History
The mission of the History Faculty is to promote advanced research and undergraduate teaching in a broad range of fields, including American, ancient, East Asian, European, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Russian history. The Faculty includes joint appointments in Urban Studies and in Science, Technology, and Society (STS), and it participates in the joint PhD program in the History and Social Study of Science and Technology.
Enrollment and Majors
History enrollments totaled 239 in the fall semester and 349 in the spring. Two history majors successfully completed their senior thesis projects: Jennifer Morris, "Quarter Mile: Suburbanization and the Rise and Fall of Drag Racing on Long Island," supervised by Professor Fogelson; and Emily Brosi, "Surrogacy in the United States: The Acceptance of a New Technology into the Legal System and Society," supervised by Professor Capozzola.
Awards and Honors
Professor Robert Fogelson's book, Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880–1950 (Yale), received a prize from the Urban History Association for the Best Book in North American Urban History published during 2001.
First prize in the annual History competition for the best essays went to Benjamin Kochan for "Fire in the Sky: Electrifying Boston's Horse-Drawn Streetcars"; the two second prize winners were Morgan A. Sonderegger for "Linguists, Teachers, and Soldiers: The Military Language Schools of World War II" and Jacob V. Bouvrie for "Ten Thousand Miles, Ten Thousand Days: War Crimes and the American Experience in Vietnam."
Professor Capozzola's dissertation, "Uncle Sam Wants You: Political Obligation in World War I America," was nominated for the Bancroft Dissertation Award at Columbia University.
Publications
Arthur J. Conner professor of history Harriet Ritvo published "The Fight for Thirlmere: The Victorian Roots of Environmentalism" in Science.
Associate professor Elizabeth Wood published "A Great Cultural and Moral Mission: Agitation Trials and Hegemony in the Soviet Red Army, 1919–1923" in the Journal of Modern History.
Associate professor Jeffrey Ravel published "Allegory and April Foolery on the Eve of the French Revolution" in the British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies.
Elting E. Morison professor of history John Dower published "Occupations and Empires: Why Iraq Is Not Japan" in Perspectives.
Assistant professor Christopher Capozzola published an article, "Wandergeist: Placing Fritz Vogt in the History of German Immigration," in W. Parkier Hayes, Jr., ed., Drawn Home: Fritz Vogt's Rural America.
Associate professor Anne McCants completed a chapter, "The Transmission of Assets and Family Networks: Managing the Property and Care of Orphans in Eighteenth Century Amsterdam," to be published in David Green and Alastair Owens, eds., Family Welfare: Gender, Property and Inheritance since the Seventeenth Century.
Assistant professor Meg Jacobs published "Inflation: The Permanent Dilemma of the American Middle-Classes" in Oliver Zunz, Leonard Schoppa, and Nobuhiro Hiwatari, eds., Social Contracts Under Stress: The Middle Classes of America, Europe, and Japan at the Turn of the Century.
Professor Bruce Mazlish published "A Tale of Two Enclosures: Self and Society as a setting for Utopias" in Theory, Culture and Society.
T. T. and Wei Fong Chao professor of Asian civilizations Peter C. Perdue published "Fate and Fortune in Central Eurasian Warfare" in Nicola di Cosmo, ed., War in Inner Asian History.
Faculty Activities
The History Faculty held a workshop on "Teaching World History" at Endicott House in Dedham to discuss new approaches to world history, with 30 invited faculty from around the country.
Professor Perdue coorganized the workshop sponsored by Mellon Foundation, STS, and History at MIT on "Race, Science, and Culture in 20th Century East Asia and America," and organized a panel entitled "Cultural Crossings on the Silk Road" at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Asian Studies.
William R. Kenan Jr. professor of American history Pauline Maier taught sessions on the Declaration of Independence for local teachers at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Professor Mazlish presented a paper entitled "Globalization without End?" at the New Global History Conference.
Professor Jacobs spoke on "Inflation: the Permanent Dilemma of Postwar American Economic Culture" at the Conference on Capitalism and Its Culture.
Professor McCants presented a paper on "Goods at Pawn: The Overlapping Worlds of Material Possessions and Family Finance in Early Modern Amsterdam" at the Thirteenth International Economic History Congress in Buenos Aires.
Professor Capozzola presented a paper on "The Clubwoman as State builder: Women's Organizations and the United States Government during World War I" at the American Historical Association.
Professor Dower spoke on "Japanese Democracy: Past and Present" at the Woodrow Wilson International Center.
Professor Ravel spoke on "The Coachman's Bare Rump: An Eighteenth-Century French Cover-Up" at the University of Texas–Austin and at the University of New Mexico.
Professor Wood presented a paper on "Trials of Literature in Revolutionary Russia, 1913–1928" at Harvard.
Professor Ritvo spoke on "The Dawn of Green: Manchester, Thirlmere and the Victorian Environment" at the National Humanities Center, Yale University, the University of North Carolina, and the University of California.
Personnel
Professor Capozzola began his first year of teaching. The subjects he taught included "The Emergence of Modern America, 1865 to the Present," "American Classics," "War and American Society," and "Law and Society in US History."
Professor Ritvo spent 2002–2003 as a senior fellow at the National Humanities Center.
Professors Mazlish, Perdue, and Jacobs participated in the joint PhD program in the History and Social Study of Science and Technology by teaching graduate seminars and reading courses, setting general examinations, and supervising dissertations.
Professors Dower, Ritvo, and Kenan Sahin dean Philip S. Khoury advised Harvard graduate students in Japanese, British, and Middle Eastern history, respectively.
Professor Perdue advises MIT graduate students in Political Science and STS.
Professors Wood and McCants participated in the Inter-University Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies.
Professor Jacobs was awarded a fellowship at Harvard University's Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History.
Professor Dower was appointed the holder of the Ford international professorship in history.
Dean Khoury led a freshman advisory seminar on "Conflict and Peace in the Contemporary Middle East."
Professors Jacobs, McCants, Ravel, and Capozzola supervised UROP projects.
Professor Fogelson served on the Edgerton Prize Committee.
Professor Wood served as chair of the Women's Studies Program.
Professor Jacobs directed the Truman Scholarship Committee and served as chair of the History Prize Committee.
Professor McCants served as president of MIT's Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
Associate professor William Watson was a housemaster for Baker House.
The Sahin Lecture Series for 2002–2003 included the following presentations: Benjamin Nathans on "A. S. Esenin-Vol'pin and the Origins of the Human Rights Movement in the Soviet Union"; J. R. McNeill on "Sweetness and Sickness: Sugar, Mosquitoes, and Empire in the Americas, 1640–1900"; and Linda Kerber on "Through Women's Eyes: An Alternative American History."
Professor Mazlish again jointly organized the monthly meetings of the History and Literature Workshop, and Dean Khoury directed the Bustani Middle East Seminar.
Professor Ritvo will resume her duties as head of the History Faculty in 2003–2004.
More information about History can be found on the web at http://web.mit.edu/history/www/.