This past weekend I attended the annual meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine in Montreal, Quebec, where I presided over the women’s breakfast and gave a session on using digital history for history of medicine and health sciences.
The women’s breakfast had the largest turnout ever — at least eighty people showed up. Given the size, we dispensed with the traditional round of introductions — instead, attendees shared their accomplishments and professional issues. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to scribble them all down and those I did are illegible, so if you were there and would like to share, post your comments here! We then broke up into informal discussions on particular topics. General issues raised included funding, the job market, and challenges of being an independent scholar.
Since I forgot to ask for a volunteer to organize the breakfast for next year, I’ll be doing it again in Rochester. Please send me ideas for format or topics.
Knitting Clio 
This call for paper was forwarded by Rima Apple:
Call for Papers
The Culture of Print in Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Medicine (STEM)
The Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America
Madison, Wisconsin
September 12-13, 2008
The conference will include papers focusing on the dynamic intersection of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine (STEM) and print culture. Papers might address ways in which STEM—its histories and materials, its theories and practices, its economics, and its practitioners—affects or is affected by print culture. These approaches might include: innovations in the production and circulation of print; patterns of authorship and reading; publication, and dissemination of knowledge in the history of STEM. Alternatively, taking the various theories and methodologies that have grown out of half-a-century of historical and social studies of STEM, papers could investigate the social construction of STEM knowledge through print; technologies of experimentation and inscription as a print culture of the laboratory; and the social networks of readership in the production of scientific consensus or conflict. Though our emphasis is on the United States scene, we welcome submiss
ions from other areas of the globe as well.
The keynote speaker will be Professor Jim Secord, of Cambridge University, Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project, and author of many publications, including the award-winning Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, (University of Chicago Press, 2000).
Proposals for individual papers or complete sessions (up to three papers) should include a 250-word abstract and a one-page c.v. for each presenter. If possible, submissions should be made via email. The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2008. Notifications of acceptance will be made by early March.
As with previous conferences, we anticipate producing a volume of papers from the conference for publication in a volume in the Center’s series, “Print Culture History in Modern America,” published by the University of Wisconsin Press. A list of books the Center has produced, available on the Center’s website (http://slisweb.lis.wisc.edu/~printcul/), offers a guide to prospective authors.
For information, contact:
Christine Pawley, Director,
Center for the History of Print Culture
4234 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St.
Madison, WI 53706 phone: 608 263-2945/608 263-2900
fax: (608) 263-4849
email: cpawley@wisc.edu
Co-sponsors: School of Library and Information Studies, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, the University of Wisconsin Libraries, the departments of the History of Science, the History of Medicine and Bioethics, and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Karen Reeds forwarded this useful link:
Even though John Erlen posted the link to Recent Dissertations in
the Medical Humanities about 2 weeks ago on Caduceus and
H-SCI-MED-TECH, I think it’s worth repeating on WHOM.
John spreads his net broadly, so the odds are good you’ll find
something of interest on this very useful site. There are a
considerable number of dissertations on women’s
history/health/medicine listed:
http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/guides/histmed/researchresources/dissertations/dissertations.html?topic_id=15
Karen
News from Anne-Emanuelle Birn:
Dear All:
1) Many of you may have likely already contributed to The Oxford
Encyclopedia of Women in World History, but there is still time:
Please reply to : tanya.laplante@oup.com>
“We are still looking for an author for the Malnutrition entry. It is
1500 words and the honorarium has been increased to $300 to make up
for the tight deadline (May 21).
Define malnutrition as it has existed historically. Describe
women’s experience of malnutrition throughout history and discuss any
gendered aspects of this condition. How does malnutrition affect
women’s work and family life. Provide a brief account of the current
state of malnutrition, public policy issues, and political
influences–global, national, or regional, in the creation of
malnutrition. Note any debates over the malnutrition of women.
Thank you, Tanya”
2)
On a related note, I have just received the copy-edited version of my
contribution to the encylopedia:
The healing activities of women outside the designated health professions
If anyone would be willing to read it, and suggest any changes or
alternate bibliographic references, I would be most grateful.
Please email me directly:
ae.birn@utoronto.ca
3) and it was great seeing everyone in Montreal. Here is my news:
Anne-Emanuelle Birn has received a Fulbright Multidisciplinary
Research Scholarship to France for 2007-8 for her project “French
Connections: Montevideo, Paris and International Child Health,
1890-1950.” She will be based at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en
Sciences Sociales (EHESS); the Institut National d’Etudes
Démographiques (INED); and the Centre de Recherche Médecine, Sciences,
Santé et Societé (CERMES-INSERM).