"Conference
2003: A Report"
Sean Martin
Having
just returned from the SHCY conference in Baltimore, I am still
under the impression of the many fine papers I heard and the
people I met from all over the world. The conference was an
excellent opportunity to get to know scholars from history and
other disciplines whose work relates to children and youth.
It’s
no secret that SHCY and the activity on H-Childhood reflect
primarily the work of historians working on the history of the
United States. Papers at the conference, too, leaned heavily
toward the study of American children. But those with interests
outside the United States were certainly not entirely neglected.
The range of papers in European history was impressive, even
if one wished for more. Historians working on children and youth
in Canada, Spain, France, Britain, Germany, the Soviet Union,
late Ottoman Palestine, New Zealand and Argentina presented
their work to audiences eager to hear about children in other
contexts.
The attendance and participation of scholars from outside the
United States also greatly enriched the conference. Scholars
came from Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Israel, Botswana,
and the Netherlands. Some of these scholars also work on the
history of American children. A visiting contingent of scholars
from Sweden also enlivened the conference.
Conferences
are meant to be a survey of new work in the field, and the SHCY
conference did not disappoint. While I would have liked to see
more presentations on children outside of the United States,
and others expressed a desire for greater participation by scholars
working outside of the modern period, the range of topics presented
was wide enough that most scholars could probably find something
that related to their own work in some way. Indeed, the advantage
of a conference such as this one is that it takes one beyond
one’s usual national, geographic, and chronological boundaries.
A historian of twentieth century East European and Jewish history,
I nonetheless found the panels on children in the United States
especially valuable. The presentations on dependent children
were especially relevant to my work and have helped me to rethink
my project on institutions for Jewish orphans in interwar Poland.
The
discussion arising from the panels led me to consider again
important issues in the history of children and youth, including
the definitions of “childhood” and “youth”
and the distinction between writing about children and writing
about adults. No one panel addressed these issues directly,
but the topics came up naturally in the course of discussion.
As historians have the tendency to segregate themselves according
to their subfields, these more general discussions can often
open up topics that have yet to be explored or suggest ways
in which one can reevaluate a work currently in progress.
Besides the schedule of panels, special presentations on the
life and work of Robert Bremner and on child protection by Michael
Grossberg and a roundtable on collaborations between historians
and developmental psychologists completed the program. The roundtable
was thought-provoking, even if, as several participants expressed,
collaborations between the two fields were less successful than
was originally hoped. The SHCY conference seems an ideal opportunity
for discussions across disciplines, and I hope such efforts
to bring those discussions to the conference will continue.
The increasing use of technology was a theme of the conference,
as several scholars used PowerPoint in the panels I attended,
usually to very good effect. Like Michael Grossberg during his
presentation, they often described themselves as novices. As
effective as Professor Grossberg’s visuals were, his joking
when the computer batteries ran out and the screen went blank
was even better. With the announcement that the documentary
history of American children and youth by Robert Bremner will
soon be available online, historians of children and youth continue
to make real progress toward using technology in their work.
The conference ran smoothly, and the excellent facilities of
UMBC were ideally suited for the meeting. Saturday evening in
Baltimore allowed everyone a respite from the panels and the
chance to see at least part of the city. The restaurant recommendations
directed us to the best crab in the city, but some of us found
our way to other fare, whether East European or Egyptian. Thanks
are due to Kriste Lindenmeyer and the staff of UMBC for hosting
an excellent conference.
