Presidential Address: The First Fifteen Years of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies

Abstract

Presidential Address: The First Fifteen Years of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies JEAN A. PERKINS The American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies was incor­ porated in 1969 and held its first annual meeting in 1970. On this occasion, the fifteenth annual meeting, it seems appropriate to look backwards at the hopes and aspirations of the founders and to mea­ sure the accomplishments of these fifteen years against their ideas. According to a recent survey compiled by Beatrice Fink, a member of the American Society as well as Secretary of the International So­ ciety for Eighteenth-Century Studies, there are currently fifteen na­ tional societies that belong to the International Society for Eigh­ teenth-Century Studies. They cover the whole world on a geographical basis and include the Australian and Pacific Society, the Japanese So­ ciety, the Canadian and the American Societies, as well as most of the major European countries. Only three of these groups are older than ours: the Greek society was founded in 1962, but it has fewer than 200 members, although its annual journal Ho Eranistis has a circula­ tion of approximately 300; the French came along in 1964, and are currently the second largest group with 1200 members; and the Dutch Werkgroep was formed in 1968. The American Society is the largest of these societies. The International Society holds a congress every four years and, as I understand the story, it was at the Second Con­ gress held at St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1967 that the idea of founding 3 4 / PERKINS an American Society was conceived. Three people were primarily re­ sponsible: Jim Clifford, Lester Crocker, and Don Greene. By great good fortune both the MLA and the AHA met in New York City at the same time in December of 1968. Leaflets were distributed at ap­ propriate sessions of both societies inviting interested people to at­ tend an open meeting at the Americana Hotel on December 29. I re­ member how thrilled I was when I attended that session to find at least 200 other people there. We had all been drawn together by the prospect of an interdisciplinary society that would foster "communi­ cation and cooperation among scholars in various disciplines en­ gaged in the study of the period," to quote from the first brochure. Lester Crocker chaired the meeting; a vote was taken that established a provisional committee consisting of Clifford, Crocker, and Greene with three charges: first, to establish a provisional Executive Com­ mittee; second, to write a constitution; and third, to organize the first annual meeting to be held in the spring of 1970 so as not to coincide with either the MLA or the AHA. The three "Founding Fathers" quickly coopted Owen Aldridge, Louis Gottschalk, Warren Kirkendale, Rich­ ard Popkin, Charles Ritcheson, Peter Stanlis, Robert Wark, and Roy Miles to act as a provisional executive board. You will note the all­ male nature of the "Founding Fathers," but the Society has always been open to women and has made a special effort to insure the pres­ ence of women on the board ever since the first elected slate in 1970. In any case, 1969 was a busy year for this pioneering group. Jim Clifford took charge of drawing up a constitution; Lester Crocker as provisional president was responsible for the forthcoming First An­ nual Meeting; Don Greene as secretary took charge of publicity; Peter Stanlis as treasurer was heartened by the steadily growing bank bal­ ance as new members sent in their dues. Notices of the new organi­ zation appeared in the Johnsonian News Letter, Studies in Burke and his Time, the AHA Newsletter, and PMLA. A blue flyer was sent out in April which evidently had the desired effect since by February of 1970 there were 630 members who had all paid their $7 dues. I would like to quote the paragraph that sets out the activities contemplated for the new society. The provisional executive board is making plans for the first annual general meeting of the Society, to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, April 17-18, 1970, and is exploring the possibility of such other activities of the Society as the sponsorship of a journal...