The Newberry Urban History Dissertation Group

Richard's Illustrated and Statistical Map of the Great Conflagration in Chicago.
Richard's Illustrated and Statistical Map of the Great Conflagration in Chicago. 1871. map6F G4104.C6 1871 .R3.

All meetings are held on Saturdays from 3 – 5 pm at the Newberry, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago, Illinois.

The group is sponsored by The Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture at the University of Chicago.

If you are interesting in presenting during the 2013-14 seminar, please see the Call for Proposals for instructions. Submissions are due June 5.

This is a monthly workshop in which graduate students studying urban history issues present to their peers works-in-progress from their dissertations. Papers are pre-circulated by email and must be requested in advance. If you are interested in presenting or would like to attend, please contact the Scholl Center at scholl@newberry.org.

The group is open only to graduate students (no faculty), and members should be committed to attending as many of the meetings as possible.

To see a listing of past workshops, please select a year below:

2011-2012 | 2010-2011 | 2009-2010 | 2008-2009
2007-2008
| 2006-2007 | 2005-2006 | 2004-2005 | 2003-2004

Workshop Schedule

Saturday, September 8, 2012
Urban History Dissertation Group
Karen Johnson, University of Illinois at Chicago and Rebecca Marchiel, Northwestern University

Elite Efforts for Interracialism: Housing and Chicago’s Catholic Interracial Council in the Postwar World
Karen Johnson, University of Illinois at Chicago

“’We Can Act Together’: The Federal Housing Administration and the Origins of the Urban Reinvestment Movement
Rebecca Marchiel, Northwestern University

Saturday, October 6, 2012
Urban History Dissertation Group
Parker Everett, University of Chicago

“The Incorporation of Greater Berlin, 1900-1933: The Theory and Practice of Urban Planning within a Society in Crisis—Dissertation Introduction”
Parker Everett, University of Chicago

Saturday, November 3, 2012
Urban History Dissertation Group
Stephanie Seawell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Garfield Park: Swimming, Space, and the Symbolism of Citizenship in Cleveland’s Black Freedom Movement
Stephanie Seawell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Saturday, December 1, 2012
Urban History Dissertation Group
Amy Jin Johnson, Brown University and Abby Trollinger, Northwestern University

‘The Coldest Blooded Outrage’: The 1892 Case that Shook Los Angeles
Amy Jin Johnson, Brown University

‘Some Folks Won’t Work’: Settlement Workers and Social Insurance in the Twenties
Abby Trollinger, Northwestern University

Saturday, February 2, 2013
Urban History Dissertation Group
Tom Dorrance, University of Illinois at Chicago

Crafting the New Deal Economy
Tom Dorrance, University of Illinois at Chicago

Saturday, March 2, 2013
Urban History Dissertation Group
Chloe Taft, Yale University

Navigating Postindustrial Ethnicity
Chloe Taft, Yale University

Saturday, April 6, 2013
Urban History Dissertation Group
Ashley Johnson, Northwestern University

Illegal Laborers: Undocumented Europeans and Detroit’s Unions, 1924-1942
Ashley Johnson, Northwestern University

Saturday, May 4, 2013
Urban History Dissertation Group
Susannah Engstrom, University of Chicago

Urban Challenges and the Appeal of Cultural Institutions in Minneapolis and St. Paul
Susannah Engstrom, University of Chicago