Vol.25, No. 05	Oct. 1, 1999

American Studies at Barnard Celebrates Its 60th Birthday

Barnard College, one of the first undergraduate colleges in the nation to have an American Studies program, will mark the program's 60th anniversary with a two-day conference examining American culture and society.

The conference opens Friday, Oct. 8 at 4:30 p.m. with a keynote address titled "Angles of Vision: What American Studies Has Been; What American Studies Might Be" by Linda Kerber, professor of history at the University of Iowa and a 1960 Barnard graduate.

"Barnard was an undergraduate pioneer in American Studies,"said Kathryn Johnson, director of American Studies at Barnard College. "Because the field has changed so dramatically — mirroring our changing view of the United States — we thought this would be an opportune time to look both back and ahead."

The American Studies program is experiencing a renaissance at Barnard as the College is thriving with a record number of applications more than double six years ago. The current first-year class is the most selective ever.

"At Barnard, American Studies majors combine cutting-edge theories of culture with a hands-on approach, using the limitless resources of the internet and the city of New York as their laboratory," said Johnson.

Barnard's American Studies program began in 1938-39 under the direction of Barnard's former President, Virginia Gildersleeve. Gildersleeve encouraged the female students to "crystallize in their minds the nature of that American Way of life they would soon be called upon to defend." The course demanded that students learn a myriad of details of America's political history few faculty would know today, and insisted that women had a role to play in American political and cultural life.

After World War II — at a time when other colleges began to form their own departments—Barnard changed the program's name to American Civilization. The term reflected a desire, bolstered by grants from The Mellon Foundation, that the field more closely describe the American character.

This Cold War conception of American Studies reached its peak in the 1950s and 1960s with the myth of American exceptionalism, the notion that America's status as the leading world power was a result of the unique character of its citizens forged in a culture that prized individualism and entrepreneurship.

The 1960s were defined by the examination of minority groups whose history had been neglected in comparison to the history of majority groups. In the 1970s and '80s, American Studies entered a period of flux as other disciplines emerged, such as Women's Studies.

Today, enriched by a variety of disciplines—including cultural studies, literature, history and cultural history, and on-line study—interest in American Studies remains strong, even as definitions of American culture grow more diverse.

"Is there something that defines us as a country? In the 1950s and 1960s, there was an answer and it was yes," said Johnson. "Today, there is much less consensus on that answer, but there's a continuing interest in the question: What does it mean to be an American?"

For information about the conference, please contact Tiffany Dugan at (212) 854-8021. Enrollment for the conference is limited. The fee for the conference is $20; walk-in registration is $25.