ASEH annual conference

Madison, Wisconsin

March 28-31, 2012

Hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Culture, History and Environment, our 2012 conference will include trips to the Leopold Shack, Taliesin, Forest Products lab, and UW arboretum - and a plenary session featuring Jennifer Price.

The deadline for proposing panels, roundtables, and papers is July 8, 2011. Click here for more info.

The most important thing we do collectively as members of ASEH is to gather annually to talk, think, eat, drink, and laugh together.  In 2011 the gathering of the tribe, otherwise known as the annual meeting of the ASEH, took place in Phoenix, Arizona.  Approximately 580 scholars took part, making this our second best-attended conference.

Far in advance of the meeting, the Program Committee (chaired by Richard Tucker) and the Local Arrangements Committee (chaired by Paul Hirt), had settled on a theme of "sustainability." This fit well with the identity of the official host of the meeting, Arizona State University, which has created a School of Sustainability - a radical new departure in higher education to which environmental history ought to have much to offer. And it fit well with the location in Phoenix, a fascinating model of unsustainable development if ever there was one.

Months before the scheduled meeting, the Arizona state legislature passed an immigration bill  - the famous S.B. 1070 -  that many ASEH members found deeply objectionable. That bill is apparently destined for a long career in the courts, where so far federal judges have found it unconstitutional. But many ASEH members had to think twice about going to Arizona, and the Program, Local Arrangements, and Diversity Committees had to think about how to adjust to the new situation. They proved light on their feet and in short order had organized special events, including a half-day workshop on "Environmental Justice in Arizona and Beyond," and a plenary discussion on immigration, borderlands, and the environment.

In effect, the conference acquired a second theme to go along with sustainability. The Arizona law, if it becomes that, occasioned a principled debate within ASEH and a practical (and principled) response that I regard as a good reflection upon our organization. ASEH members turned crisis into educational opportunity.

The program in Phoenix included panels on tried and true topics such as national parks and 1960s environmentalism. It probably broke new ground for ASEH with panels on subjects such as cruelty to animals and the politics of molecular biology.  Arizona and the borderlands region were well represented. It seemed to me that there were fewer panels and presentations dealing with Africa or Latin America than in recent years, which I hope will prove a blip rather than a trend.

As usual, field trips proved a highlight. I found the smorgasbord of options enticing but my choice easy: in my 56 years I had never seen the Grand Canyon. So I joined the convivial contingent northbound to the South Rim, eager to admire the views and listen to old Grand Canyon hands such as Don Hughes and Steve Pyne.  Many of the famous wonders of the world cannot live up to their billing.This is emphatically not true of the Grand Canyon.  Pictures, even if worth a thousand words, do not do it justice, making it an arithmetical impossibility for me to describe it verbally within the space of this column.

-John McNeill

the profession:

top 10 things to know before starting an oral history project

by Mark Madison

National Conservation Training Center, US Fish and Wildlife Service

I should begin by professing my ignorance about this topic. After many years as an environmental historian, I became convinced that oral histories would add life and texture to our existing narratives. Yet in overseeing more than 600 oral histories I also made many mistakes - sins of omission and commission - which I am here to confess in the hopes that you can be more immediately successful.

1.  Technology is your friend (and your enemy).
In just over decade of conducting oral histories we have moved from microcassettes to Sony Minidisks, to mini-DV tapes, and now digital audio files. Each transition has allowed better fidelity and accessibility, but it has also tested our ability to convert audio files and to master new machines. Many of our oral histories begin with the immortal words: "Is this thing on?"

2.  Nobody wants to hear you!
The oral history is about the subject, not the interviewer. And nobody wants to hear a dishwasher, phone, or dog in the background.

3.  An hour of tape is worth a month of work.
Conducting and recording the interview is relatively easy and fun. Then comes the hard work of transcribing, editing, reviewing, and posting online. This can take much longer and test resources, patience, and lifespan of reviewers.

4.  Make a list and check it twice.
We have about 3000 retirees in our database [at the National Conservation Training Center] and that only includes a fraction of our employees. We also have a huge network of collaborators/affiliated scientists/partners we should interview. Prioritization is a key to marking progress; without a roadmap we are lost.

