have engaged visibly and creatively with the feminist debates facing
women and society today; from the No More Page 3 Campaign, to the microaggressions and Everyday
Sexism Project, and producing photographs of signs reading ‘I need feminism because…’. Online
activism has made the spread of information and campaigns more accessible.
But how does the increasing visibility of student feminism translate into academic work? Does it remain a
part-time interest, or does it feed and inform our work? Is the academy a welcoming place for those
already involved in activism? How does our academic work contribute to feminist activism?
This day of talks, workshops and networking aims to investigate how postgraduate students who use
feminist methods and perspectives, or who identify as feminist activists, feel about the relationship
between feminism and their academic work. We hope to create a friendly environment in which to discuss
these issues, to offer fellow feminist researchers a springboard for further support and collaboration. We
welcome papers which critique feminist methodology and interpretations or aspects thereof.
Abstracts should be emailed to smashingthepatriarchy@gmail.com with a short biography (100 words or
less) and a CV.
See http://fwsablog.org.uk/ for further details.
Religious Men in the Middle Ages: Networks and Communities
Venue: 3 - 5 July 2014, University of Lincoln
Abstract Deadline: 30 Sept 2013 (200-300 words)
This conference seeks to explore and re-evaluate the forms and functions of networks and communities
for men in the middle ages. Scholars are increasingly engaging with what religion, belief and devotion
means to men as men. Networks and communities both shape and express individual, relational and
collective identities and therefore shed useful light on the experiences, perceptions or depiction of
medieval men. This is the second conference under the auspices of The Bishop's Eye Network - a
research network between the Universities of Huddersfield and Lincoln. We invite abstracts from scholars
at all career stages working on interplay between men in networks and communities; how they are
constituted and what they mean. papers may focus on homosocial networks and communities or male
involvement in female networks and communities.
Read more: http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/t4media/pdf/Lincoln-cfp.pdf
Proposals for papers of 20 minutes, should be submitted to bishopseye2014@gmail.com
New Directions – Gender, Sex and Sexuality in 20th Century British History
Venue: Tuesday 8 April 2014, University College London
Abstract Deadline: 1 Sept 2013 (300 words)
5
With a keynote address by Professor Laura Doan, University of Manchester
This one day workshop looks to bring together scholars, at any stage of their career and working on any
aspect of gender, sex and sexuality in 20th century Britain, and to provide a forum for both the
presentation of new work and the beginning of a dialogue about the past, present and future of the field.
The workshop addresses the field at a critical juncture in its development. The decades since the
publication of Jeffrey Weeks’ Sex, politics and society (1981) have seen histories of gender, sex and
sexuality become increasingly central to historians’ understanding of 20 th century Britain. There has been
a corresponding march through the institutions: no longer regarded as involved in a fringe pursuit,
scholars of gender, sex and sexuality have found homes in departments; non-specialist periodicals have
watched and sponsored new research with interest; and the UK’s major presses have published
groundbreaking work, exemplified by the inauguration of Palgrave Macmillan’s ‘Gender and Sexualities in
History’ series in 2009.
Alongside this professional maturation, events in wider society have demonstrated the continued power of
ideas about gender, sex and sexuality to shape popular understandings of British history. Indeed, the
recent past, whether as a dark age of intolerance or, conversely, a golden age of “family values,” has
loomed heavily in debates about equal marriage, the Savile affair and the “sexualisation” of childhood.
The voices of historians have been present in some of these debates. Yet in others they have been
largely absent, even when scholars from other disciplines – sociology, education, gender studies, science
and medicine – have been prominent.
The workshop therefore asks participants to consider “where have we got to, and where do we go from
here?” What contributions have we made, through British examples, to understandings of gender, sex
and sexuality in history? What contributions have we made, through a focus on of gender, sex and
sexuality, to understandings of 20th century British history? Finally, what contributions have we made to
understandings of gender, sex and sexuality in Britain outside our profession, both in other disciplines
and, importantly, the wider public conversation? And in all three cases, what contributions, in new and
ongoing work, might we make in the future?
To help address these questions, the workshop organisers welcome proposals for papers
presenting new work on any aspect of gender, sex or sexuality in twentieth century British history
as well as those that reflexively engage with the past, present or future of the field. We are
especially interested in contributions from postgraduate and early career scholars.
If you are interested in presenting a paper at the workshop, please email a short proposal (max. 300
words) and CV or short bio to newdirections2014@gmail.com by 1st September 2013. If you would like
to discuss possible topics before submitting a proposal, please get in touch at the same address.
Registration details for non-speakers will be publicised later in 2013 at
http://newdirections2014.wordpress.com/ Kevin Guyan and Ben Mechen, UCL History (organisers)
Women’s History Network Midlands Region Conference Military Women
Venue: University of Worcester, Saturday 23rd November 2013
Abstract Deadline: 30 Sept 2013 (300 words)
The University of Worcester’s annual Women’s History Conference seeks papers for this year’s event
under the heading of ‘Military Women’. Potential topics may include, but are not restricted to:
Covert women – female agents; Enemy women – “Booby traps” and sexually-transmitted disease,
“Keep Mum She’s Not So Dumb”; Femininity and Feminism in the military; “G.I. Jane” – career
military women, combat and killing; Paramilitary women – women in non-conventional military roles
“Private Benjamin” - Representations of fighting women; R&R – military prostitution, “Hookers” &
“Comfort Women”;Women in recruitment & anti-recruitment – images in recruitment media, “date
strikes”, the white feather campaign; Women as military leaders – female politicians and advisers
We invite you to submit a paper based on your current research in the field of Military Women. We
welcome submissions on any country and in any historical period.
