New ICOHTEC Newsletter • No 37: June 2006

Editor: Stefan Poser

Editorial

Dear colleagues and friends,

The 33rd Symposium of the ICOHTEC “Transforming Economies and Civilization – The Role of Technology“ will take place in about six weeks; thus please find an introduction into the subject, written by our President Hans Joachim Braun, and the programme of the scientific sections as fist chapter of the newsletter. Just to remember: If you intend to give a lecture and you did not submit your registration form to our local organizer, Alex Keller, University of Leicester agk@leicester.ac.uk until now, please do this today.

It will be a pleasure to meet you in Leicester. All my best wishes

Yours Stefan Poser

Contents
I. ICOHTEC Symposium in Leicester 2006 (p. 2)
II. Forthcoming Conferences (p. 12)
III. Summer Schools and Scholarships (p. 16)
IV. Recently Published Books (p. 16)

I. ICOHTEC Symposium in Leicester 2006
The International Committee for the History of Technology, ICOHTEC
33rd Symposium in Leicester, U.K., 15 - 20 August 2006
Transforming Economies and Civilizations
The Role of Technology

It seems that the historical discipline is increasingly neglecting the long view. To look just at the 20th century or only at the post World War II period seems to be more useful for obtaining funds to carry out research projects. More than ever the historical discipline seems to have to prove its usefulness: the historian as advisor to solve current political, economic or social problems. If this is the aim, why should we deal with all this old crap and with people who have been dead for such a long time?

However, things are not that easy. To be able to contribute to solving current problems we need a view, which is informed by the past. This does not necessarily mean that we have to go back to Ancient Greece or Rome with every problem we have in mind. Nevertheless, in most cases we need more than a few years or even a few decades. Issues of great relevance for the future like problems of energy supply, materials or transportation and communication have to be looked at with a long view. How did they develop, what crucial problems were there in the past, what different solutions existed, which road was taken and to what effect; which option was neglected and could perhaps, be revived again?

Since 1968 ICOHTEC has tackled problems like this, but at our symposium in Leicester the long view will, deliberately, be in the forefront, trying to counteract a tendency which has increased in the field of history as well as in other scholarly disciplines: increasing specialization and differentation, neglecting long term developments. After all, it is time that history is all about, at least to a large extent.

Although the main theme of the symposium will focus on issues dealing with the longue durée, it would be foolish to exclude other topics, which do not exactly fit into this. The iron should be forged, while it is hot and it would be unreasonable to reject an interesting and scholarly promising paper, because it does not fit squarely into the main theme of the symposium.

So, come to Leicester. ICOHTEC has a tradition of combining innovative scholarly work with excursions to industrial archaeology places, and our social programme, including our renowned jazz party, has added and will continue to add to the symposium’s attractiveness. Already during the grim times of the Cold War, when politicians had problems talking to each other, ICOHTEC carried out international research projects in the history of technology, bridging the gap between East and West. Fortunately, these days are over, but there are new challenges. Our local organizing Committee chaired by Alex Keller; Timo Myllyntaus our secretary general and, of course, Jim Williams and his ICOHTEC programme committee are doing their best organizing an ICOHTEC symposium which will be intellectually stimulating, enjoyable and memorable. If you have not yet done so: Put 15–20 August into your calendar for ICOHTEC Leicester. But more importantly: Don’t leave it at that. Join us there.

Hans-Joachim Braun
ICOHTEC President

Program of the ICOHTEC 2006

The programme of the symposium will contain a Kranzberg Lecture, more than 120 papers presented in 19 scientific sessions for three days, excursions, and social events in evenings.

The symposium opens on Tuesday, the 15th of August 2006, and will end on Saturday, 19th of August, 22:00.

Tuesday, 15 August

15:00-17:00 Registration at Stamford Hall
17:15-18:00 Opening Ceremony
18:00-19:00 Kranzberg Lecture:

Einstein, Picasso: The Role of Technology in the Discovery of Cubism and Relativity

Arthur I. Miller, Emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London.

