Conference Group for Central European History
Newsletter
Spring 1999

Dear Colleagues,

Here is the Spring 1999 Newsletter.  Items of particular interest include the report of the Editor of CEH, the report and the recommendations of the 1998-99 Book Prize Committee, the announcement of the year 2000 article prize, and the obituary of George Mosse.  To go directly to a subject listed in the table of contents, please click on the relevant line.

Kees Gispen

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Contents

Report of the Business Meeting, Washington, DC, 9 January 1999
        Welcome by the President
        Report of the Executive Secretary and Treasurer
        Report of the Editor of Central European History
        Report of the 1998-1999 Book Prize Committee
        Report of the Nominating Committee
        Report of the Archives Committee
        Report of Friends of the German Historical Institute
        Report of the Society for Austrian and Habsburg History
        New Business
                Recommendations of the 1998/99 Book Prize Committee
                Discussion concerning the CGCEH's annual AHA panel
                Statement on the Use of Legal Means to Settle Academic Disputes
Announcements
        1999-2000 Article Prize and Prize Committee
        1999 Executive Committee
        1999 Nominations Committee
        CGCEH panels at the annual AHA convention in Chicago in 2000
        Account balance of CGCEH fund at AHA
        Subscriptions to CEH
        Studies in Central European Histories back in business
        George Mosse Obituary in the New York Times
        Contact the editor of the Newsletter

    Business Meeting, Washington, DC

9 January 1999

Introductory remarks and welcome
President Gerald Soliday chaired the meeting.  In his opening remarks, Soliday welcomed all those present and expressed his pleasure at the excellent turnout at this new time of the business meeting (5:00 p.m.).  Soliday then introduced Ronnie Hsia, who will serve as president until January of 2000.  Hsia's term of office will take effect at the conclusion of the business meeting.  The minutes of last year’s business meeting were approved.

Report of the Executive Secretary and Treasurer
Kees Gispen reported on the Conference Group’s finances. He presented the following overview.

Budget summary January 1998-January 1999

*The principal source of income of the Conference Group is the money it receives from the publisher of CEH, $5.00 per subscription per year.  At about 1,000 subscriptions, the typical amount is $5,000.  In 1998, the publisher of CEH, Humanities Press, was sold to Brill Academic Publishers, which took over the contractual obligation of paying the Conference Group the $5.00 per subscription.  Owing to the prior publisher's business problems, no billing and revenue collection in connection with CEH took place in 1998.  The new publisher requested that it be allowed to pay the Conference Group in two steps for what it owes in 1998: a first payment of $3,500 (received in October 1998), and the balance in early 1999, when the exact number of paid 1998 subscriptions will be known (not yet received).

Budget Proposal January 1999-January 2000

* $1,500 (balance due from 1998) plus $5,000 (estimated number of subscriptions x $5.00.)

The business meeting voted to approve the executive secretary's report for 1998 and the budget proposal for 1999.

Report of the Editor of Central European History
Ken Barkin presented the following report.

