History 2010 @ NORTHWESTERN The Newsletter of the Department of History at Northwestern University Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences A New Look for Harris Hall xcitement is mounting in the History Department at North- western as we await our return in August to a completely rehabbed Harris Hall. Among the outstanding features of the new building are a spacious outdoor plaza connected to Harris 108, an Eextension of the lower level to house the Chabraja Center for Histori- cal Studies, new classrooms on that level, a longer and wider stairway at the front of the building, office space for up to fifty faculty members on the two upper floors, an elevator, a new history seminar room, and even a faculty lounge. Yet, the historic charm of the building will remain: Harris 107 and 108, the staircases and wrought-iron banisters, the marble floors and walls of the main floor, and the oak woodwork all are being preserved. In the next Newsletter, we’ll bring you pictures of our wonderful new home, but for now, here are some shots of the top to bottom renovation. 2010 welcome to new history Faculty Michael Allen (PhD Northwestern, projects include histories of the U.S.-Mex- Message from the Chair, 2003) is a historian of United States politi- ico Border Wall, memories of the U.S.- cal culture, particularly regarding the ways Mexico War between 1846 and 1916, and Peter Hayes in which war and memories of war recon- the movement of Mexican and Mexican figured U.S. politics in the late twentieth- American artists between Mexico and the century. His United States from 1920 to 2000. He The History book Until the teaches courses on Mexican Ameri- Department has Last Man Comes can History, Latino Studies, the U.S.- much good news Home: POWs, Mexico Borderlands, and Race and to report, headed MIAs, and the Ethnicity in the United States. by the magnificent Unending Viet- renovation of Har- nam War (Uni- Henri Lauzière (PhD Georgetown, ris Hall depicted on versity of North 2008) was a postdoctoral fellow in the the preceding page Carolina Press, study of the Middle East since the and by the continu- 2009) uses the First World War at ing successes of unprecedented the Department our faculty and level of concern of Near Eastern students, both for captive and Studies at Princ- current and former, that are outlined in the pages missing Ameri- eton University that follow. cans during in 2008-09 and We’re especially proud of the fine recruit- and after the joined Northwest- ing year we’ve had. Following up on the three Vietnam War to ern as assistant new hires of last year described on this page, interrogate how professor of mod- we conducted no fewer than five successful official and non- ern Middle East searches this year. They will bring Deborah Cohen state actors constructed and contested the history this past fall. (PhD Berkeley), a distinguished modern British meaning of American defeat in Vietnam. His research interests historian currently at Brown, to us next fall as A Kansas native, Michael has returned to focus on modern Islamic Peter B. Ritzma Professor, along with three new Northwestern after five years on the faculty intellectual history and assistant professors: Scott Sowerby (PhD Harvard) at North Carolina State University. the political history of in early modern British history, David Shyovitz the Arab world, includ- (PhD Pennsylvania) in medieval Jewish history, Geraldo Cadava (PhD Yale, 2008), a na- ing North Africa. His and İIpek Yosmaoğlu (PhD Princeton) in Ottoman/ tive of Tucson, Arizona, specializes in the doctoral dissertation, Turkish history. Caitlin Fitz (PhD Yale), who spe- histories of the U.S.-Mexico border region which he completed cializes in colonial and federal American history, and Latina and Latino populations in the while at Georgetown’s campus in Qatar, will join us in September 2011, upon completion United States. His examines the evolution of her postdoctoral fellowship at the University current project, a his- of Salafism (al-salafi- of Pennsylvania. We’re delighted that these fine tory of the Arizona- yya) from a modernist scholars and teachers will soon become part of Sonora border region to a purist Islamic our community, and we’re grateful for the faith since World War II, movement, nowadays in us that the University administration showed has received support generally associated by letting these searches go forward in such from Mellon Mays with Wahhabism and financially uncertain times. Graduate Initiatives Saudi Arabia. Prior to My colleagues continue to win the sort of Programs, the Ford his graduate studies, he prestigious research awards and fellowships that Foundation, the received a Bachelor’s increase our standing both locally and nationally. Beinecke Rare Book degree in history