Summer 2018 Newsletter Daniel L. Smail From the 2017-18 Department Chair, Daniel L. Smail Outgoing Department Chair Though change is as regular as the rising bring an elevator to the northeast quadrant and falling of the tides there still seems to of the building, which in turn will have been a lot of it in the department last necessitate a major change to the footprint Evelyn Brooks year. The end of June 2018 saw the of the first-floor offices in that corner of the Higginbotham retirement of both Nancy Cott and Laurel building. The project also includes the Incoming Department Thatcher Ulrich, who between them have installation of a sprinkler system Chair served the department with great throughout the building as well as several distinction for thirty-nine years. We also new faculty offices on the second floor, a said our goodbyes to Kelly O’Neill, who is relocation of our Digital History lab, and a Alison Frank Johnson now the Director of the Imperiia Project at complete renovation of the administrative Outgoing Director of the Davis Center for Russian Center and office space on the second floor. The Graduate Studies Eurasian Studies. All three will be greatly building has been emptied for the summer missed by all of us and also by their apart from our dedicated staff, who are students, and we wish them the best in working in temporary spaces in the Dimiter Angelov their future endeavors. Happily, the year building while taking care of all the Incoming Director of just past also saw some new arrivals. In essential summer projects that help Graduate Studies January of 2018, we welcomed Philip prepare the department for the new Deloria, an American historian with special academic year. Many thanks to all our Ann Blair interest in the relations among American wonderful staff for soldiering on in Indian peoples and the United States who conditions that are sometimes onerous Outgoing Director of joined us from the University of Michigan. I enough to necessitate noise-canceling Undergraduate Studies am equally delighted to be able to share the headphones, as the building comes to late-breaking news that two new colleagues pieces and is reborn around them. This Lisa McGirr will be joining us this fall: Tiya Miles, a summer, Laura Christoffels, who has been Incoming Director of historian of African American and Native with us for four years, will be leaving to American peoples, also from Michigan, and develop her own business; her service to Undergraduate Studies Rosie Bsheer, a historian of the modern the department, including her beautifully Middle East with a focus on Saudi Arabia, designed posters and flyers announcing who comes to us from her position at Yale. departmental events, will be much missed. After serving as the Dean of Radcliffe for All of those serving in departmental seven years, Lizabeth Cohen will be leadership positions—Ann Blair, our long- returning to the department after her serving Director of Undergraduate Studies; sabbatical in 2018-19; welcome back Liz! Alison Frank Johnson, our Director of She has been succeeded at Radcliffe by our Graduate Studies, and myself—are moving colleague Tomiko Brown-Nagin; warm on to other things, having completed terms congratulations to Tomiko. Elizabeth of office in June 2018. To Ann and Alison: Hinton was promoted to the rank of thank you. Your energy, vision, and Inside Associate Professor, and Sophus Reinert, a dedication have been inspirational. We historian of political economy based at the leave the department in excellent hands, Chair’s Letter 1 Harvard Business School, has joined the since Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham will department as an affiliate. Although former serve as chair for the next two years, Robinson Renovation 3 Harvard president Drew Faust is bringing her experience and wisdom, and doubtlessly enjoying a well-deserved Lisa McGirr and Dimiter Angelov have Faculty News 4 sabbatical in the coming year, she remains stepped into the positions of DUS and DGS a member of our department and may come respectively. Many thanks to Evelyn, Lisa, Undergraduate News 8 back to teach. So if you happen to see Drew and Dimiter for agreeing to serve in these around, don’t forget to drop a hint. hugely important roles. Graduate News 12 Change is also coming to Robinson, in the Last year, we were fortunate to have three Alumni News 15 form of a long-overdue renovation that will College Fellows teaching with us: Shaun 1 From the Chair Nichols (PhD Harvard, 2016), in U.S. Our digital history program continues leading the implementation of these History; Rodrigo Adem (Ph.D. Chicago, to expand thanks to our growing programs and to Jeremy Guillette for 2015), the Dumbarton Oaks College collaborations with an array of his role in facilitating all forms of Fellow in Medieval Mediterranean departments and other campus units. A digital scholarship. History; and Marcio Siwi (PhD NYU, hugely important step was taken in 2017), in Latin America. Their courses 2017-18 with the formation of the Thirteen of our doctoral students— received