Spring 2024 Little Berks
The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians held its annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, in Bowling Green, Kentucky at Western Kentucky University on May 31-June 2, 2024. We welcomed all members to attend the weekend events. Explore the Conference schedule here and read the speaker bios here.
October 2023 Little Berks
The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians held its annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, in Oak Brook, Illinois on October 13-15, 2023. We welcomed all members to attend the first in-person Little Berks since 2019. Explore the Conference schedule here.
November 2022 Little Berks
The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians held its annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, online on November 5, 2022. The theme was “Reproductive Justice in a Post-Roe v. Wade America.” We welcomed all members of the Berks to attend this virtual conference. Explore the 2022 Virtual Conference program here, and read the 2022 Speaker Bios here.
October 2021 Little Berks
The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians held its annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, online on October 23, 2021. The theme was “Inclusive Institution Building & Legacy Making.” We welcomed all members of the Berks to attend this virtual conference. Read more about the 2021 Virtual Conference online here.
October 2020 Little Berks
The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians held its annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, online in 2020. The theme was “Recovery as Resistance.” We welcomed all members of the Berks to attend this virtual conference. Read more about the 2020 Virtual Conference online here, and conference speaker bios here.
June 2019 Little Berks
The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians held its annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, from Friday-Sunday, June 7-9, 2019 at Radcliffe Institute in Cambridge, MA. Read more about the 2019 Little Berks here, and the 2019 Schedule here.
June 2018 Little Berks
The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, was held from Friday-Sunday, June 1-3, 2018 at Pheasant Run Resort in Mt. Pleasant, Illinois. We welcome all members of the Berks to attend this weekend of networking, professional development, and feminist institution building. More info here.
October 2017 Little Berks
The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians held its last annual business meeting from Friday-Sunday, October 27-29, 2017 in Annapolis, Maryland at the Historic Inns of Annapolis. The weekend held a number of events, including several discussions of attacks on scholars from inside and outside the academy and a serious discussion of how the organization can support its members in the current political and cultural climate. The weekend was productive and sustaining.
May 2016 Little Berks
The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians held its last annual business meeting, better known as the Little Berks, from Friday-Sunday, May 20-22, 2016. This is a comparatively small gathering of 30-50 people rather than the 1500-2000 who attend our triennial Conference on the History of Women (the Big Berks). Attendees must be members of the Berkshire Conference.
This smaller meeting included a panel on Friday and Saturday that showcases new work on women’s, gender or sexualities’ history and a business meeting. Meals and free time offered opportunities to gather informally with other scholars, to share ideas for future Big Berks, and to discuss issues related to the place of women in the profession. We extended a special invitation to graduate students, contingent faculty and independent scholars who are looking for a professional home. We welcome those who wish to innovate and be more active in the organization.
This meeting was held at the Gideon Putnam Resort and Spa in Saratoga Springs, NY. The Gideon Putnam, www.gideonputnam.com is approximately three hours north of New York City and Saratoga Springs is served by the Albany International Airport and Amtrak.
May 2015 Little Berks
We had a rather spectacular meeting of the Little Berks at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Mass over a beautiful late-May weekend this past Spring. We welcomed new members, we connected with old friends. Fifty-seven people attended and perhaps a third were attending the Little Berks for the first time.
On Friday night, Cynthia Greenlee, the winner of the Gender and History Prize for best paper presented at the Berkshire Conference of Women’s History* (“‘An Impulse of Outrage Due to Her Tender Age’: African-Americans, Child Rape, and Legal Vernaculars in South Carolina, 1885-1920”) presented her work on African American abortion providers. Greenlee’s work combines her training as an historian and her activism; she has recently accepted a position at the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a non-profit that litigates on behalf of reproductive justice.
For some of us, Saturday morning was spent on walks, conversations on the porch, and other informal gatherings to share work and ideas. Others spent their morning in the Program Committee meeting for the Big Berks (about which you will hear more in a moment).
On Saturday afternoon, we convened to discuss the issue of trans-inclusivity in the Little Berks. Anticipating that we might need a little help in navigating the conversation, we’d asked Seth Marin, the Associate Director of Legal Affairs at the Anti Defamation League, to facilitate. Our opening questions were; What does it mean to be trans-inclusive? What does it mean to address gender oppression? and What is the relationship between trans-justice and feminism? Using recent statements on trans student enrollment from Mt. Holyoke, Smith, and other historically women’s college as a guide, we had a wide-ranging conversation about the relationship between our deep roots as a feminist organization committed to promoting the interest of women historians, and a the recognition that we needed to critically consider 21st century feminism, gender, and our role as a professional organization. We considered what it meant to change from a “woman’s” organization to one that fully welcomed trans persons. Our membership policy is not exclusionary, but we recognized the need to extend what Marin calls an “affirmative welcome.” This conversation will continue during the 2016 Little Berks meeting.
Dinner on Saturday night included a birthday cake as we were celebrating the 80th anniversary of the meeting. The evening devolved into brutal scrabble re-matches and general good cheer, and the next morning we convened for the business meeting. There the 2014 Book and Article prizewinners were announced:
