Role Description: The Department of History at the University of York is one of the largest in the UK, is consistently ranked in the top ten in the various league tables and was in the top quartile of the History departments submitting to the recent RAE exercise.

• Department: History
• Based at: University of York - Heslington Campus
• Hours of work: Full-time
• Contract status: Open
• Salary: £35,938 - £44,166 per year
• Apply by: 25/05/2012
• Documents: Job-description. 2342.pdf (pdf, 96.35kb)

We now seek to appoint a lecturer to design, develop and deliver teaching across a wide range of modules and to develop research objectives, projects and proposals and carry out individual or collaborative research projects. The post will be available from October 2012. Deadline for applications 25 May 2012. Interviews are expected to be held on 12 June 2012. Qualified to PhD level and ideally holding (or prepared to study for) an appropriate teaching qualification, you will have an emerging publication record in Modern History from 1800 and be able to demonstrate experience of undertaking research, research supervision and the acquisition of research funding. In addition, you should have proven experience of taking responsibility for teaching and learning at undergraduate and postgraduate level and be able to provide evidence of successful course planning, design and delivery across a range of modules. Given York’s collegial nature, you must demonstrate a willingness to work proactively with colleagues in other departments and institutions. The post-holder will also be a member of the Institute of Railway Studies and Transport History, s/he will assist in the delivery of the Certificate in the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility, in the teaching of the MA in Railway Studies, and in the supervision of students enrolled for the MA (by research) and PhD in Railway Studies. The appointee will be expected, as appropriate, to deputise for the Director of the Institute. For further information and to apply on-line, please visit our website: http://www.york.ac.uk/jobs/. Informal enquiries to Professor Stuart Carroll: stuart.carroll@york.ac.uk Informal enquiries may also be directed to Colin Divall, Head of Institute: colin.divall@york.ac.uk.

The Syracuse University Library has launched a redesigned and expanded website devoted to its extensive Plastics Collection. The new site now offers approximately 3,000 objects with high quality photographs, information about plastic materials and processes, and twice the previous number of biographies and company histories. Of particular note, viewers can now submit additional information about objects, people, and companies through the site. The Plastics Collection supports research in the study and understanding of plastics in modern society, including its role in chemistry, technology, industry, marketing, health, art, design, and other fields. According to Sean M. Quimby, Senior Director of Special Collections, “the website makes available to a wide public instantaneously a complete listing of all the library plastics resources.” Rich metadata allows for easy searching. High-quality, zoomable images permit even small details to be examined, while biographies and company histories provide context for the individual objects. A team of library staff from the Special Collections Research Center and Library Information Technology worked collaboratively to develop the new website, which began as a joint project of the Syracuse University Library and the Plastics History & Artifacts Committee (PHAC) of the Plastics Pioneers Association. Continuing support has been provided by SU alumnus Harry Greenwald and the Greenwald-Haupt Charitable Foundation. Prof. Jeffrey Meikle, Stiles Professor in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the authoritative book American Plastics, says that “while it's an entry point and guide to the collection, the new website is also a superb introduction to the history of plastics in general. Through the growing collection and the website, Syracuse has become the center of plastics history.” The Library maintains an active acquisitions program for all areas of the Plastics Center collection. Donors can support the SU Plastics Collection by making a gift to the Collection Development Fund or helping sponsor the new “version 2” website.  To learn more about how to make a gift of support or give an artifact, see plastics.syr.edu/give/.  For more information about how to support the SU Plastics Collection, please contact Assistant Dean for Advancement Ron Thiele at rlthiele@syr.edu. The Special Collections Research Center is a hub for primary source research located on the sixth floor of Syracuse University’s Bird Library. It is devoted to collecting and preserving rare research materials in all formats and to connecting students, faculty, outside scholars and the community to its collections. For more information, visit scrc.syr.edu. Inquiries about the Plastics Collection may be directed to the curator, Samuel Gruber, at 315-443-3971 or plastics@syr.edu.