"In March of 1998 Assistant Editor Ursula Marcum and I learned that Humanities Press had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  We continued accepting manuscripts and meeting our deadlines for completed issues.   However, I decided not to send any further issues to Humanities until the situation became clearer.  There was a period in which they had ceased to work on the manuscripts and I thought it better to keep the finished issues in my office.  I contacted Kees Gispen and he began to took into our options.  We did learn that if Humanities merged with another publisher or was bought, we would be considered one of their assets and could be sold without our approval.  Kees consulted a lawyer in New Jersey about our obligations.  Since we had a five-year contract with Humanities, signed in 1995, we discovered that we did not have the option of seeking another publisher for two years.  I might add that one major publisher, heaving heard about the bankruptcy, wrote to invite us to consider signing a contract with them.
        At the end of June it appeared likely that Brill of Leiden, the Netherlands, would take over Humanities Press, and we mailed issues to Judy Camlin, the production editor of Humanities, who was to be retained by Brill for a period after the merger.  Since Brill said it would be able to get the issues in their hands out by January 1, 1999, we sent another manuscript to them.  Brill was concerned to start its publication effort at the current date, rather than one issue behind, leading us to publish a double issue, Vol. 31, Nos. 1 and 2 combined, which recently appeared.   At the time I took over the editorship in 1991, we were five issue behind in the publication schedule.  We are currently up-to-date.
        Brill has brought out the three issues of Vol. 31, with the last issue appearing two weeks ago [mid December 1998].  In November we sent Brill, which has established an office in Boston, Vol. 32, No. 1.  We anticipate sending them the next issue on February 1.  Brill has just hired a new production manager in Boston, who will be trained by Judy Camlin of Humanities.  Brill would like to make certain changes, and we have been negotiating with them.  They have agreed to continue to offer off-prints to authors after we complained about their intention to end this option.  It should be noted, however, that it is probably cheaper these days to go to Kinko and have your off-prints made there, including covers.   They would also like us to publish 150-word abstracts before each article.   These would be printed, along with the journal's table of contents, on the Brill website.  They would also like us to aim for five hundred pages per volume, or about 125 pages per issue.  None of these proposals strike me as as unreasonable, and I recommend that we go along with them.
        At the next meeting of the Conference Group, in 2000, I further recommend that two committees be formed to consider two issues: 1) to study what the best interests of the journal are when the contract with Humanities ends January 1,  2001; and 2) to review the journal's editorship.  My term as editor comes to an end in the summer of 2001.  The two committees would have a year to make their recommendations to the Conference Group no later than January 2001."

Barkin concluded his report by presenting the following statistical summary.

Publishing record for 1998:

At the publisher:

Current editorial status:

Following Barkin's report, president Soliday rose to salute Keith Ashfield, founder and publisher of Humanities Press.  On behalf of the Conference Group, Soliday expressed his gratitude to Ashfield, whose commitment to Central European History made possible the journal's regular publication since 1991 and contributed to its consistently high quality.   Soliday then introduced Mr. Job Lisman, representing Brill Academic Publishers, who also attended the business meeting.

Soliday reported that the Conference Group's Executive Committee, at its meeting earlier in the day, had supported Barkin's recommendation concerning the appointment of two review committees and intended to act on it at the appropriate time.  The Executive Committee had also accepted Barkin's recommendations concerning the changes in the working relationship with Humanities Press/Brill.  There were no questions or objections from the floor.

Report of the 1998-1999 Book Prize Committee
The next item of business was the report of the book prize committee, which consisted of Celia Applegate, Bob Moeller, and Vernon Lidtke (chair).   The committee considered books published in 1996 and 1997.  This year's winner is Kathleen Canning, for her book, Languages of Labor and Gender: Female Factory Work in Germany, 1850-1914 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996).   President Soliday read the prize committee's report.

"Kathleen Canning's Languages of Labor and Gender: Female Factory Work in Germany, 1850-1914 is distinguished by its conceptual sophistication, methodological rigor, stylistic clarity, and vast archival research. The author convincingly combines the skills of the social historian with the approaches and theoretical tools of the cultural historian. She focuses on the textile industry, a branch of production that underwent a rapid process of 'feminization', as an especially appropriate site for exploring the themes of her investigation. Two topics, closely linked throughout the text, stand out: the first is her nuanced description and insightful comprehension of the experiences of women workers; the second is an analysis of the discourses of contemporary social reformers on women workers, especially in factories, and the role this thinking played in helping to shape the structures and experiences of work. The female body, Canning argues persuasively, was a point at which the experiences of women workers and the discourses of reform converged. She understands gender both as lived experience and as part of a symbolic order, and is constantly sensitive to the interrelation between the two. She presents a perceptive interpretation of the shifting boundaries of 'woman' and the ways in which 'woman' became a terrain where concerns were expressed about the very processes of industrialization and class formation. Languages of Labor and Gender is truly an important work, an outstanding example of the benefits of integrating the social and cultural modes of historical inquiry."

After reading the statement, Soliday invited Canning to come to the podium and amid the audience's applause awarded her the prize.

Report of the Nominating Committee
Next on the agenda was the report of the 1998 nominating committee, which consisted of Irmgard Steinisch, Jonathan Petropoulos, and Charles Ingrao.  President Soliday announced the committee’s nominations, which were approved by voice vote.

