Message from the President

Kriste Lindenmeyer

I write this on a stormy Sunday evening while making my way home after the 3^rd biennial SHCY Conference, August 4-7, held at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Even the weather delay in Atlanta that has kept my connecting flight to Baltimore on the ground does not dampen my memories of the exciting interactions I shared with other scholars of children and youth over the weekend. Special thanks to Jim Marten for his terrific organization of the meeting and to Marquette University for use of its wonderful facilities. Congratulations and thanks to Julia Grant on putting together a fabulous program. 

Approximately 120 enthusiastic participants attended the Milwaukee conference. As Joe Hawes told everyone in his Presidential Address, the historiography of our field has exploded over the past few years and there is good reason to be excited about the present and the future. I am honored to serve as SHCY's next president. The magic wand Joe passed on to me may come in handy, but I don't think it is necessary for ensuring the success of the study of the history of children and youth. As many presenters at the conference suggested, our field offers exciting new perspectives about old historical themes as well new topics important to furthering the study of history and beyond.

Kriste introducing Paula Fass at SHCY dinner

 

For example, no one made this point better than Paula Fass. In her keynote address she argued that examining the history of children and youth illustrates that globalization is not always the negative trend portrayed by many contemporary activists and social welfare reformers. Paula also urged SHCY members to use their findings to help shape current debates on the important issues touching the lives of children and youth around the world.

I spent last year as a Fulbright Senior Scholar teaching in the British and American Studies program at Martin Luther University in Halle, Germany. Living and teaching outside the United States made me even more conscious of the need to consider the many complex social and cultural factors contributing to the historical and contemporary constructions of childhood and youth. The historiography of our field has certainly made this point. A thoughtful discussion of Steven Mintz's new book, Huck's Raft, highlighted the links between the past, the present, and the future of childhood and youth experiences. Sessions also noted that there is a lot of work to be done in comparative history. Such efforts should reveal the connections linking the experiences of childhood and adolescence across national borders, cultural groups, and time periods.

The SHCY Executive Committee hopes that holding the 4^th Biennial conference in Sweden in the summer of 2007 will help to encourage further international exchange in the field of children's and youth history. We are grateful to Bengt Sandin and Linkšping University for their willingness to sponsor the event. At the SHCY business meeting Bengt shared some wonderful information about the exciting projects on children's history that have been completed by students and faculty at Linkšping University's Child Studies Program. He also showed some beautiful photographs of the campus and its facilities. I was privileged to visit the university last February and can attest to it being a wonderful location for our 2007 meeting. Bengt has secured support from the university administration so costs for holding the session will be minimal. The university also has dorm space close to the campus as well as hotels. The SHCY Executive Committee is exploring possible grant funding to help pay the travel expenses for graduate students, junior faculty, and independent scholars traveling to Sweden. Holding the meeting in Europe should help to attract new members to SHCY and underscore the organization's commitment to international study.

Many presenters at the Milwaukee conference emphasized the importance of viewing children and adolescents as powerful actors in their history. Agency has been a key argument in the history of childhood and youth during the past fifteen years. Panelists and audience members in the conference's last panel session held on Sunday morning suggested that this framework has been a useful tool that needs to be supplemented with additional questions and answers about children's lives in the past that might reveal more about the overall complexity of human experience. I am very excited to be part of this stimulating avenue of historical analysis and look forward to learning much from everyone in SHCY.  See you in Sweden in 2007!

 

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