5.  Actuarial tables matter.
I cannot count the number of oral histories we conducted less than a year before the subject died.

6.  "The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened."
-Mark Twain
In the words of that other great historian, Ronald Reagan, we should "trust but verify" any information that comes exclusively from memories.

7.  The majority of history is not written.
This can be understood two ways. First, we need to do oral histories because the written record is a thin slice of our history. Second, we are documenting a new history as we compile these oral histories.

8.  If an oral history falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it - why did you do it?
It is useless to do these oral histories if historians cannot find them.  Don't waste the time, money, or effort.  At NCTC, we have moved all our oral history transcripts online (http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/) and the increase in use has been exponential.

9.  "The perfect is the enemy of the good."

-Voltaire
We have many imperfect oral histories - most of my transcripts are imperfect - and I have not had a chance to update my oral history guide in 10 years. Yet overall, there are some important elements in these oral histories that I would never give up. We have captured co-workers of Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold, behind the scenes debates on endangered species, and memories of segregated Civilian Conservation Corps camps. They are imperfect - like many historical records -  but also invaluable.

10.  The future belongs to historians!
If we don't do oral histories today we will be in the same boat regretting that no one did an oral history with Thoreau, George Perkins Marsh, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, etc.  We all chase historical records - both written and oral. By expanding the available documentation we explicitly shape the history that is preserved. In that way we control the future of history every day by what we choose to record and save and, alternately, by what we choose to ignore.

The author interviewed Aldo Leopold's student Art Hawkins, pictured here, for NCTC's oral history collection.

Sara B. Pritchard's book, Confluence: The Nature of Technology and the Remaking of the Rhone, was recently published by Harvard University Press.

Michael Rawson, who earned his Ph.D. in urban and environmental history from UW-Madison in 2005, was named one of three finalists for this year's Pulitzer Prize in History for the book based on his dissertation,

Eden on the Charles: The Making of Boston, published last year by Harvard University Press. The Pulitzer Committee said of Mike's book that it was "an impressive selection of case studies that reveal how Boston helped shape the remarkable growth of American cities in the 19th century." 

Marsha Weisiger has been appointed as the first holder of the Rocky and Julie Dixon Chair for the History of the American West at the University of Oregon.

The American Council of Learned Societies recently awarded fellowships to the following ASEH members:

Melanie A. Kiechle - Dissertation Completion Fellowship
Doctoral Candidate, History, Rutgers University, New Brunswick
"The Air We Breathe": Nineteenth-Century Americans and the Search for Fresh Air

Kristoffer Whitney - Dissertation Completion Fellowship
Doctoral Candidate, History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
A Knot in Common: Science, Politics, and Values in Crowded Nature

Amrys O. Williams - Dissertation Completion Fellowship
Doctoral Candidate, History of Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Cultivating Modern America: 4-H Clubs and Rural Development in the Twentieth Century

Congratulations to all!

ASEH presented the following awards at the annual conference in April:

Distinguished Service Award: Jeffrey K. Stine 

George Perkins Marsh Prize for best book: Brett Walker, Toxic Archipelago: A History of Industrial Disease in Japan, University of Washington Press.

Alice Hamilton Prize for best article outside Environmental History: Paul Sutter, "What Gullies Mean: Georgia's 'Little Grand Canyon' and Southern Environmental History," The Journal of Southern History (August 2010). 

Leopold-Hidy Prize for best article in Environmental History: Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert and David Schecter, "The Environmental Dynamics of a Colonial Fuel-Rush: Silver Mining and Deforestation in New Spain, 1522 to 1810." (January 2010 issue).
 

Rachel Carson Prize for best dissertation: Chris Manganiello, "Dam Crazy with Wild Consequences:  Artificial Lakes and Natural Rivers in the America South, 1845-1990," University of Georgia. 

Click here to view comments on this year's awards.

ASEH award submissions - 2nd notice

This year ASEH's prize committees will evaluate submissions (published books and articles and completed dissertations) that appear between November 1, 2010 and October 31, 2011.