The Antique Wireless Association is holding its annual convention on August 21-25, 2012 at the Rochester Institute of Technology Conference Center in Rochester, New York. The dual themes of this year’s convention are Collins Radio and the Centennial of the Titanic/Marconi Radio. The Antique Wireless Association is the primary historical association dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of the technologies used for communication and entertainment; including electrical science, telegraph and wired communication, wireless, radio, television, and cellular technologies. Celebrating our 60th year in 2012, AWA is the oldest and largest U.S. organization of its kind with an international membership of approximately two thousand collectors, academics and historians of all ages and from all walks of life. The collections of the AWA’s Antique Wireless Museum, located near Rochester, New York, represent the past 150 years of scientific and technological development including over 25,000 artifacts, and more than 150,000 vacuum tubes. The museum library contains some 200,000 books, catalogues, magazines, rare documents, slides and photographs, and is the depository for the 100-year historical archive of the Radio Club of America. We receive about 500 visitors and more than 100 research requests annually. Currently, our three-building campus is being expanded to include a world-class museum, library and media center, and a restoration center and exhibit-construction facility. The AWA Annual World Convention offers four-and-a-half days of total immersion in telegraph, wireless and radio lore. Among its many features are presentations and seminars, competitive contest displays featuring radio equipment and history, a book fair, and a round-the-clock flea market. The AWA publishes The AWA Journal, a quarterly magazine-format bulletin that is a venue for member-authored feature articles and columns. A sister publication, The AWA Review, contains longer, more scholarly, member articles. This peer-reviewed publication is issued annually in conjunction with the Convention. AWA also offers a free online quarterly AWA Gateway which is intended to help and encourage newcomers to electronics history especially radio. The Gateway offers articles on collecting and restoration at a very basic level. Membership in the AWA is open to all interested persons. Annual dues: $25.00 per year U.S., $30.00 elsewhere. Visit www.antiquewireless.org for more information about AWA including a membership application, or to join immediately via PayPal. The dedicated website http://awamuseum.org/ includes information about the Convention.

Roosevelt University is seeking a one-year Visiting Lecturer in Sustainability Studies for the 2012-13 academic year. The successful applicant should have the ability to teach interdisciplinary social and/or natural science seminars to undergraduate students, as well as multiple courses in the Sustainability Studies undergraduate curriculum. Teaching load is 4-4. Courses are offered at Roosevelt's Chicago and Schaumburg campuses as well as online. Roosevelt's Sustainability Studies undergraduate program, founded in 2010, is the first of its kind in the Chicago Region. Roosevelt University was founded in 1945 on the principle that higher education should be available to all academically qualified students. Today, Roosevelt is the fourth most ethnically diverse college in the Midwest (U.S. News and World Report, 2011) and a national leader in preparing students to assume meaningful, purposeful roles in the global community. Minimum Qualifications: MA, MS, or ABD in a related discipline and evidence of teaching excellence required. Preference given to applicants possessing expertise in waste/recycling theory and management (municipal, private, industrial). To apply: go to http://jobs.roosevelt.edu, then click on "Full Time Faculty" and click on the Sustainabiilty Studies entry. For more information on Roosevelt's Sustainability Studies program, see http://www.roosevelt.edu/ETS/Programs/SustainabilityStudies.aspx. Applicants may address discipline-specific questions to Professor Michael Bryson at mbryson@roosevelt.edu. Applications will be considered immediately until the position is filled or until June 1st, 2012, whichever comes first. Position begins on August 15, 2012.

These biographical articles detail the lives of business innovators in the area of the internet and computer technology, with accompanying sections describing the company/companies for which they worked, started, or with which they are affiliated. The intended audience will include high school, public, and university levels in the English-speaking world. Primary users will be librarians, teachers, students, and members of the general public. Educated non-specialists will consult this reference work for basic information, presented in a reportorial manner. Your essay should supply all the important facts surrounding its subject's life. If you are interested in contributing to the EBSCO Business Innovators project, it can be a notable addition to your CV/resume and broaden your publishing credits. Compensation is an honorarium payment of $35 per article of 2,000 words, payable in full upon publisher’s acceptance of the work in October 2012. The list of available articles, style guidelines, and sample article are prepared and will be sent to you in response to your inquiry. Please then select which unassigned articles may best suit your interests and expertise. If you would like to contribute to building a truly outstanding reference, please contact Sue Moskowitz using the e-mail information below. Please provide your CV or a brief summary of your background and publication experience. The article submission due date deadline is July 13, 2012. Sue Moskowitz Golson Media work@golsonmedia.com