Vice-President Elect: Konrad Jarausch
Executive Committee (a three-year term): Pieter Judson

The term of service for the above positions commenced on January 10, 1999.

Report of the Archives Committee.
Alan Steinweis, the Committee's chair, presented the following report.

"The Archives Committee currently has the following issues under consideration: We have received a report that the Bundesarchiv has closed access to a collection it recently accessioned from the former Berlin Document center.  The files, part of the SS Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt (RuSHA) collection, contain information about prospective wives of SS members.  Privacy has been cited as the justification for the closure.  We will seek to clarify the status of the collection in question.   Our position is that a blanket closure of the entire collection would violate commitments made by the German government during the negotiations with the US government over the return of the BDC materials.  (We would not assert that a treaty violation has occurred, but only a violation of verbal commitments that were made at the time to reassure the United States that the collections would remain open to researchers in Germany.)  A second area of concern also involves the former BDC.  The National Archives in College Park has still not made available a computerized index that was compiled years ago to facilitate research in the microfilmed copies of the BDC materials.   It should be noted that at a panel of the AHA, a representative of the Archives assured the audience that the Archives is working on the problem, and is optimistic that the finding aid will be available soon.  We plan to inquire with the Archives about the situation.  It was noted at the Business Meeting that the Archives Committee has traditionally focused on issues relating to documentation of the Nazi era, but would like to broaden this interest to pre-1933 and post-1945 collections as well.  CGCEH members who experience or know of archival access or related problems involving such collections are encouraged to contact the committee."

The archives committee consists of:
David Barclay, Kalamazoo College
John Connelly, University of California at Berkeley
Carole Fink, Ohio State University
Geoffrey Giles, University of Florida (ex officio)
Alan Steinweis, University of Nebraska at Lincoln (chair)
Gerhard Weinberg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Steinweis can be reached at the following address:
Department of History
University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0327
Phone: (402) 472-8839
Fax: (402) 472-8839
Email: aes@unlserve.unl.edu

Report of Friends of the German Historical Institute
Before Geoffrey Giles presented his report, Jerry Soliday welcomed and saluted Christoph Mauch, Deputy Director of the GHI in Washington.  Friends president Giles then spoke briefly about the work of Friends of the German Historical Institute.  He reminded everyone of the importance of his organization, especially the dissertation prize it awards every year.

Prize Winners in 1998 were Timothy Vogt for his dissertation, "Denazification in the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany: Brandenburg, 1945-1948," and Michelle Mouton, for "From Nurturing the Nation to Purifying the Volk: Conflicts in the Implementation of German Family Policy 1918-1945."  Ms. Mouton, who was present in the audience, received a warm round of applause.

The treasurer of Friends of the German Historical Institute is Jonathan Petropoulos, Department of History, Loyola College, 4501 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21210, telephone: (410) 617-2000. Email: petropoulos@loyola.edu

Report from the Society for Austrian and Habsburg History.
Franz Szabo reported on the state of the SAHH and announced that Purdue University Press has agreed to launch a new series on Central European Studies.

Following Szabo's remarks, Charles Ingrao informed the meeting that he is heading up a project, in tandem with the Balkan Action Council, to find summer teaching appointments for English-speaking Yugoslav faculty who have been driven from their jobs by the Milosevic regime.  Ingrao asks anyone interested in supporting his endeavor to contact him directly.  He may be reached at the following address: Charles Ingrao, Department of History, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1358, Tel: (765) 494-8385 (Purdue office), 463-9658 (home), 496-1755 (fax), email: ingrao@omni.cc.purdue.edu

New Business

Book Prize Committee Recommendations
President Jerry Soliday informed the business meeting that the Executive Committee had received a recommendation from this year's Book Prize Committee concerning eligibility for the book prize.  The Committee recommends that,

"The CGCEH should consider clarifying the definition of eligibility for the prize. It is the committee's judgment that the definition should discourage reprints, second editions, multi-authored anthologies, and document publications. One or two nominators inquired about multi-authored anthologies, and after consultation among ourselves,we discouraged such submissions. We believe that it will help future committees if a definition of eligibility that includes these qualifications is part of the book prize announcement."

The Executive Committee at its meeting earlier in the day discussed and supported the language of the recommendation and recommends in turn that the business meeting approve adding the suggested eligibility clarification to future information concerning the book prize.