Please send three copies of each submission (these must be hard copies, or paper copies) by November 10, 2011 to:
 

Lisa Mighetto

ASEH, UW Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Program

University of Washington

1900 Commerce Street

Tacoma, WA  98402

Samuel P. Hays Research Fellowship
  

ASEH created this fellowship to recognize the contributions of Samuel P. Hays, the inaugural recipient of the society's Distinguished Scholar Award, and to advance the field of environmental history, broadly conceived. The fellowship provides a single payment of $1,000 to help fund travel to and use of an archive or manuscript repository. It is open to practicing historians (either academic, public, or independent). Graduate students are ineligible. A Ph.D. is not required. Submissions will be accepted June 17 - September 30, 2011, and the recipient will be selected and notified in December 2011 for funding in January 2012.

 
To apply, please submit the following items:
  

• A two-page statement (500 words) explaining your project and how you intend to use the research funds.
• A c.v. no more than three pages in length.
    

All items for the Samuel P. Hays Research Fellowship must be submitted electronically to Phil

Garone, chair of the committee,

by September 30, 2011 at pgarone@csustan.edu

Hal Rothman Research Fellowship
  

The Hal Rothman Research Fellowship was created to recognize graduate student achievements in environmental history research in honor of Hal Rothman, recipient of ASEH's Distinguished Service award in 2006 and editor of Environmental History for many years. The fellowship provides a single payment of $1,000 for Ph.D. graduate student research and travel in the field of environmental history, without geographical restriction. The funds must be used to support archival research and travel during 2011.

Students enrolled in any Ph.D. program worldwide are eligible to apply. Applications will be accepted June 17 -  September 30, 2011, and the recipient will be selected and notified in December 2011, for funding in January 2012.

To apply, please submit the following three items:

•  two-page statement (500 words) explaining your project and how you intend to use the research funds.
• A c.v.
• A letter of recommendation from your graduate advisor. 

All items for the Hal Rothman Research Fellowship must be submitted electronically to Kim Little, chair of the committee,

by September 30, 2011 at klittle@uca.edu
  

 
call for proposals to host ASEH cnference

ASEH's site selection committee is now soliciting proposals from individuals or groups who are interested in hosting our annual meeting in 2015. Those interested should contact the chair of the site selection committee, Sarah S. Elkind

selkind@mail.sdsu.edu

for a copy of the ASEH's conference guidelines and other information. The deadline for submission of proposals for the 2015 meeting is December 31, 2011. Please keep in mind that hosting a conference requires substantial effort and time as well as significant institutional support, and that the proposed local arrangement chair must reside in the city proposed. 

election results

ASEH held an election before our annual conference, and the results were announced at the meeting. New officers and executive committee members are listed at the end of this newsletter. We are grateful to Paul Hirt, Nancy Jacobs, Mark Stoll, and Doug Weiner, who are rotating off the executive committee, for their service.

Environment, Culture & Place in a Rapidly Changing North: ASLE off-year symposium 

June 14-17, 2012

University of Alaska Southeast

www.uas.alaska.edu/asle 
 

The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment invites proposals for its off-year symposium in Juneau, Alaska. Proposals related to the field of literature and environment broadly, or to the symposium theme specifically, should include a 250-word abstract, paper title, your name, and affiliation. Proposals for pre-organized panels and interdisciplinary work are encouraged. Submit proposals to Sarah Jaquette Ray (sjray@uas.alaska.edu) and Kevin Maier

(kevin.maier@uas.alaska.edu) by November 5, 2011.

ASEH Graduate Student Caucus

In early April, the first meeting of ASEH's new graduate student caucus took place via Skype. The caucus is an informal group and it is open to any ASEH grad student member. Its goal is to mobilize grad students for projects of common interest that meet graduate student needs and foster a supportive community. The caucus is now planning a half-day graduate student workshop that will be delivered as part of next year's conference program in Madison. We want your input on workshop planning, so please visit our survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/25QZ255 to add your input.

You can also join the caucus or send comments about the workshop by e-mailing the current graduate student representative, Will Knight, at:

wknight@connect.carleton.ca. Will will also be sending the survey link and workshop news via e-mail and Facebook. The caucus has now held three meetings, including a face-to-face session in Phoenix, and uses Skype to keep in touch.

