Lifting as We Climb

Dear AMNESP Doctoral Students:

In recent years, we have gathered together at the end of the Spring semester to reflect upon recent accomplishments within the program and to plan for the days ahead. Unfortunately, this year the global pandemic robbed us of this opportunity to be together, as it has deprived many of so much. This communication is meant to take the place of the usual Director’s Report from that annual meeting and thus serves to share some news and bring members of the community up to date.

Some of you may recall that previously in my Director’s Reports, I have cited as inspiration Charlotte Hawkins Brown of North Carolina’s Palmer Memorial Institute. Dr. Brown’s guiding vision for her educational institution was “Lifting as We Climb,” a motto also used by the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. I continue to hope that our American & New England Studies Program community can embody this sentiment. As we each pursue our personal goals and professional agendas, we should endeavor to maintain good will toward others and try to assist those around us as they chart their own journeys.

This semester has been unlike any other; and yet, we as participants in the AMNESP community of scholars have demonstrated grit and determination. You should feel proud of your accomplishments and you are to be congratulated for your efforts to persevere in spite of tremendous obstacles and unforeseen circumstances. Major papers have been completed; comprehensive exams have been undertaken and passed; significant scholarship has been published. Most notably during this year, four members of our community, PJ Carlino, Catherine Martin, Sam Palfreyman and Katherine Viens completed their requirements for degree. They were scheduled to be hooded and have their doctoral degrees ceremonially conferred upon them. However, while their physical hooding has been postponed, they accomplished their educational goals. Please extend hearty congratulations to them!

I am also pleased to announce that Dr. Katherine J. Lennard will be joining AMNESP in January of 2021 as the inaugural Abbott Lowell Cummings Postdoctoral Fellow in American Material Culture. After a nationwide search, she was chosen by a committee composed of Dr. Kim Sichel,  Dr. Mary Beaudry, and me, in my capacity as the specialist in American Material Culture. Dr. Lennard holds a Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan and is a scholar of textiles and costume. Most recently she has served as a Thinking Matters Fellow at Stanford University. We feel very fortunate to have Dr. Lennard joining us and we hope that you will give her a warm welcome when she arrives on campus. We believe that this postdoctoral fellowship will allow Dr. Lennard to contribute to the intellectual development of students within AMNESP while she conducts research and advances her own scholarly career.

Unfortunately, I am sorry to report that the pandemic calls into question our plans to hold a fiftieth anniversary celebration for the program. Although a date of October 10, 2020 was announced in the fall of 2019, it seems likely that this gathering will have to be rescheduled. As with so much related to the life of the University, our ability to have multiple generations come together to celebrate our shared experiences is contingent upon many factors over which we have no control. Details will follow as plans become more stable and the University administration determines the safest and best path forward.

The AMNESP program committee, the Graduate School, and the office of the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences have been concerned about summer funding for doctoral students since the moment it became apparent that the global health crisis would have a severe impact on the economy. From the onset, the AMNESP program committee has had as its goal to marshal professional opportunities and distribute funds such that no currently enrolled doctoral candidate goes hungry or is unable to pay rent over the coming difficult and unprecedented summer of hardship. Let me say clearly and with conviction that I have been heartened by the support that the University has provided in attempting to reach our goal, even as the economy around us has collapsed, millions have filed for unemployment, and the severity of the University’s dire fiscal situation has become increasingly evident. The funds which the University has allocated during this time of increased austerity are a tangible indication of the administration’s estimation of the importance of doctoral education and its commitment to your scholarly success.

Recently, with the assistance of the Graduate School and the approval of the Provost’s office, we have been able to implement a plan which will meet the goal of helping doctoral students to fund food and shelter over the summer. Developing this plan has been complex because our community is diverse, with differing needs and resources, while the funding streams that could be tapped were simultaneously miscellaneous and shifting. Moreover, as we strategized we placed a priority upon maintaining privacy and confidentiality concerning each individual’s financial status, progress toward degree, and previous arrangements with the University and other funding sources. This process also has been vexed on occasion by imperfect communication among various parties which has been aggravated, at times, by the stress of the pandemic and economic uncertainty. No plan is unanimously perceived as perfect, yet we are hopeful the strategies that AMNESP and the Graduate School implement will bring the community through this difficult summer while minimizing hardship and allowing continued progress toward degrees. Other departments and programs may have set different goals and come to alternative outcomes, but I cannot speak to their priorities or decision-making processes.

I started this message by citing an African-American educator from the beginning of the twentieth-century who urged her constituents to be “lifting as we climb.” I will conclude by quoting a contemporary Italian-American epidemiologist. In a commencement speech yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci told his audience, “Now is the time. . . for us to care selflessly about one another.” As a member of the AMNESP community, I personally hope that we can find it within ourselves to embody these challenging ideals.

 

Sincerely,

Will

 

William D. Moore

Director, American & New England Studies Program and

Associate Professor of American Material Culture

Department of History of Art & Architecture

Boston University