AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
Mr. Bannister Fall 1995

 
*rev.7/7/95

This seminar will focus on American thought and culture beginning with the transformation of the Revolutionary tradition in the 1780's and 1790's, and concluding with progressivism and the "lyrical left" on the eve of the First World War. Weekly meetings will generally include the presentation of two papers, one review, and discussion of the readings done in common (see "Prim." and "Sec."). The weekly schedule is as follows:

Week of: General Topic

I. (September 4) Contours, Themes, Methodology
II. (September 11) "Republicanism," Liberalism," and the American Enlightenment
III. (September 18) "Democratic" Politics and Culture: The End of "Virtue"?
IV. (September 25) Ministers, Women, and the "Feminization" of American Culture
V. (October 2) Transcendentalism
VI. (October 9) The American Renaissance: Writers as Social Critics
October Break
VII. (October 23) Gentility and "Realism" in the Gilded Age
VIII. (October 30) Darwinism, Religion, and Society
IX. (November 6) Pragmatism, Society and Social Reform
X. (November 13) Social Science and Progressivism: Humanitarianism to Social Control
XI. (November 20) Gender, Race, and Social Science
XII. (November 27) Literary Naturalism
XIII. ( December 4 ) Journalism and Society: from Muckraking to The "Lyrical Left"
XIV. (December 11) The Intellectual Pilgrimage of Henry Adams

*= books ordered for bookstore

For detailed readings for weeks II-VI click here.. For weeks VII-XIII, click here.


For a brief description of the scope and organization of the seminar click here.

I. Intellectual History: History and Methodology

PRIM.: "Individual and Society" (Xerox selections)
"Science" (Xerox selections)

SEC.: Hollinger, David, "Historians and the Discourse of Intellectuals," in New Directions, ed. Conkin and Higam (see "Wingspread Conference")
"Seminar Description" (see attached)


SUPP.: Skinner, Quentin, "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas," Hist. and Theory 8 (1968), 3-53
R. Welter, "The History of Ideas in America," J. Am. History 51 (1965), 599-614
J. P. Diggins, "The Oyster and the Pearl," History and Theory 23 no. 2 (1984), 151-163 (only)
R. Skotheim, "The Writing of American Histories of Ideas," J. Hist. Ideas 25 (1964), 257

The first seminar will be devoted to an outline of major traditions in the writing in intellectual history, and a consideration of various approaches. Each student will be asked to prepare a brief (2 pp.) summary of one approach, with reference to a primary document or secondary work (indicated after slash in parenthesis. For full citation see accompanying "Bibliography". For a highly schematic, oversimplified outline of traditions in the writing of American intellectual history, click here.


 New (or Progressive) History (Higham , "Rise", Parrington)
history of ideas (Lovejoy/Bury, The Idea of Progress)
climate of opinion (Baumer/ documents "Science,""Individual and Society")
myth and symbol (Kuklick/ Henry Nash Smith, Virgin Land)
contextualists or intentionists (Skinner)
transactionists (Hollinger and Bender in New Viewpoints)
structuralists (Cohen)
post-structuralists (Harlan)

You should also take the occasion this week to familiarize yourself with several of the "classic" studies cited in the bibliography. These may be profitably consulted throughout the term, to provide background and to tie together the materials in the weekly reading.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Intellectual History, History and Methodology

Historiography


J. Higham, "Rise of American Intellectual History," Am. Hist. Rev. 56 (1951), 453-71 _________, "American Intellectual History," Am. Q. 13 (1961) R. Skotheim, "The Writing of Am. Histories of Ideas," J. Hist. I.25 (1964), 257- ___________, American Intellectual History and Historians (1966)


Methodology


 


