Research Center for Urban Cultural History 

Plan for a Faculty Seminar Series on “Atlantic Cities,” 2009-2010

In May 2009, the Dean’s Committee on Atlantic Studies and the RCUCH agreed to a tentative outline of a series of five faculty seminars on the subject of “Atlantic Cities” during the 2009-10 academic year.  The series will follow the format of the RCUCH working group meetings.  The order and topics of the seminars will be as follows:

  1. "Atlantic Cities: Locating a Topical Field at the Intersection of Atlantic History and Urban History." A discussion of what “Atlantic cities” might be, especially from a cultural and historical perspective.  To be organized by Woody Smith and Nancy Stieber. Pre-circulated paper by Woody Smith. October 19th, 2:30-3:45pm, History Conference Room, M-4-624.
  1. "Boston, New York, and the Atlantic Public Sphere in the Nineteenth Century." A discussion of Boston and New York as an Atlantic city in the 18th and 19th centuries.  To be organized by Woody Smith and Paul Tucker; to be held on December 1st, 2:30-3:45pm, History Conference Room, M-4-624.  
  1. A discussion based on papers or presentations, of comparisons of two or three Atlantic cities.  To be organized by Leonard von Morze; February 22nd, 2:00-3:30, location tba.
  1. A discussion of Atlantic cities as elements of global or regional networks.  To be organized by Tracy Goode, mid-spring.
  1. A discussion on languages and diasporas in the 20th century.  To be organized by Marc Prou and Ann Blum; late spring.

The premise of this second seminar is that until past the middle of the nineteenth century, the United States did not possess, as Western European countries did, a national public sphere built around reviews and other quality magazines, with linkages to politics, the state, and higher education. Instead, its intellectual and political elites took part as junior members in an Atlantic public sphere centered in Britain. Beginning with Boston and New York magazines such as Harper’s, the Atlantic Monthly, and Putnam’s served as the center of an autonomous American public sphere, changing the dynamics of the Atlantic public sphere. In the last half of the century art and collecting communities in the United States also began exerting more influence in the Atlantic world.