Parallel Sessions A
Wednesday, 16 August

1 A - Military Technology (org. Barton Hacker)

Sections 1-4

09:00-10:45 Section 1 - Through the Early 19th Century (chair Jeffrey Larrabee)

Barton Hacker, Firearms and Slaves: Slavery as a Military System

Michael Pesek, Ruga-Ruga: The History of an African, and Later, Colonial Military Institution, 1820–1919

Thomas J. Sadowski, Eli Whitney Redux; Or, Risk, Its Management, and the Early

Promotion of Arms Contracts with the U.S. Government

11:15-13:00 Section - 2 - From the Late 19th Century through the First World War

(chair Barton Hacker)

Steve Walton, Scientists and Sailors: US Naval Torpedo Station research after the Civil War

Kathleen M. Scott, Technologies of Citizenship: Gender, Food, and World War I

American Dietetics

Jeffrey C. Larrabee, Lafayette, We Are Here: Volunteerism, Bureaucracy, and US Army Ambulances in World War I

Margaret Vining, The Military Uses of Applied Social Science: Sophonisba Breckinridge in World War I

14:15-16:00 Section 3 - From the First World War through the Second (chair Margaret Vining)

David Zimmerman, The Scientific Translator and the Introduction of Advanced Technology into the Military, 1914–1945

Vasily Borisov, Birth of Radar in the USSR: Make-believe, Hopes and Practicability

Jeremy R. Kinney, Air Racing, Aeronautical Technology, and the Rise of Military Aviation

16:30-18:15 Section 3 (continued) (chair Kathleen Scott)

Dorotea Gucciardo, “Another of Those Mad, Wild Schemes”: Civilian Innovation in

Canada during the Second World War

Lisa L. Ossian, Junior Commandos' Mili-Toys: American Children's Militaristic Play

during the Second World War

Kara S. Hammond, Robots and the Artistic Imagination: Militaristic Technology as

Subject and Medium

Thursday, Section 5 A

09:00-10:45 Section 4 - After World War Two (chair David Zimmermann)

Joseph P. Harahan, Combining Military Professionalism, Technological Mastery of

Nuclear Weapon Systems, and Diplomacy: General-Colonel V. A. Mikhtyuk and

the Decommissioning, Dismantlement, and Destruction of the 43rd Rocket Army (Nuclear) in Ukraine, 1994-2002

Frode Lindgjerdet, The Social Preconditions for NetWar: A Historical Perspective

Stefan Kaufmann, Land Warrior: The Reconfiguration of the Soldier in the Information Age

2 A - Gender & Technology in Everyday Life (chair Timo Myllyntaus)

Thursday, 11:15-13:00

Elise Laiho-Suominen, Hairdressing Trade and Its Professional Technology in Finland, 1920 – 1939

Teija Försti, Automobility & Gender in Finland in the 1920s

Riikka Terho, “Every Modern Woman has a Driving License!” - Domesticating the Car by Finnish Women, 1950 - 1970

3A - Globalization and Technology Transfer: The Developing Countries (Alexandre Herléa and Juan José Saldana)

Friday, Sections 1-4

09:00-10:45 Section 1 –

Introductory Remarks:

Alexandre Herléa, Globalization and Technology Transfer

Juan José Saldana, Globalization and Technical Backwardness

Susana Alvarez and Juan José Saldana, Local Factors in Technology Transfer:

the Production of Steroids in Mexico

Maria Alvarez-Lires and Uxio Perez-Rodriguez, Proposals of innovation in the use of

“hot waters” in the Spanish 18th Century: Its use in Science Education

11:15-13:00 Section 2 – (chair Alexandre Herléa)

Vera Candiani, Frustrated innovators: royal military engineers in colonial Mexico’s Desagüe de Huehuetoca and the impediments to technological change

Juan M. Cervantes and Juan José Saldana, Emergence and Development of the

Technology of Pigmentation in Mexican Aviculture (1960-1970)

