In Search of Britain

2023-2024

All sessions are held 5pm-6.30pm French time

Ruth Panoksky (Toronto Metropolitan University) – 27 September 2023

Recovery Work: Locating Women in Mainstream Publishers’ Archives

My talk will argue for mainstream publishers’ archives as repositories of invaluable details pertaining to women. Several factors impede the study of women’s foundational work in mainstream publishing. First, a perception of mainstream publishing companies as ideologically conservative often leads scholars to overlook the unique contributions of women to these firms. At the same time, a view of mainstream publishing as the most traditional sector of the industry implies that it is not worthy of feminist exploration. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, divergent theoretical positions separate those book history scholars who emphasize women’s advancement in mainstream publishing houses from those who focus on women’s roles in feminist publishing ventures. In order to recover and understand women’s multifaceted contributions to mainstream publishing, it is necessary to read closely in extant publishers’ archives and attend to the ways in which these archives may hinder such discovery.

In arguing for mainstream publishers’ archives as repositories of invaluable details pertaining to women, my talk will present three case studies that draw on my past research in the archives of Macmillan and Company, McClelland and Stewart, and Clarke, Irwin, respectively. That research unveiled the circumstances surrounding the discharge of editor Ellen Elliott, the firing of editor Sybil Hutchinson, and the endorsement of author Emily Carr by publisher Irene Clarke. These archival revelations, which reinforced my view of Elliott, Hutchinson, and Clarke as individuals of foresight, acuity, and professionalism, also deepened my broader understanding of early feminist work in mainstream publishing.

Chair: Camille Desenclos (Université de Picardie Jules Verne)

Registration link: https://u-picardie-fr.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYlc-ygrTksHtWHwRWQyndzt3gu9ALa2_HG

Ruth Panofsky est professeure invitée par l’UPJV en 2023, dans le cadre de l’appel à projets S2R 2023.

Sarah Stockwell (King’s College London) –

Chair:

Registration link:

Fabrice Mourlon (université Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle) – 15 November 2023

Title

Chair: Sylviane Berger (université de Picardie Jules Verne)

Registration link: https://u-picardie-fr.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJclc-qhqjMtH9ZVIMPbVHsqSm2DA8wBm_Kq

Jim McAloon (Victoria University of Wellington) – 31 January 2024

Title