vol. xvi (2005)

MEMBERSHIP DUES

While the MWCBS Does not assess separate dues, please consult the President's Letter.

When renewing your membership in the North American Conference on British Studies please be certain to designate MWCBS as your regional affiliate. (We have over one hundred registered conference attendees each year, some five hundred addresses on our mailing list, but at best 20% designate MWCBS on their NACBS renewals each year!) Be sure to send any address changes to the Sec./Treas., Robert Butler.

PRESIDENT'S LETTER

Dear Members and Friends of the MWCBS,

First allow me, as the new President of the Midwest Conference on British Studies, to introduce myself. I grew up and was educated in Washington, DC. Much of my early research and training was done within the stimulating atmosphere of the Folger Shakespeare Library (with its Institute on British Political Thought and its afternoon teas). In 1993 I was fortunate enough to find employment at Purdue University where I have been teaching ever since. I have also been a regular participant and officer in the MWCBS. What I find so attractive about the Midwest Conference is that it not only allows old friends and collaborators to meet annually and share their work and a drink (or two), but that it also provides a comfortable and encouraging setting for young scholars, not only from the heartland, but from all over the USA and Canada.

This fact is easily borne out by our upcoming conference at Notre Dame University, September 23-25. This conference, by far one of our largest to date, has scholars coming in from the West Coast, New England, the Deep South, the South West, as well as from our northern neighbor and as far away as Scotland, England, Germany, Israel, and Australia. We even have a few fellow Midwesterners coming. Our Notre Dame conference will also be one of our most interdisciplinary, with presentations on masculinity, empire, architecture, detective novels, medieval hagiography, the British monarchy, national identity, marriage, Irish literature, Scottish politics, and English Catholicism. Our conference is testimony to just how vibrant British Studies remains in the 21st Century.

I should also like to remind everyone that our 2006 conference will be hosted by the Department of History at Indiana University/Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI), October 27-29, and will be held at the Indiana Historical Society. Please mark your calendars.

It is an exciting time for our conference and for British Studies as a whole. It is with much anticipation that I look forward to hearing the new work that will be showcased at Notre Dame this September, and to seeing everyone there.

Faithfully yours,

Melinda S. Zook,
Purdue University

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS

North American (NACBS)  Denver, CO, October 7-9, 2005 (joint with WCBS)

Middle Atlantic (MACBS): Old Town, Alexandria, VA, April 9, 2005
Midwest (MWCBS): Notre Dame, IN, September 23-25, 2005
North East (NECBS): Amherst, MA, October 21-22, 2005
Pacific Coast (PCCBS): Riverside, CA, 1-3 April 2005
Southern (SCBS): Atlanta, GA, November 3-5, 2005
Western (WCBS): Denver, CO, October 7-9, 2005 (joint with NACBS)

NEWS, PRIZES, RESEARCH, AND OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Call for Reviews.Since 1992, the Historians of British Art has fostered communication about and promoted the study and sharing of ideas among those engaged in any type of scholarship or other professional endeavor related to British art of every area and period. HBA has an affiliate session at the annual College Art Association Conference, in addition to a business meeting and site visits to examine works of British art when possible. HBA also sponsors sessions at multi-disciplinary venues. The next issue of the newsletter will inaugurate a section called Reviews, which will supplement evaluations of books with reviews of additional forms of scholarship, namely, exhibitions, articles, and lectures relating to the study and teaching of British art and visual culture. Individually or in collaboration with another colleague, graduate students and university, museum, and gallery affiliated as well as independent art historians active around the world, and individuals representing fields other than art history are invited to submit 800 word evaluations of current exhibitions and lectures as well as recently published works of scholarship. Also welcome are longer reviews (1600 words) that consider multiple examples, such as a lecture and a book, an article along with an exhibition, or several articles or several books, etc. Please send your work to Jennifer Way at JWay@unt.edu. The deadline for the fall edition of the newsletter is October 1, 2005. See the HBA Website for further information.

Midwest CBS Meetings: Present, and Future

The 2005 MWCBS Conference will be held at the University of Notre Dame, 23-25 September 2005. The 2006 MWCBS Conference at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, 27-29 October 2006.

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last updated 27 June 2005