Nicolás Cuvi, The Cinchona Missions in Latin America during World War II

14:15-16:00 Section 3 – (chair Juan José Saldana)

Svante Jonsson & Javier Hernandez Ramirez, What Has Made It Possible for Man and

Economy to go Global? In Fact, Not only the Technological Breakthroughs

Mina Kleiche-Dray, Re-organization of a “traditional” irrigation system under the French Protectorate in Morocco: interactions between users, engineers and the state in the 1930s

Juan José Martin-Frechilla, The exiles of Spanish Civil War and the Venezuelan sanitary system for the public health 1936-1958

Raúl Domínguez Martínez and Juan José Saldana, A new Paradigm in Civil Engineering as a Consequence of the Reinforced Concrete new Availability

16:30-18:15 Section 4 -

Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Wood and steel in the Mexican agriculture tools in the XVIth

century: environmental and work consequences in the New World

Guadalupe Araceli Urban Martinez and Juan José Saldana, Agricultural Chemistry and chemical fertilizers production in Mexico (1850-1915)

Pompiliu Manea, The transfer of the radio-diagnostic and radio-therapy technology in Romania from the end of the 19th Century on

4A - Information Technology (Vitaly Gorokhov)

Saturday, Sections 1-2

9:15-10:45 Section 1 -

Irina Alekseeva, History of the Problem of Ethical, Cognitive and Social Problems of the Application of ICTs in Education

Gang Liu, Philosophy of Information and Foundation for the Future Chinese Philosophy of Science and Technology

Vitaly Gorokhov, Discussions about Information and Communication Technologies in

Russia: the History of Information Revolution in the USSR and modern

11:15-13:00 Section 2 – (chair Vitaly Gorokhov)

Robert Hauser, The fears and hopes in the history of media technologies and their

impacts on culture

Alexander Lavroukhin, Historical Development of Information and Telecommunication Technologies in Russia

Dmitry V. Efremenko, Socio-Economic Transition and Development of Information Technologies in Russia

5A- Aspects of Technological Transfer

Saturday, 14:15-16:00

Horia Colan, English Industrial Revolution Conquers France in the Field of Metallurgy (1750-1830)

Boleslaw Orlowski, Transfer of Technology as Byproduct of Political Events

(on the Example of Poland)

Jan Kunnas, Against the Tide – Technology Transfer from the Periphery

Parallel Sessions B

1B - From the Ivory Tower to the Gallery Floor, or Does Technology Drive History, and Where Can I Change Baby’s Nappies? (Daniel Albert)

Wednesday, 09:00-10:45 (chair Constantin Canavas)

Daniel Albert, Interpreting the maritime as history of technology

Jane Insley, Little Landscapes - A long look at 20th century arable farming in the UK,

and its portrayal in the Science Museum, London

Ben Russell, Mind the Gap: Interpreting the history of technology in museums

Helen Peavitt, Why irons are useful and sugar tongs are not

2B - Technology & Environment

Wednesday, Sections 1-3

11:15-13:00 Section 1 - Revolutions, Rationalizations & Thinking (chair Anthony

Stranges)

James C. Williams, Rationalizing the Place of Humans in Nature

Alvin Kibel, Technological Worlds

Seija A. Niemi, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld - Transformer of Environmental Thinking?

Brett Bennett, The Last Great Turn in History: The Environmental Revolution

14:15-16:00 Section 2 - Forests & Other landscapes (chair James Williams)

Timo Myllyntaus, Restoring Forest to its Historical State: A Goal for a Conservationist and a Venture for a Forester?

Constantin Canavas, Short-period changes with long-term impact? Medieval

Mediterranean timber revisited

Masaaki Okada, Asthetic Interpretation of Technoscape

16:30-18:15 Section 3- Water (chair Timo Myllyntaus)

Crelis Rammelt & Wim Ravesteijn, The dynamics of technology and society in a

development situation: the case of flood protection in Bangladesh

Viktor Pal, Water supply, waste water treatment and technology change in Hungary after 1945

Ed Todd, Building and Maintaining Water Systems in Louisiana and the Ruhr, 1890-

1935

3B - Sound and Technology (Hans-Joachim Braun)

Thursday, Sections 1-2

09:00-10:45 Section 1 - (chair Susan Horning)

Hans-Joachim Braun, All Ears: Sound Studies. Were Are We; Were Could (Should) We Go From Here?

Outi Ampuja, Modern Soundscape – the Target of Systematic Interventions? Notices

about Noise Control in the City of Helsinki, Finland, 1950–2002

Detlev Zimmermann, The Aesthetic Relation of Electric Instruments and Technology

John Cloud, The Theory and the Bombs: the Discovery of the Deep Sound Channel of the Oceans

11:15-13:00 Section 2 - (chair Hans-Joachim Braun)

Susan Horning, Manipulative Women: A Brief History of Women in Sound Engineering From the Phonograph to the Control Room

Roland Wittje, The rise of electroacoustics in Germany during the interwar years
Andre Millard, Playing at 11: Electronic Distortion and the Sound of American Popular Music

4B - Technology in the Public Sphere
Friday, 09:00-10:45 (chair Jan Tapdrup)

Stefan Poser, Risk-Management in Play and Work at the Turn to the 20th Century and Nowadays

Robert Jacobs, Good Bomb/Bad Bomb: American Nuclear Narratives during the

Atmospheric Testing Era

Howard Segal, The Wave of the Future: High-Tech Utopias and American History

5B - Gunpowder (Brenda Buchanan)

Friday, Sections 1-3

11:15-13:00 Section 1 -

Yoel Bergman, Poudre B development and production; an historical outline

Ruth Rhynas Brown, Gunfounding in the early modern era: a global perspective

Brenda Buchanan, Pyrotechnics: ‘The Art of Making Fireworks For Real as Well as for Triumph’

14:15-16:00 Section 2 – (chair Brenda Buchanan)

Kelly DeVries, Gunpowder and Gunpowder Weapons at the Sieges of Rhodes in 1480

and 1522

John Edmonds, The production of Medieval Saltpetre

Ian D. Rae, Gunpowder Manufacture as a Cover for Espionage … or Fraud?

16:30-18:15 Section 3 – (chair Ian Rae)

Lila Rakoczy, Exploding the myth: Gunpowder and castle destruction in the English Civil War

Robert D. Smith, Sulfur - an experimental approach. Recent work and future directions

Petter Wulff, Search for New Technology: Introducing armour in the Swedish armed

forces

6B - Technological Infrastructure and Innovation (Lars Bluma)

Saturday, Sections 1-2

09:00-10:45 Section 1 – (chair Lars Bluma)

Reinhold Bauer, Innovation within an “Old” System – De- and Re-Stabilization of the

“Steam-Railway-System” in Germany in the Inter-War Era

Frank Dittmann, Innovations in power supply systems

Hans-Luidger Dienel, From Ship to Airplane: Modal Shift on the Atlantic, 1945-1980

Slowmir Lotysz, Who Immersed the Tunnel: the Early 19th Century Pioneers of Modern Technology

11:15-13:00 Section 2 - (chair Reinhold Bauer)

Lars Bluma, Heavy snowfall, elephants, sabotage and other little incidents. The role of incident-innovations for the evolution of the telephone system

Michael Hascher, Freight Transport in the Underground – a failed innovation?