from To this year’s list of grant winners (Francesca and Manuscript Université Laval in Bordogna from the Max Planck Gesellschaft in Library, the Howard Quebec City, Canada, Berlin, Ben Frommer from the Fulbright program, R. Lamar Center for and a Master’s from and David Schoenbrun from the National Humani- the Study of Fron- Simon Fraser Univer- ties Center), we now can add these recipients tiers and Borders, sity in Vancouver. of research support in 2010-11: Ken Alder and a Huggins- (Guggenheim), Peter Carroll (Kaplan Center), Quarles Prize from Brodie Fischer (ACLS), Rajeev Kinra (NEH), and the Organization of Kate Masur (ACLS). American Historians. Current research continued on page 11 2 The NewsleTTer of The DeparTmeNT of hisTory aT NorThwesTerN UNiversiTy Senior Honors Thesis Reaches the Top U.S. History Journal In 2004, Katie Turk completed to precipitate the 1986 ing women’s rights consciousness a senior honors thesis entitled federal district court case in a number of times and places, “Out of the Revolution, Into the EEOC v. Sears. Whereas but remained especially interested Mainstream: Employment Activism in the that case has been well in working women’s consciousness ANOW Sears Campaign and the Grow- studied, feminists’ Sears during the second wave. Though ing Pains of Liberal Feminism.” It won campaign had not. I was I did not expect to revisit my the Department’s Grace Douglas John- intrigued by their militant undergraduate thesis, my deci- ston Prize for the best thesis submitted stance and simultaneous sion to write a dissertation about that year and so impressed Turk’s advisor, pressure on the discrimi- postwar activism among work- Nancy MacLean, the she urged Katie to natory employer and the ing women took me back to my pursue publication. Six years later, in Sep- government enforcement earlier research. I embedded my tember 2010, a revised version will appear agency. I wondered why material about Women Employed in the Journal of American History under the seemingly successful Sears campaign in an early chapter and revised my nar- the title “Working for Change: Chicago was dropped from NOW’s agenda in 1975 rative of NOW and the Sears campaign NOW, Women Employed, and the Sears (and WE’s in 1973), even though the court as a chapter all its own. An advisor at U Campaign.” The department congratulates case dragged on for another decade. In of C suggested I send it to a journal. Two Katie, who is now finishing her Ph.D. my seminar paper, I argued that changes years later, the JAH has accepted the piece. dissertation at the University of Chicago. within NOW—in particular, its shift to When I go on the job market in the fall, Here is her story. focusing on the ERA--cut off the lifeblood I know this legacy of my undergraduate from grassroots campaigns such as the years will be a big point in my favor. At NU, I was thrilled by the number Sears effort. NOW became a more effec- and variety of engaging courses offered tive pressure group, but sacrificed the kind NOTE: Katie’s senior honors thesis is in WCAS. I decided on a history major of local energy that had brought many not her only remarkable achievement that very early, but even within the department, Chicago NOW members to the movement. reflects well on her time as a History major selecting among so many exciting paths of The seminar paper process was marvel- at Northwestern. She also received the study often proved difficult. I knew I was ous. I was thrilled to be in a small class Wayne Booth Prize for Teaching Excel- most interested in recent US women’s his- with other students who felt as passionate lence, which honors the best graduate tory, but I benefited from the departmental about independent research and serious student instructor in the Social Sciences requirement to take a number of courses historical scholarship as I did. Professor Division of the University of Chicago. outside that field. I took history courses Peter Hayes was a fantastic seminar leader, on Ancient Egypt, Japanese culture, early and his many lessons about good research modern England, contemporary Ireland, and scholarship have served me well in and more. The experience sharpened my graduate school. The honors seminar skills and helped me to conceptualize the provided for a healthy balance between craft of historical study as distinct from the sustained, independent inquiry and guid- other liberal arts. ance and support from my advisors, Pro- Call for contributions to the Toward the end of my junior year, I fessors Hayes and MacLean. I learned how Alumni Bookshelf knew I wanted to write an honors thesis to offer and sustain an original argument, about second-wave feminism, but was how to synthesize disparate archival and Remember the days you couldn’t believe unsure of a specific topic.