The Society for the History of Technology's Special Interest Group for Computers, Information and Society (SIGCIS – http://www.sigcis.org) welcomes submissions for a one-day scholarly workshop to be held on Sunday, October 7, 2012 in Copenhagen, Denmark. As in previous years, SIGCIS’s annual workshop will be held at the end of the SHOT annual meeting on the day that SHOT has reserved for SIG events. For more information on the main SHOT program, see http://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual_meeting.html. For the latest updates and the full Call for Papers for SIGCIS, see http://www.sigcis.org/workshop12. SIGCIS invites proposals that examine the relationships between computer and information technologies and changes to individual and/or group identities, such as those shared by a nation, company personnel, or members of a virtual community. Such papers might consider:

• Specific “information identities”—a term that we invite scholars to interpret broadly and creatively—that have been articulated in the recent or distant past
• Relationships between information technologies and political change
• The rhetoric and discourses of globalization that have been linked to information and computer technologies
• National identity and its relation to information technology
• National and transnational strategies for joining or creating an “information society,” a “network society,” an “information economy,” or related concepts
• Transnational and international organizations, such as IFIP, UNESCO, the European Union, or standard-setting committees.
• Ways in which particular information technologies acquired new meanings and fulfilled new roles through interaction with local practices and identities
• The emergence of new kinds of community and identity around information technologies.

SIGCIS encourages submissions along these and similar lines of inquiry, but it also maintains a proud tradition of welcoming all types of contributions related to the history of computing and information, whether or not there is an explicit connection with the annual theme.  Our membership is international and interdisciplinary, and our members examine the history of information technologies and their place within society. Proposals for entire sessions and individual presenters are both welcome. We hope to run special sessions featuring dissertations in progress and other works in progress. The workshop is a great opportunity to get helpful feedback on your projects in a relaxed and supportive environment. All proposals will be subject to a peer review process based on abstracts. DEADLINE for submissions: 15 June 2012 All submissions should be made online via the SIGCIS website, http://www.sigcis.org/workshop12. Limited travel assistance for graduate students and other scholars without institutional support is available.  Questions about the 2012 SIGCIS workshop should be addressed to Andrew Russell (College of Arts & Letters, Stevens Institute of Technology), who is serving as chair of the workshop program committee. Email arussell@stevens.edu.

Have You Thanked a Librarian Lately? You can with a nomination for the James J. Bradley Distinguished Service Award! Every year, the Society of Automotive Historians honors the work of libraries and archives whose mission is to preserve motor vehicle resource materials. The nomination is due 1 August 2012. The award will be presented at the SAH annual banquet at the Hershey Country Club on 12 October 2012 during the AACA Eastern Fall Meet at Hershey, PA. To nominate a deserving library or archives, go to www.autohistory.org or email Judith.Endelman@gmail.com for a copy of the nomination form.  Send the completed Bradley Award nomination form to Judith.Endelman@gmail.com . Don’t worry if you can’t fill out all of the form. Do as much as you can. The 2011 winner was the Jaguar Heritage Trust in Coventry, England. A list of previous Bradley Award winners can be found on www.autohistory.org. Bradley Award committee members include Ed Garten, Mark Patrick, and Jim Wagner. Judith E. Endelman, chair, Bradley Award Committee.

The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Max Planck Research Group (Sabine Arnaud), announces one Postdoctoral Fellowship for a scholar in legal history or history of technology. The position lasts for 10 renewable months, starting 15 October 2012 (with the possibility of starting earlier). Outstanding junior scholars are invited to apply. This fellowship is awarded in conjunction with the research project, “The Writing of Deaf-Muteness and the Construction of Norms.” Details concerning the project may be found at http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/en/research/projects/MRGArnaud. Candidates should hold a doctorate at the time the fellowship begins. The fellowship is endowed with a monthly stipend between 1.900 € and 2.300 € (fellows from abroad) or between 1.468 € and 1.621 € (fellows from Germany). Postdoctoral fellows are expected to participate in the research activities at the Institute. The Max Planck Research Group (Sabine Arnaud) is also accepting proposals for nonfunded Visiting Fellowships from one month to a year. These positions are normally open to doctoral candidates or post-docs who have external funding. The Max Planck Research Group (Sabine Arnaud) will support a limited number of funding applications to organizations such as Fulbright, DAAD, and Humboldt-Stiftung for fellowships starting in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The Max Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin, offers successful candidates office space and the use of Institute facilities. Visiting Fellows are in turn expected to take part in the cultural and scientific life of the Institute, to advance their own research project, and to actively contribute to the research project, “The Writing of Deaf-Muteness and the Construction of Norms.” The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science is an international and interdisciplinary research institute (http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/en/index.html). Candidates of all nationalities are welcome to apply; applications from women are especially encouraged. The Max Planck Society is also committed to equality for individuals with disabilities and encourages them to apply. The colloquium language is English—in other words, candidates must be able to present their own work and discuss that of others in fluent English. Candidates are requested to send the following no later than 6 June 2012: a curriculum vitae (including list of publications), copies of certificates (Ph.D.), a detailed cover letter, an article or an excerpt of the dissertation (published or not, 5500 words max.), and the names and addresses of two referees (preferably including email) who have already been contacted by the applicant to confirm their willingness to submit letters of presentation. Please send these materials to: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Administration, Postdoc MRG Arnaud, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany. Electronic submission is also possible via verwaltungsleitung@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de. For administrative questions concerning the fellowships or the Institute, please contact Claudia Paaß (paass@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de), Head of Administration, or Jochen Schneider (jsr@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de), Research Coordinator.