Mats Fridlund, The Contradictions of “Corporate Luddism”: Resistance to Radical Technological Innovation during the Third Industrial Revolution

7B - Materials

Saturday, 14:15-16:00 (chair Vassily P. Borisov)

Iresha Udayangani Atthanayake, Long - term developments in the use of materials –

Steel

Lawrence Lestel, Lead uses and impact in France, 1950-2000

Arjan van Rooji, A revolution in materials. The introduction of nylon into the Dutch

hosiery industry, 1945-1970

Liliya Ponomarenko, At the beginning of Cryogenic Technology in Ukraine

Parallel Sessions C

1C - Energy

Wednesday, Sections 1-3

09:00-10:45 Section 1 - Aspects of Electric Power (chair Mats Frilund)

Tharsila De Medeiros, From Electric Lamp to Particle Accelerators:

Notes about the contribution of Electrical Industry to Nuclear Science

Efstathios Arapostathis, Morality, Locality and System Building: Consulting Engineering in the British Electrical Industry, 1880-1914

Y. Srinivasa Rao, Role of “Colonized Context” and the Development of Electricity: The Case of Madras Presidency, 1900-1947

11:15-13:00 Section 2 - Evolutions in Energy (chair Walter Kaiser)

Ignancio Gonzalez Tascon, Medieval Water and Wind Power

Karel Zeithammer, The milestones of steam-engine technology in Central Europe

Elena Helerea, Technological Energy as a Characteristic of the Complex Technical

Systems: Relevant Examples

Ante Sekso Telento, Contributions of Tesla and other Inventors from Croatia in Energy Transfromation and Utilisation Systems

14:15-16:00 Section 3 - Oil and Gas (chair Wolfhard Weber)

M.E. Movsumzade and I.S. Djafarov, The past, the present and the future of oil-field gas (based on the example from OAO “Gasprom”)

T.A. Aliyev, N.C. Movsumzada, and A.E. Karayev, Mathematical methods and

information technology in oil and gas industry

2C - Technical Heritage

Wednesday, 16:30-18:15 (chair Outi Ampuja)

Stanislaw Januszewski, Technical Heritage of Solovetski Islands - research for the protection strategy

Rychter Agnieszka, Upper Silesian Hoist Towers in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Tatsuya Kobayashi, Industrial Tourism and Changing Landscape through Technological Restorations: Its Real Case and the Orientation to Reorganizing Local Museum Activities in Japan

Liviu Alexandru Sofonea, et al, Ancient Military Technical Systems Studied and Prepared to be used in Recent Museums Vivum in South Transilvania, Romania

3C - Communications

Thursday, Sections 1-2

09:00-10:45 Section 1 -

Colin A. Hempstead, Oceanic Cables, 1850-75: Ambitions, Exploration and Culture

Neil Barton, Transforming Cities or Transforming Communications? : The UK Electric Telegraph 1850-1857

Richard M. Escalante, Tele-colonialism: A Historical Perspective of the Role of

Telecommunications Technology in Caribbean Society

11:15-13:00 Section 2 – (chair Richard Escalante)

Litvinko Alla, Becoming of Radio Electronics in Ukraine as the important component of Technical Revolution in the beginning of XX c.

Vahur Mägi, Broadcasting as Social and Cultural Factor: Situation in Estonia between

Two World Wars

Thomas Haigh, SHARE and the Origins of Open Source Software: 1954-1972

4C - Technology & Social Perceptions: Between Fear of Technology and Technophobia (Robert Belot & Pierra Lamard)

Friday, Sections 1-2

09:00-10:45 Section 1 – (chair Alexandre Herléa)

Robert Belot, “Rightwing” and “leftwing” French technophobic culture : from the Vichy regime (1940-1944) to certain ecological tendencies of today

Laurent Heyberger, French physicians against the engine: Medical suspicions about

technology, 1850-1870

Pierre Lamard, A view of a French-style antagonism: scientific education versus

technological education

Mark Clark, Science and Technology Education and the Origins of Nerd Culture

11:15-13:00 Section 2 – (chair Robert Belot)

Jean-Louis Lenhof, Sail versus Steam: Resistance to mechanization on sea trade routes, 1840-1940

Maude Ligier, Technophobia and Technophilia: Two Faces of the Same Coin? When

Technology Joins “Anti-Art”

François Jarrige, The Republic against the Machines? Anti-machinery Riots after the

French Revolution of 1848

5C - Engineers & Scientists

Friday, 14:15-16:00 (chair Eric Pauer)

