Berkshire Conference of Women Historians

Purple wrist bands with the Berks, Women with a Past

Perhaps you already know us for our triennial meeting, The Berkshire Conference on the History of Women (“The Big Berks”) Launched in 1973, it is now the largest gathering of its kind in the world. Our 2020 meeting will be in Baltimore, MD.

Members are invited to our annual retreats, where many scholars begin their relationship to the organization in an atmosphere designed to promote friendship, relaxation, and networking. Feel free to click around our site to read more about our history, our governance structure, our prizes and our committees. We hope that when you learn more about us you will want to join at the level that is comfortable for you.

About

Overview

Our Vision Fostering friendship, and the exchange of ideas, among a global network of feminist historians. Our Mission Promoting the interests of women historians, their allies and friends. Our Purpose The Berkshire Conference of Women … Read More »

History

History

The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians was founded in 1930 by Louise Fargo Brown of Vassar College and Louise Ropes Loomis of Wells College. Initially called the Lakeville History Group, after the Connecticut retreat where early meetings were … Read More »

Timeline

Timeline

Too little is still known about the history of women's history and the role women have played more generally in the historical profession. The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians past, and the archives for the triennial conferences, are kept at … Read More »

Leadership

Leadership

The leadership of the Berks is guided by its officers. Questions about the triennial conference, initiatives you would like the Berkshire Conference to undertake, or service on Berkshire Conference Committees should go to the President. Questions … Read More »

Big Berks

The 2020 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities will be held at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland on May 21-23, 2020. Read More >> Keep up-to-date with Big Berks News Sign me up to receive information about the "Big … Read More »

Join Us

Join us!

Become a Member The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians is a vital network of scholars that welcomes all women in the historical profession. We offer two kinds of events: our triennial … Read More »

Annual Meeting

Little Berks

The next Little Berks will be held in Cambridge, MA, June 7-9, 2019. Please check back for details. Fall meeting of the Berkshire Conference of Women's Historians June 1-3, 2018 The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, was held from … Read More »

Prizes

Book and Article Prizes

The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians awards two annual book and article prizes in the following categories: An article in the fields of the history of women, gender, and/or sexuality. An article in any field of history other than the history of women, gender, and/or sexuality. A first book that deals … Read More »

Berks News

Berkshire Conference of Women Historians

5 months ago

Berkshire Conference of Women Historians

The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians is pleased to announce the following awards for books and articles published in 2017.

Book Awards
For a first book that deals substantially with the history of women, gender, and/or sexuality

2017> Sasha Turner. Contested Bodies: Pregnancy, Childrearing, and Slavery in Jamaica (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017).

Citation:

Bringing together histories of women, gender, and sexuality with those of abolitionism, Turner’s book offers a history of the experiences of enslaved women in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Jamaica, showing how these women were cast as reproductive laborers by the abolitionists who claimed to seek their freedom. Recognizing that slave owners and abolitionists held different values and views about the value of enslaved women’s bodies, Turner employs insightful analyses to examine how British abolitionist men reified patriarchal relations in promoting reproduction as the primary purpose of an enslaved woman’s life. Throughout the book, Turner never loses sight of the experiences of enslaved women themselves, illuminating how unfree women maintained their own childbirth and child-rearing rituals, resisting outside efforts to control their reproduction. This results in a fresh and dynamic take, showcasing best practices for historians who seek to recover and amplify voices that have been either accidentally overlooked or deliberately silenced. The book offers a masterful synthesis of cultural history, social history, and the histories of sexuality, reproduction, and childbirth, producing a very complex book with serious implications for the field. Turner’s Contested Bodies has the potential to reach meaningfully to audiences both inside and outside of academia.

2017> S. Debora Kang, The INS on the Line: Making Immigration Law on the US-Mexico Border, 1917-1954 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017).

Citation:

Kang’s timely, thought-provoking book offers a history of the ways that officials from the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service formulated and implemented policies and laws to manage the U.S.-Mexico border. The book sheds light on the long history of militarizing this border, showing how, over the course of the twentieth century, the U.S. Border Patrol became an increasingly aggressive government body. In contrast to today, U.S. immigration officials used to show remarkable flexibility in accommodating both a cross-border economy and cross-border cultural ties. Drawing upon the lived experience of border officials, residents, and immigrants in Arizona, California, and Texas, Kang’s book uses an impressive range of sources drawn from a deep archive, including both local and national perspectives, and balances published material with rich oral histories. The book makes wonderful contributions to many subfields, including borderlands and transnational histories, immigration studies, and the history of the U.S. government. Kang’s book offers invaluable insights into the ways that immigration policy has evolved on the nation’s southwestern board with Mexico, and how critically important it is for us to understand the long and tumultuous history of power, politics, and control on the border.



2017-2018 Berkshire Book Prizes Committee

Amanda Herbert, Chair, Folger Library
Christian Ayne Crouch, Bard College
Crystal Feimster, Yale University
Anna Krylova, Duke University
Yumi Moon, Stanford University
Allison Miller, The American Historical Association
Tatiana Seijas, Pennsylvania State University
Article Awards
For an article in the fields of the history of women, gender, and/or sexuality

2017> Cassia Roth, “From Free Womb to Criminalized Woman: Fertility Control in Brazilian Slavery and Freedom.” Slavery & Abolition, 38:2



For article in any field of history other than the history of women, gender, and/or sexuality

2017> Carole McGranahan, “Imperial but Not Colonial: Archival Truths, British India, and the Case of the “Naughty” Tibetans.” Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol 59, No 1.

and

Vanessa Ogle, “Archipelago Capitalism: Tax Havens, Offshore Money, and the State, 1950s-1970s,” American Historical Review, 122, no. 5. ... See MoreSee Less

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