Baumer, Franklin. "Intellectual History and Its Problems," J. Mod. History 21 (1949), 191-203
Bouwsma, William. "Intellectual History in the 1980s," J. Interdisciplinary History 12 (1981), 280
Bredsdorff, T. "Lovejoy's Idea of Idea," New Lit. Hist. 8 (W.'77), 195-211
Cohen, S. "Structuralism and the Writing of Intellectual History," Hist, & Theory (17) (May 1978), 175-206
Diggins, John P. "The Oyster and the Pearl: The Problem of Contextualism in Intellectual History," History and Theory 23 (1984)
Femia, J. V."An Historicist Critique of 'Revisionist" Methods," History and Theory 20 (1981)
Gilbert, F. "Intellectual History," in Historical Studies Today ed. F. Gilbert & S. Graubard (1972)
Greene, John "Objectives and Methods in Intellectual History," J. Am. Hist. (44 (1957), 58-74.
Harlan, David, "Intellectual History and the Return of Literature," AHR 94 (June 1989), 581-609.
Higham, John, "Intellectual History and Its Neighbors," J. Hist. Ideas ((15 (1954), 339-
Higham, John & P. Conkin, New Directions in American Intellectual History (1979).
Hollinger, David, "The Return of the Prodigal: The Persistence of Historical Knowing," AHR 94 (June 1989), 21 [with reply by Harlan].
Hutton, P. H. "The History of Mentalites," History and Theory 20 (1981)
Izenberg, G. "Psychohistory and Intellectual History," Hist. & Theory 14 (1975) and reply 14: 94-9
Kreiger, Leonard., "Intellectual History," JHI, 34 (1973), 499-516
Kuklick, Bruce. "Myth and Symbol in American Studies," Am.Q. 24 (Oct. 72), 435-50
Lovejoy, Arthur. "Reflections on the History of Ideas," J. Hist. Ideas ((1 (January 1940), 3-
Pace, D. "Structuralism in History," Am.Q. 30 (1978), 282-97.
Parekh, Bhikhu and Berki, R.N., "The History of Political Ideas: a Critique of Q. Skinner's Methodology," Journal of the History of Ideas 34 (1973): 163-84
Skinner, Quentin, "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas," Hist. & Theory 8 (1968), 3-53.
Skinner, Quentin . "Motives, Intentions, and the Interpretation of Texts," New Literary History 2 (W. 1972), 393-408.
Theory 8 (1968), 3-53.
Skinner, Quentin, "Hermeneutics and the Role of History," New Literary History 7 (1974-74).
Stromberg, Roland, "Some Models Used by Intellectual Historians," AHR 80 (June 1975)
Tarascio, V. "Intellectual History and the Social Sciences," Soc.Sci. Q. 56 (June 1975)
Welter, Rush. "The History of Ideas in America," J. Am. History 51 (1965), 599-614
Wise, Gene. "The Contemporary Crisis in Intellectual History Studies," CLIO 5 (Feb. 1975)
Wohl, R. "Intellectual History," The Historian XVI (1953),62-77.



 


*for parallel discussion with refernce to European intellectual history see recent discssions and notes in Russell Jacoby, "A New Intellectual History," American Historical Review 97 (Apr. 1992): 405-24; and Dominick LaCapra, "Intellectual History and Its Ways," ibid., 425-39.


 


General Works (and dates of initial publication)


 


Bender, Thomas, New York Intellect (1987)
Commager, H.S. The American Mind [1890-1950] (1950)
Conkin, Paul, Puritans and Pragmatists
Cotkin, Geroge, Reluctant Modernism...1880-1900 (1992)
Curti, Merle, The Growth of American Thought (1943)
Gabriel, Ralph, The Course of American Democratic Thought (1940)
Guttmann, A., Conservative Tradition in America (1967)
Hartz, Louis, The Liberal Tradition in America (1955)
Hofstadter, R., Anti-Intellectualism in American Life
Jones, H.M., Ideas in America (1944); The Pursuit of Happiness (1953)
Miller, P., Life of the Mind (1965)
Oleson, A. and Brown, S. eds. The Pursuit of Knowledge in the Early American Republic (1976)
Oleson, A., and Voss, J., eds. The Organization of Knowledge in Modern America 1860-1920 (1979)
Parrington, V.L., Main Currents in American Thought (3 vols. 1927-30)
Perry, Lewis, Intellectual Life in America (1984)
Persons, Stow, American Minds (1958)
Rodgers, Daniel, Contested Truths (1987)
Schlesinger, A. and White, M. eds. Paths of American Thought (1960)
Spiller, Robert, Literary History of the United States (3 vols.)
Wish, Harvey, Society and Thought in America ( 2 vols. 1950, 1962)



Additional bibliography is provided in a folder in the Hist 47 and AIH seminar folders on the "Class Folders" server in the folder History. To access the latter: Open the Chooser. Click on AppleShare (upper left); then the zone "SC Beardsley EN Swarthmore" (lower left); then Classes Server and "Class Folders " (upper right) fileserver; click "Guest" and OK and the Class Folders icon will appear on the screen. Open by double clicking and then again on "Social Sciences" folder, wherein you will find History> Bannister> AIH.19th


For weeks II-VI click here.. For weeks VII-XIII, click here.