Note: thanks to funding from the National Science Foundation, additional travel grants will be available for ASEH's 2012 conference. Applications will be accepted in the fall of 2011, once the Madison program is established. Watch for details in the fall issue of this newsletter and on ASEH's website (www.aseh.net - awards and funding).

fire and water: a century of cooperative forestry 

by Silas Chamberlin and Dan Karalus, graduate student assistants

At this year's ASEH conference, the US Forest Service (USFS) convened leading forest history scholars and forestry practitioners to assess the centennial legacy of the 1911 Weeks Act and consider the future of cooperative forestry in America. The well-attended morning workshop was unique in the wide-ranging perspective and expertise of each panelist - not to mention the collective knowledge of the audience.

In the afternoon, two buses of workshop participants and conference attendees travelled 40 miles northeast of Phoenix to the Sears Kay archaeological site in Tonto National Forest. At three million acres, Tonto is the fifth largest National Forest in the nation. Braving temperatures in the mid-90s, the group made the short ascent to the hilltop Sears Kay Ruin - a Hohokum site first occupied around 1500 AD. As the group examined the remaining building foundations, the conversation continually returned to the remarkable ability of the Hohokum to transport such necessities as building materials, water, and food across the vast, arid expanses of the Tonto.

USFS staff spoke about the archaeological value of the site, the struggle to protect cultural resources from vandalism and over use, and the various strategies for managing a large forest on the edge of a sprawling urban center. The chance to see forest management in action very well complemented the morning workshop and discussion.

Note: The USFS plans to sponsor another field trip at our conference in Madison in 2012.

John McNeill's baseball quiz

As ASEH president, Harriet Ritvo earned all our gratitude - but before she could receive her well-deserved token of appreciation from the ASEH membership, incoming president John McNeill asked that she pass what might have been the first-ever baseball and environmental history pop quiz. The token of appreciation was a baseball signed by a Red Sox stalwart, chosen because Harriet is a lifelong fan of Boston's team. She had to identify that stalwart based on the following clues:

   (a) he was born in the same year that a Swiss chemist discovered the insecticidal properties of DDT

    (b) he made his major league debut the year before the publication of Silent Spring

     (c) he hit 44 home runs in the year of the Torrey Canyon oil spill

   (d) he entered the Hall of Fame in the year in which the Montreal Protocol was signed

At this point, Prof. Ritvo calmly and correctly announced the correct answer: Carl Yastrzemski. A meticulous scholar, she had formed her hypothesis (she later recounted) at the second clue, but patiently accumulated more data before committing herself irrevocably to the Yastrzemski position. Further clues, which she did not need, included:

   (e) in the year in which the EPA was created, he batted .329, his career high
   (f) he retired from the Red Sox in the same year as the publication of Changes in the Land
   (g) the number on his Red Sox uniform was greater, by one, than the number of titles listed under the name Harriet Ritvo in the Library of Congress catalog
   (h) his career home run total was within 5% of the total number of nuclear power plants currently in operation around the world

high school students learn about environmental history in Phoenix

ASEH's education committee organized a visit by Tempe High School to the conference, prompting the following thank-you note from their teacher:

Students from Tempe High School had an excellent educational experience when they attended the ASEH conference in Phoenix, AZ. They had to opportunity to view posters explaining research projects, check out many interesting books in the exhibit area, and listen to presentations by people in the field. The presentations were especially educational for the students as they learned about how Antarctica is managed, and many viewpoints on managing and visiting the National Parks. Some students were intrigued by the idea of ... a summer job in the great outdoors. From the students at THS, thanks so much for the insight into environmental history!
 
Thanks again,
Mary Bridget, teacher

pictured above and below: post-conference field trip to the Grand Canyon

  

pictured left and below: poster session and exhibit area

pictured above: environmental justice workshop

Marty Melosi and Susan Flader, two past presidents, enjoy an outdoor reception, while incoming president John McNeill poses with outgoing president Harriet Ritvo (pictured below).

pictured above: dinner from sustainable food vendors before plenary session

Above: volunteers hard at work Below: Local arrangements committee chair Paul Hirt and Linda Jaske

Thank you

Phoenix local arrangements team!