Registration Is Now Open: Join us in Washington, DC, September 19 - 22, 2012, for "Textiles & Politics." This year’s symposium promises to be TSA’s largest and most comprehensive yet, with over 200 presentations on all aspects of and enthusiasts. The U.S. Botanic Garden will host our welcome reception, and two plenary speakers have been invited to the symposium: Joyce Scott will present her politically relevant fiber art, and Rosamond Mack will address the politics of the historic textile trade between Europe and Asia. Pre- and post-symposium tours will take us to see Baltimore album quilts, Martha Washington’s needlework, important and emerging fiber art, and the fabulous Winterthur textile collection. Pre-symposium workshops will be led by international experts, including felt making with Jorie Johnson, dyeing with Michel Garcia, Southwestern textiles with Ann Hedlund, warp-patterned weave analysis with Ann Rowe, and velvet analysis with Julie Holyoke. Washington, DC’s world-class museums will open their collections to us during site seminars for once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to view famous and fascinating textiles with leading curators and experts. Participating institutions include The Textile Museum, Daughters of the American Revolution Museum, Dumbarton Oaks, Renwick Gallery, Freer/Sackler Galleries, Anacostia Community Museum, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of Natural History, the Japanese Information and Culture Center, and Hillwood Museum and Estate. View the complete preliminary program now: TSA 2012 Preliminary Program (pdf) Then register today using the following link to ensure your first choice of site seminar, tour, and workshop! TSA 2012 Online Registration Go to the Symposium section on our website for complete information on the Symposium:  TSA 2012 Symposium The deadline for scholarship applications is May 15th.For more information, please to go to the Awards section on our website: TSA Awards We look forward to welcoming you to Washington, DC, this September! Cecilia Anderson Sumru Belger Krody Co-Chairs, 13th Biennial Symposium

The deadline for the 2012 Sacknoff Prize for Space History is rapidly approaching. The prize is designed to encourage students to perform original research and submit papers with history of spaceflight themes. The annual award, consisting of: a $300 cash prize, a trophy, and the possible publication in the journal, "Quest: The History of Spaceflight", is open to undergraduate and graduate level students enrolled at an accredited college or university. Submissions must be postmarked by 10 June 2012 with the winners announced in August. Manuscripts should not exceed 10,000 words, be written in English, and emphasize in-depth research, with adequate citations of the sources utilized.  Originality of ideas is important. Diagrams, graphs, images, or photographs may be included. The prize committee will include the editor of "Quest: The History of Spaceflight" and members of the Society for the History of Technology /Aerospace Committee (SHOT/Albatross). Although works must be historical in character, they can draw on disciplines other than history, eg. cultural studies, literature, communications, economics, engineering, science, etc. Comparative or international studies of the history of spaceflight are encouraged. Possible subjects include, but are not limited to, historical aspects of space companies and their leaders; the social effects of spaceflight; space technology development; the space environment; space systems design, engineering, and safety; and the regulation of the space business, financial, and economic aspects of the space industry. In 2011, the prize was won by Megan Ansdell of George Washington University for her paper, "Language Protocols in International Human Spaceflight." Additional details on the prize can be found at www.spacebusiness.com/quest/prize. A flyer can be printed from http://www.spacebusiness.com/quest/prize.pdf. If you have any questions, contact quest@spacebusiness.com.