Send an abstract to Dr Wendy Toon w.toon@worc.ac.uk by September 30th 2013.
Women as Wives and Workers: Marking Fifty Years of The Feminine Mystique
Venue: Saturday 30th November 2013 at Royal Holloway University of London
Abstract Deadline: 14 Oct 2013 (250 words and short bio)
6
2013 marks the fiftieth anniversary of The Feminine Mystique’s publication. From the outset, Betty
Friedan’s text had an enormous influence on academic and popular audiences, selling millions and
shaping feminist discourse about the housewife throughout the Western world. Yet at the same time, fulltime housewifery was becoming both a less common experience and a cultural battlefield. Since the
1950s, levels of employment amongst married women (notably white women) have risen enormously.
Women have increasingly been confronted with the ‘superwoman’ paradox, which Friedan herself
encapsulated: writing about ‘the zombie housewife’ and ‘the problem that has no name’ whilst being a
working wife and mother. Many other women likewise negotiated domesticity and paid work, but their
experiences were by no means uniform and were shaped by various other factors including race, age,
sexuality and socio-economic status. This conference aims to draw these themes together by offering an
opportunity to explore The Feminine Mystique alongside discussions of women and employment. Areas
of consideration may include but are not limited to: Women’s paid employment; The Feminine Mystique,
its impact and critiques, for example with regards to race; The international impact of The Feminine
Mystique; Domesticity and the figure of the housewife: experiences, rights, cultural portrayals; Discourses
of motherhood and fatherhood; Evolving notions of family; Gender and education; Notions of ‘having it all’
and being ‘Superwoman’; The National Organization for Women: its impact, legacy and critics; The
development of women's organisations and networks since the 1960s
We invite papers that address these topics either broadly or specifically. While papers with a particular
emphasis on mid-twentieth century America may be given priority, we also encourage scholars to present
work with a comparative perspective (across time and/or space) or looking at other geographical areas.
Panel submissions are also welcome. A special issue of History of Women in the Americas based on the
conference papers is planned, subject to the usual peer review procedure.A 250-word abstract and a
short biography should be emailed to thefemininemystiqueat50@gmail.com Please use the same email
address for any other enquiries about the event.
5. HELP WANTED
Transcribe ScotlandsPlaces: Transcribing Scotland’s Historical Records
A new project to crowd-source the transcription of more than 150,000 pages of historic archives from
1645 to 1880. In the largest project of its kind in Scotland, thousands of volunteers are being sought to
read and transcribe Scots, Gaelic, and English documents, and identify places and people. [editor: This
should make accessible many more records on Scottish women.]
The information will be added to the ScotlandsPlaces website.
To register and become involved go to http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/transcribe
Go to BBC to read the original article.
National Library of Scotland seeking new Board members
Closing date for applications: 27 Sept 2013
The search has begun to recruit new Board members to help lead the development of the Library
in the years ahead.
Board members are appointed by the Scottish Government and they have begun advertising for seven
members to join the Board next year.
Applications are specifically being sought from individuals with strategic level experience of finance, audit
and risk and from those with a background in marketing, education, research or library services. The
Scottish Government is seeking applications from people who live in all parts of Scotland.
More information is available on the NLS website.
7
6. WEBSITE
Glasgow’s Queen Places and Spaces
Taking inspiration from a meeting with OurStory Scotland, I have finally created an interactive map of
Glasgow's historical queer places and spaces on my blog (I'm rather chuffed that I was able to grapple
with such advanced technology - for me anyway). It's not exhaustive and is yet to be completed, so an
ongoing project. Jeff Meeks
http://archivehermit.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/mapping-glasgows-queer-history/
7.NEWS FROM MEMBERS
A woman’s Commonwealth Grave (see attachment to email)
I was wondering if this would be of interest to members of Women's History Scotland? It is rare to find a
female Commonwealth War Grave as they are overwhelmingly male. This one is in Gransable Cemetery
near Polmont, which was near to RAF Grangemouth in the Second World War. The airfield has long since
been built over, but my father remembers pilots training to fly Spitfires there. My Meikle grandparents
farmed near Grangemouth, but the farm has long since been built over by the Oil Refinery. Could you
pass this on?
Thanks,
Maureen.
Professor Maureen M. Meikle, Head of Humanities & Professor of Early Modern History,
Leeds Trinity University, Brownberrie Lane, Horsforth,Leeds
8. AND FINALLY
New music-theatre celebration of life of Margaret Fay Shaw, Gaelic song collector (and Biographical
Dictionary entry!)
A Little Bird Blown Off Course by singer-songwriter Fiona J. Mackenzie tells the story of Margaret Fay
Shaw, who spent much of her life collecting Gaelic music. With her husband, Gaelic scholar John Lorne
Campbell, she established the important archive of Gaelic life and culture on the Island of Canna. The
play is presented by the National Theatre of Scotland and previewed in North Uist on5 September and
will next tour the Highlands, ending on Canna.
WOMEN’S HISTORY SCOTLAND
Promoting study and research in women's and gender history in Scotland
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT
http://womenshistoryscotland.org/