Angus Buchanan, I. K. Brunel: International Engineer

David Lewis, An Anglo-French Original: The Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering Career of Louis H. Coatalen

Stranges, Key Scientists in the History of Air Pollution: Part II

Sampsa Kaataja, Finnish Academic Scientists as Producers of Commercial Technology, 1900-2000

6C - Craftsmen & Engineers
Friday, 16:30-18:15 (chair Angus Buchanan)

Clive Edwards, The technical and cultural impacts of plywood technology in furniture

making in the period 1750-1950

John Crosnum, Unlocking the Secret of Greatness: Analyzing the Violin and Bow

Erich Pauer, From craftsman to engineer – The case of Tanaka Hisashige and his

followers in early Meiji Japan

7C - La Long Duree & Industrial Revolution

Saturday, 09:00-10:45 (chair Juan José Saldana)

Wolfhard Weber, “Industrial Revolution” – for more than five hundred years?

Akos Paulinyi, The Industrial Revolution. Why a technical revolution and not only“a mass of small-scale improvements“?

Walter Kaiser, Visualization as a “Longue Durée” Task of the Engineering Profession. A Comparative Study into Renaissance Drawings and Models Versus 20th Century CAD/FEM/VR-Methods

Bruno Cordovil Cordeiro, The Long Durée and the Historiography of Technology

II. Forthcoming Conferences

June, 15 – 18, 2006

Gesprächskreis Technikgeschichte
Von der Hanse zum globalen Warenverkehr.

Volkshochschule Osnabrück, Germany
Annual meeting of the Working Group for History of Technology on the history of trade since Medieval Times. For more information please visit the homepage http://www.gtg.tu-berlin.de/mambo/ index.php?option=com _content&task=category&sectionid=7&id =9&Itemid=147 or contact: Carl-Heinrich Bösling, boesling@vhs-osnabrueck.de

July 19–22, 2006

International Conference on the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF)

Philadelphia, USA

For more information please visit: http://www.chemheritage.org/events/alchemy/index.html

August 15 – 20, 2006

The International Committee for the History of Technology, ICOHTEC

33rd Symposium in Leicester, U.K.,

Transforming Economies and Civilizations – The Role of Technology (see above)

September 1 – 3, 2006

Georg-Agricola-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik

Melsungen, Germany

Gesundheit durch Medizin? Technik und Medizin seit dem Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts. Technology and Medicine since the end of the 19th century.

For more information: http://www.georg-agricola-gesellschaft.de/

Please contact: Roland.Ladwig@saxonia-freiberg.de

September 10-12, 2006

Electrifying Cultures: Standardisation vs. Diversity in Histories of Artefact and Experiment

Devonshire Hall, University of Leeds

Conference URL: http://www.hps.leeds.ac.uk/HPSNews/ElectrifyingCultures.htm

September 14-16, 2006

World Knowledge Dialogue

Crans-Montana, Switzerland

“Consilience”, defined by EO Wilson as “the interlocking of causal explanation across disciplines”, is the starting point for the World Knowledge Dialogue, a global initiative towards a modern humanism to bridge the gap between the natural and the human social sciences.

The two main topics selected for this year’s symposium are:

· Complex systems (climatology – life sciences – epistemology);

· Migration of modern humans (palaeontology – linguistics – genomics).

Presentations will be made by highly recognized personalities from the international intellectual and scientific community. Active conference-wide workshop participation will set the framework for new means of mutual understanding and collaborative working. The World Knowledge Dialogue is supported by Swiss universities and endorsed by the Swiss Government. Our networking office, the Consulate of Switzerland, will be in contact with you shortly.

You may download a program from our website: www.wkdialogue.org

Please contact: Lauren Webster, lauren@shareboston.org

September 28 – October 1, 2006
Kultur der Wissenschaften - Wissenschaften in der Kultur.

Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geschichte der Medizin, Naturwissenschaften und Technik DGGNMT und der Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsgeschichte in Braunschweig

Annual meeting on mutual influences between science and culture of the German Society for History of Medicine, Science and Technology and the Society for History of Science

The deadline passed to submit abstracts passed.