Upon some discussion and after noting that the clarification does not expressly exclude, but instead merely discourages, reprints, second editions, edited volumes, etc., the business meeting by voice vote agreed to adopt the prize committee's recommendation.

Another observation by the prize committee concerned the importance of informing in a timely fashion all publishing houses with important lists in Central European History of the CGCEH's book prize.  The Executive Committee has noted the point and will do its best to correct any oversights that may have occurred in the past.

Discussion concerning the CGCEH's annual AHA panel
President Soliday next reported on the deliberations of the Executive Committee earlier in the day about the status of the Conference Group's annual AHA panel.   Discussion centered on the fact that the Conference Group has no control over the fate of the sponsored panel it typically recommends for the AHA program.  Thus, the AHA program committee may or may not accept the session proposal typically submitted by the CGCEH's president.  In the past, if a session proposal was rejected, the CGCEH has always had the opportunity to designate one of the other Central-European-History panels accepted by the AHA program committee as its sponsored panel instead.  The question is whether this arrangement is satisfactory and, if not, how it might be changed.   One option discussed by the Executive Committee was to look into the possibility of the CGCEH organizing its panel proposal separately, in its capacity as an affiliated society meeting concurrently with the AHA--a common practice of many other affiliated societies.  The Executive Committee agreed to give the president and the executive secretary permission to explore how other affiliate societies coordinate their separate panels with the AHA and to report the results of its findings at next year's Executive Committee meeting.

Soliday's report occasioned brief but lively discussion, with several members in the audience pointing out that there was no need to do anything, since the current system functions adequately.  Others pointed out that while some affiliate societies may have had occasion to question the decisions of AHA program committees, the CGCEH has had no cause for complaint.  Its panel proposals have almost always been accepted.   The proper course of action, therefore, would be to continue to submit the CGCEH-sponsored panel to the AHA program committee.  If the CGCEH panel is accepted, there is no problem.  If it is not, then the possibility might be considered of putting the panel on as a separate session organized by an affiliate society.  No further action was taken.

Statement on the Use of Legal Means to Settle Academic Disputes
President Soliday reported on the fate of last year's "CGCEH Statement on the Use of Legal Means to Settle Academic Disputes."  The statement, published in the Spring 1998 Newsletter, was sent to Ruth Bettina Birn, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, the American Political Science Association, the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History, the Organization of American Historians, and the American Historical Association in early March 1998.  To date only a few replies have been received.  Dr. Birn thanks the CG for its support.  The NCC informs the CG that the issue does not fall under its purview.  In the subsequent discussion, Mitchell Ash suggested that another copy of the Statement be sent to the American Association of University Professors.  This received the approbation of several other members in the audience.  Soliday welcomed the suggestion and indicated he would follow up.

The business meeting adjourned at 5:55 p.m.  Incoming president Ronnie Hsia began his official duties with the pleasant task of inviting the audience to the Bierabend in the nearby Colorado Room.

Announcements

 In January 2000 the Conference Group will award its biennial prize of $500 for the best journal article published during 1997 and 1998 (and in Central European History, vols. 30-31). "Central European history" is understood to include all German-speaking countries as well as areas previously included within the Habsburg monarchy. The competition is open to articles in English, written by scholars who are permanent residents of North America.  Deadline for nominations is 15 September 1999. Nominations for the prize may be submitted by authors, journal editors, or other interested members to the chair of the prize committee,  Professor Doris Bergen of the University of Notre Dame.  The members of the 1999/2000 article prize committee and their addresses are:

1999 Executive Committee

The members of the Conference Group’s 1998 executive committee are:
President: Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia, New York University
Vice-President : Mary Jo Maynes, University of Minnesota
Vice-President Elect: Konrad Jarausch, University of North Carolina
Immediate Past President: Gerald Soliday, University of Texas, Dallas
At-Large Member (exp. January 2000): Anson Rabinbach, Princeton University
At-Large Member (exp. January 2001): Mary Lindemann, Carnegie-Mellon University
At-Large Member (exp. January 2002): Pieter Judson, Swarthmore College
Editor of Central European History, Kenneth Barkin, University of California, Riverside
Executive Secretary and Treasurer, Kees Gispen, University of Mississippi

1999 Nominations Committee

The Conference Group’s 1999 nominating committee is made up of:

Members who would like to nominate someone for a position on the Conference Group's executive board should contact the nominations committee.

