Historic Children’s Voices Symposium

Virtual and In-Person Event

American Antiquarian Society

Thursday, May 2- Friday, May 3, 2024

Young writers in the1800s documented their daily lives, penned stories and poetry, expressed their beliefs and values, and commented on serious issues of the day. This American Antiquarian Society symposium will focus on the writings of nineteenth-century children, revealing lively imaginations and inquisitive minds. Held both in person and live-streamed online, the event brings together fifteen emerging and established scholars whose work draws attention to the voices of nineteenth-century American children and the fact that many are not represented in historical archives. Recent scholarship in the fields of history, literary studies, and childhood studies shows that unearthing these voices sheds light on nuanced and unique perspectives around the social and political concerns of the time.

The symposium corresponds with the launch of the Society’s new “Historic Children’s Voices” website. The site will feature digital versions of child-authored materials preserved at AAS, more than 15,000 pages of content available for free to all. These include diaries and hand-written newspapers, in which children record the details of their daily lives; imaginative stories and poems; drawings; and small-format, printed books made and published by children on home parlor presses. The contents of these materials and the panelists’ related research invite deep thinking about the value of children’s perspectives and the empowerment of children’s voices both in the past and today.

Registration is required.

Schedule

Thursday, May 2

7:00 to 8:00 PM
Keynote Address: Karen J. Sanchez-Eppler, Stanton Williams 1941 Professor of American Studies and English, Amherst College

Karen Sánchez-Eppler is L. Stanton Williams 1941 Professor of American Studies and English at Amherst College, and was the 2020 Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the American Antiquarian Society. She is the author of Touching Liberty: Abolition, Feminism, and the Politics of the Body (1993) and Dependent States: The Child’s Part in Nineteenth-Century American Culture (2005). Her scholarship has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Newberry Library, the Winterthur Library, the Stanford Humanities Center, and the Fulbright Foundation. She is one of the founding coeditors of the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth and past president of C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists.  

Friday, May 3

8:30 to 9:00 AM
Coffee and pastry for in-person participants (Goddard-Daniels House 190 Salisbury Street)

9:15 AM
Welcome: Scott Casper, President of AAS

9:30 to 11:00 AM
Panel 1: Authentic Children’s Voices
Panel Chair: Karen Sanchez-Eppler, Amherst College

Panelists:

• Emily Bruce, Associate Professor of History, University of Minnesota Morris
• Emily Gowan, Lecturer on History and Literature, Harvard University
• Mark Mattes, Assistant Professor of English, University of Louisville
• Elissa Myers, Librarian, Sam Houston University

11:15 to 12:45 PM
Panel 2: Archival Silences
Panel Chair: Koritha Mitchell, Professor of English, Ohio State University and Visiting Professor of English at Boston University

Panelists:

• Kabria Baumgartner, Dean’s Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies, Northeastern University
• Jacqueline Emery, Chair and Associate Professor of English, SUNY Old Westbury
• Wendy Raphael Roberts, Associate Professor of English, University at Albany, SUNY
• Nazera Sadiq Wright, Associate Professor of English, University of Kentucky

12:45 to 2:00 PM
Lunch for all in-person participants, Goddard-Daniels House, 190 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA

2:15 to 2:45 PM
Discussion of the Historic Children’s Voices project and new website resources with AAS curators Lauren B Hewes and Ashley Cataldo

2:45 to 4:00 PM
Panel 3: Visual Culture of Children’s Production
Panel Chair: Andrea Immel, Curator of the Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library

Panelists:

• Sara R. Danger, Professor of English, Valparaiso University
• Charline Jao, PhD candidate in Literatures in English, Cornell University
• Shawna McDermott, Lecturer in American Literature, St. Andrews University

4:15 to 5:45 PM
Panel 4: Hearing the Child’s Voice
Panel Chair: Laura Wasowicz, AAS Curator of Children’s Literature

Panelists:

• Maureen Egan, freelance writer of children’s picture books, Richmond, VA and Mary Eileen Fouratt, Program Officer for Access and Community for New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Asbury Park, New Jersey
• Elise Leal Henreckson, Assistant Professor of History, Whitworth University
• Katharine Kittredge, Professor of English, Ithaca College
• Karah M. Mitchell, PhD candidate in English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

6:00 to 7:00 PM
Reception for in-person participants, Goddard-Daniels House, 190 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA

Registration

Registration is required. In-person registration includes Friday lunch and Friday evening reception.

Full symposium – In person – $35

Full symposium – Virtual – $15

Thursday Evening (Keynote only) – In person – Free