For more information please visit: http://www.dggmnt.de/tagungen/Braunschweig2006.html

Please contact: Mitchell Ash, Institut für Geschichte, Universität Wien mitchell.ash@univie.ac.at, or Herbert Mehrtens, Historisches Seminar, Technische Universität Braunschweig, h.mehrtens@tu-bs.de

October 12-15, 2006
Annual Meetings of the Society for the History of Technology SHOT
Imperial Palace - Las Vegas Hotel, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

For more information please visit the homepage: http://shot.press.jhu.edu/Annual_Meeting/Annual_Meeting_Main_Page.htm

If you have any questions regarding the program, please contact Jen Light, Program Committee Chair, at: light@northwestern.edu

February 22 – 23, 2007

Technikgeschichtliche Tagung des Vereins deutscher Ingenieure VDI

Düsseldorf

„Medizintechnik - mehr als Apparatemedizin“.

Call for Papers - Deadline: August 20, 2006

Symposium of the Association of German Engineers on the History of medical engineering and technology-based medicine.

For more information please visit: http://www.vdi.de/vdi/organisation/ schnellauswahl/ hauptgruppe/gesellschaft/10111/index.php
Please contact: Walter Kaiser, RWTH Aachen, Lehrstuhl für Geschichte der Technik, kaiser@histech.rwth-aachen.de

March 28-31, 2007

Vernacular Architecture ForumVAF 2007

Annual Meeting in Savannah, Georgia

“The High and Low, Ideal and Real: Architectural and Social Sorting in the City.”

Call for Papers - Deadline: September 1, 2006.

The Vernacular Architecture Forum invites paper proposals for its Annual Meeting in Savannah, Georgia, March 28-31, 2007. The conference theme is “The High and Low, Ideal and Real: Architectural and Social Sorting in the City.” Although papers may address any aspect of the cultural landscape worldwide, submissions are welcomed on topics related to the conference theme, such as: African American Identity; Coastal Landscapes; Creole architecture; German Lutheran Settlement Patterns; Plantations; Landscapes of Faith. Also welcome are proposals for complete sessions, roundtable discussions, and any innovative means that facilitates scholarly discourse. VAF encourages paper and session proposals from graduate and undergraduate students.

Proposals may be for a twenty-minute paper, or for a ten-minute “work in progress.” For more information on the Annual Meeting and Presenter Fellowships see http://vernaculararchitectureforum.org

Electronic submissions in Word format are preferred. Please send email proposals to Clifton.ellis@ttu.edu , or hardcopies to Clifton Ellis, VAF c/o College of Architecture, Texas Tech University, Box 42091, Lubbock, TX 79409-2091.

Please contact Daves Rossell at erossell@scad.edu

May 3-6, 2007

American Association for the History of Medicine, 80th Annual Meeting

Montreal, Quebec

Call for Papers – Deadline: September 15, 2006

The American Association for the History of Medicine invites abstracts for papers in any area of medical history for its 80th annual meeting. The Association welcomes submissions on the history of health and healing; history of medical ideas, practices, and institutions; and histories of illness, disease, and public health. Submissions from all eras and regions of the world are welcome. Besides single-paper proposals, the program committee accepts abstracts for three-paper sessions and for luncheon workshops. Please alert the Program Committee chair (pteigen@nih.gov) if you are planning a session proposal.

The AAHM uses an online abstract submissions system. It is located at http://histmed.org. Abstracts--none longer than 350 words--must be received by 15 September 2006. E-mail or faxed proposals are not acceptable.

Presentations are limited to 20 minutes.. Because the Bulletin of the History of Medicine is the official journal of the AAHM, the Association encourages speakers to make their manuscripts available for consideration by the Bulletin.