CGCEH panels at the AHA meeting in 2000

The Program Committee of the American Historical Association informs us that the double panel proposal sponsored by the Conference Group has been approved for next year's convention in Chicago.  The title of the panel is: "What is Central Europe? Constructions of a Cultural-Geopolitical Concept."  Panel One covers the nineteenth century. Panel Two looks at the twentieth century.  Participants and paper titles are as follows.

"What is Central Europe? Constructions of a Cultural-Geopolitical Concept I: The 19th Century"

Chair: R. Po-chia Hsia, New York University
Hillel Kieval, Washington University, "Of Boundaries, Centers, and Margins: Identities of Central Europe in the 19th Century"
Istvan Deak, Columbia University, "Dynastic, Internationalist, and Nationalist Concepts of Central Europe in the Habsburg Monarchy"
Konrad Jarausch, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "A Fragmented Nation: (Re-)Defining Germanness?"
Discussant: Maria Todorava, University of Florida

"What is Central Europe? Constructions of a Cultural-Geopolitical Concept II: The 20th Century"

Chair: Kees Gispen, University of Mississippi
Volker Berghahn, Columbia University, "The Economic Dimensions of Central Europe"
Nancy Wingfield, Northern Illinois University, "Asien fängt mit der Landesstrasse an": German-Czech Discourses on Central Europe"
William W. Hagen, University of California at Davis, "Eastern Violence, or Violence in the East? The Polish Progroms of 1918-1919 in Contemporary German-Jewish Opinion"
Discussant: Kenneth D. Barkin, University of California at Riverside

In addition to the above two panels, the Conference Group is co-sponsoring Session 7 of the American Catholic Historical Association (which also meets concurrently with the AHA).

"The Counter-Reformation in Central Europe."

Chair: R. Po-chia Hsia, New York University
Istvan Toth, Central European University, "Catholic Missions and Catholic Reform in 16th- and 17th-Century Hungary"
Joseph Patrouch, Florida International University, "Mechanisms of the Counter-Reformation in Austrial: The Activities of Queen Ysabell of Habsburg"
Howard Louthan, University of Notre Dame, "Catholics, Culture and Memory in 17th-Century Bohemia: Reevaluating the Czech Dark Ages"
Discussant: James Palmitessa, Western Michigan University

Account balance of Prize Fund at the American Historical Association

The Conference Group maintains an interest-bearing endowment account with the American Historical Association. The first priority among the purposes of this account is to fund the biennial article and book prizes in perpetuity. The fund’s balance as of June 30, 1998 was approximately $16,000.

Subscriptions to Central European History

Institutions or members of the Conference Group who are subscribers to CEH but have not been billed or received their subscriptions are urged to contact the publisher immediately.  The publisher's address is:
Humanities Press
c/o Brill Academic Publishers
112 Water Street, Suite 400
Boston MA 02109 USA
Tel. 1-800-962-4406 or 1-877-999-7575 (toll free)
Fax 617-263-2324
Email: cs@brillusa.com

Subscribers outside North America, please contact:
Brill Academic Publishers
P.O. Box 9000
2300 PA Leiden
The Netherlands 
Phone: +31-71-535-3566 
Fax: +31-71-531-7532 
E-mail: cs@brill.nl

The 1999 subscription rates for CEH (4 issues) are: $42.00 for an individual subscription ($52.00 outside the USA) and $78.00 for an institutional subscription ($100.00 outside the USA).  There is a 40% discount from the above rates for a 2-year subscription (1999 and 2000).

Studies in Central European Histories BACK IN BUSINESS!

George Mosse Obituary in the New York Times

Readers who would like to post information of interest to the profession or to other members of the Conference Group should contact the executive secretary:

Kees Gispen
Department of History
University of Mississippi
University, MS 38677
Telephone: 601-232-7148
FAX: 601-232-7033
Email: hsgispen@olemiss.edu
 

This document was last updated 05/06/99