very favorable reviews from Digital Scholarship Support Group, Mou Banerjee, Rudi Batzell, Andrew students, and just as important, all comprised of faculty and staff from Harold Bellisari, Brandon Jack Bloch, three of them were able to use the FAS, HUIT, the Harvard Library, and Nikolas Bowie, Madeleine Lynch experience to help open new career University Centers. The DSSG Dungy, Kristen Elizabeth Loveland, doors. For the coming year, Brandon encourages the use of digital methods Julie Miller, Hannah Jane Shepherd, Bloch (PhD Harvard 2018) will be by fostering and supporting digital Michael Thornton, Lydia Walker, Liang offering courses as the College Fellow literacy, developing technical Xu, and Wen Yu—completed their in Modern European History and infrastructure; and providing in-house dissertations last year. The Harold K. Zachary Nowak (PhD Harvard 2018) expertise. Among other things, the Gross Dissertation Prize this year was will be our College Fellow in United DSSG has taken over the running of the shared by Mou Banerjee, for “Questions States history. Our History Prize department’s innovative Digital of Faith: Christianity, Conversion and instructor program last year brought Teaching Fellows program. Now in its the Ideological Origins of Political three brilliantly designed and fourth year, the DiTF program has Theology in Colonial India, 1813-1907” successful courses from Mycah Conner, helped more than sixty faculty bring and Wen Yu, for “The Search for a Louis Gerdelan, and Mateo Jarquí n. For digital methods to their classrooms and Chinese Way in the Modern World: the coming year, this very successful has trained a similar number of From the Rise of Evidential Learning to program will welcome courses from graduate student/TFs. The DSSG’s the Birth of Chinese Cultural Identity.” Alicia DeMaio, Erin Hutchinson, and greatest impact has come from Our congratulations to Mou and Wen Peter Pellizzari. initiatives that promote digital literacy, and to all our former students; we will taking the form of foundational miss you, and wish you the best. seminars designed to serve as a The Department seminar met regularly throughout the year, featuring lunch- springboard for students, faculty, and staff. At the core of this are two As always, 2017-18 was a good year for time talks by Emmanuel Akyeampong, faculty publications; this year saw the Ann Blair, Sidney Chalhoub, Carrie semiannual, hands-on seminars. One, “Digital Teaching Methods,” introduces appearance of David Armitage et al. Elkins, Andy Gordon, Jane Kamensky, eds., Oceanic Histories; Sven Beckert Jim Kloppenberg, Jill Lepore, and Gabe faculty and graduate students to the process of thoughtfully integrating and Christine Desan, eds., American Pizzorno. In the fall of 2017, we invited Capitalism: New Histories; Sven Beckert the AHA’s Seth Denbo to participate digital methods into teaching and learning; it is based on the DiTF- and Dominic Sachsenmaier, Global with Elizabeth Maddock Dillon of History, Globally: Research and Practice Northeastern University and Peter training workshops initially developed in the department. The second, around the World; Sugata Bose, The Suber of Harvard University in a highly Nation as Mother and Other Visions of successful panel addressing the “Fundamentals of Digital Scholarship,” provides an introduction to the core Nationhood; Joyce Chaplin’s new complex question of how we should Norton edition of Thomas Malthus’s evaluate digital scholarship for hiring, stages of the digital research workflow. Practical workshops have also been Essay on the Principle of Population; tenure, and promotion. The March offered on a number of specific Alejandro de la Fuente, et al., eds., Afro- 2018 graduate recruitment seminar Latin American Studies: An featured a panel on the politics of subjects, including Data Visualization and Using Web APIs with Python. Introduction; Philip Deloria, American history, with remarks by Sugata Bose, Studies: A User’s Guide; Kelly O’Neill, Phil Deloria, and Mary Lewis. Finally, These digital literacy opportunities have proved enormously successful Claiming Crimea: A History of Catherine we closed out the year with our the Great's Southern Empire; Serhii traditional faculty book tour, where with the attendees (over two hundred in the past three years). Finally, the Plokhy, Lost Kingdom: The Quest for faculty who published books in the Empire and the Making of the Russian previous 12 months take exactly 8 Digital History program has supported the work of twenty History faculty and Nation; Serhii Plokhy, Chernobyl: The minutes each to present the heart and History of a Nuclear Catastrophe; and soul of their book to the packed house over forty students, providing assistance for a range of initiatives Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World in the Robinson Lower Library. Thanks History. again to David Armitage for his such as 3D scanning, visual timelines, leadership of the seminar for the past database design and development for You can read more about faculty two years.