For more information please contact: Philip M. Teigen Program Committee Chair, History of Medicine Division, MSC 3819

National Library of Medicine, pteigen@nih.gov

June 1-2, 2007

“Entrepreneurial Communities”

Business History Conference Annual Meeting

Cleveland, Ohio

Call for Papers – Deadline: October 15, 2006

The 2007 annual meeting of the Business History Conference (BHC) will take place Friday and Saturday June 1-2 in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Weatherhead School of Management of Case Western Reserve University.

The theme for the conference is Entrepreneurial Communities, defined broadly in scope and scale. The entrepreneur is often thought of as a lone innovator, but how often does an entrepreneur really act alone? How and when does entrepreneurial activity rely on the input of other inventors, venture capitalists, lawyers, accountants, marketing specialists, government actors, laborers, and others? We are interested in papers that explore the roles of these actors and the broader social context in which entrepreneurial activity takes place. These include, but are not limited to, geographic (local, regional, national, or international), political, economic, social, and cultural (including the roles of race, class, ethnicity, religion, and gender) aspects of entrepreneurial communities. We are interested in papers that consider how firms and other groups (within, between, or outside particular firms), and society as a whole have organized themselves to foster or inhibit entrepreneurial activity. Finally, in keeping with longstanding BHC policy, the committee will also entertain submissions not directly related to the conference theme.

The deadline for receipt of all proposals is 15 October 2006. Notification of acceptances will be sent by January 2007. Presenters will be expected to submit abstracts of their papers for posting on the BHC website. In addition, presenters are encouraged to post electronic versions of their papers prior to the meeting, and to submit their papers for inclusion in our on-line proceedings publication, Business and Economic History On-Line. The BHC also offers graduate students who are presenting papers grants to offset some of the costs of attending the conference.

Please send all proposals to Dr. Roger Horowitz, Secretary-Treasurer, Business History Conference, P. O. Box 3630, Wilmington, DE 19807, USA. Phone: (302) 658-2400; fax: (302) 655-3188; email: rh@udel.edu.

III. Summer Schools and Scholarships

September 18 - 22, 2006
Tensions of Europe – Summer School
Integrating and Fragmenting Europe

The role of infrastructures, 1850-2000

Bordeaux University, France

Deadline for application: 30th of June 2006
Christophe Bouneau and Pascal Griset (convenors)
The First Annual Tensions of Europe Summer School will be hosted by the Bordeaux University, at the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme d’Aquitaine, under the auspices of the Tensions of Europe Summer School Program for junior scholars in the humanities and social sciences. The Summer School is open to advanced doctoral candidates, postdocs, and early-career teachers and researchers in higher education.

For more information see www.histech.nl/tensions and www.msha.fr

Please contact: Jan Oliva: jan.oliva1@libertysurf.fr

IV. Recently Published Books

Franz-Josef Brüggemeier, Mark Cioc, and Thomas Zeller (Eds.): How Green Were the Nazis? Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2005, “Series in Ecology and History.” Published simultaneously in paperback and hardcover.

This is the first scholarly overview in English of the politics of nature and the environment under the Nazi regime. Case studies include pollution, conservation, forestry, and the autobahn.

Gunter Gebauer, Stefan Poser, Robert Schmidt, Martin Stern (Eds.): Kalkuliertes Risiko. Technik, Spiel und Sport an der Grenze. Campus: Frankfurt/New York 2006.

The book argues for mutual influences between technology, play and risk in an interdisciplinary approach: Historians of technology, philosophers and sociologists discuss examples from sports and technology-based amusement as well as playful approaches to jobs.

Thomas Lekan and Thomas Zeller (Eds.): Germany’n Nature: Cultural Landscapes and Environmental History. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2005.

This volume examines the environmental history of Germany, using the lens of cultural landscapes to look at museums, agriculture, and driving, among other examples.

Wolfgang König, Walter Kaiser (Eds.): Geschichte des Ingenieurs - Ein Beruf in sechs Jahrtausenden. München: Hanser-Verlag 2006.

Beginning in Antique Times, the book describes the history of technicians and engineering. By that the development in different societies and states is compared.