Modern Europe: Research and Teaching
RESOURCES FOR RESEARCH IN EUROPEAN HISTORY
Europeanists studying at the University of Chicago, as, indeed, elsewhere in North America, should expect to spend at least part of their time as graduate students working in archives or libraries in Europe. Much of their initial work, however, will be well-served by the extensive collection of published and microfilmed primary sources and scholarly studies housed at the Regenstein Library. The library?s holdings include manuscripts and rare books in the Special Collections department, extensive newspaper collections, government documents, maps, and other printed materials. An excellent place to begin researching the library?s primary sources is the History page of the library?s website:http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/hist/, which contains links to many useful guides and indices.
Particularly rich collections include the following:
The Ludwig Rosenberger Library of Judaica (housed in Special Collections), a 17,000 volume research collection focusing on the history of European Jewry, which has special strengths in the history German, Austrian, and French Jewry and in the history of modern anti-Semitism and Nazism. It features sources such as Collection des procès verbaux et décisions du Grand Sanhédrin (Paris, 1807) and Der Process van Tisza-Eszlar (an account of a case of blood libel in Hungary published in Stuttgart, 1883). The website for Special Collections is: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/. The site includes an overview of the center’s holdings as well as a searchable catalogue.
The Louis Szarthmary Hungarica Collection, a library of more than 15,000 volumes relating to Hungarian politics and society which has special strengths on the history of Budapest, the Revolution of 1848, and the history of Transylvania; large collections of German and Habsburg/Austrian parliamentary papers, including full runs of the Verhandlungen of the German Reichstag and (after 1949) of the Bundestag and of the Stenographische Protokolle of the Upper and Lower Houses of the Austrian Reichsrat and (after 1918) of the Nationalrat, as well as substantial parts of the Houses of the Royal Hungarian parliament (Forendiház Iromanyai and Képviseloház Irományai).
The Library also has a rich (and rather rare) collection of the parliamentary papers of major German and Austrian regional political assemblies (Landtage), such as the Verhandlungen of the Bavarian Landtag, the Sitzungsberichte of the Prussian Landtag, the Landtagsakten of the Saxon Landtag, the Protokolle of the Hamburg Bürgerschaft; and the Stenographische Protokolle of the Bohemian Landtag, the Tyrolian Landtag, and the Lower Austrian Landtag. These regional materials are complemented by a large collection of materials relating to German and Austrian cities, including full or partial runs of major municipal yearbooks, statistical reports, and communal calendars for Vienna, Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Chemnitz, Breslau, Leipzig, Dresden, Brünn, and other major cities. Moreover, in addition to its vast collection of research monographs and other books relating to Germany and Habsburg Empire, the Library also contains many full runs of many rare German and Austrian political periodicals, literary magazines, and scholarly journals.
Regenstein Library is also strong in French sources. Its holdings include major French periodicals such as Le Monde, Le Petit Journal, and Le Figaro, Le Petit Parisien and L’Illustration as well as parliamentary and other government documents include; the Journal Officiel of the French government (including the Journal Officiel de la Commune de Paris); and an extensive collection of census statistics for most European countries, as well as the record of the Paris Commune’s activities entitled Les 31 séances officielles de la Commune de Paris.
The Regenstein Library’s collection of digital and microfilm primary sources, which are all accessible through the library’s website: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/index.html, is particularly rich. Some of the sources available include newspapers, such as Historische österreichische Zeitungen und Zeitschriften Online, which contains digital images of newspapers from the Hapsburg Monarchy and Austria provided by the Austrian National Library, and microfilmed copies of French newspapers from the Revolution of 1848 whose originals are housed in Paris’ Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal. Other sources include a collection of Spanish political and commercial treaties from 1796-1906 and the records of the German Foreign Office from 1920-1945, among others. These digital and microform sources can be explored at http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/hist/mfguide.html.
Total library collections at the University of Chicago exceed 7,000,000 volumes.
Adjoining the campus of the University, at 60th and Kenwood, is the Center of Research Libraries (CRL), another large national research library that is an invaluable resource for European newspapers, as well as other sources. One of their collections is Pamphlets and Periodicals of the French Revolution of 1848, which features more than 100 items. The French Revolution of 1789 and the Empire are also well covered, including documents like Les enquêtes des préfets de l’Empire (1795-1815). CRL’s collection further includes microforms of Benito Mussolini’s personal papers from 1922-1944; the compte rendu of the national congress of the Parti republicain radical et radical-socialiste from 1945-1962; microformed copies of the Hoover Institution’s copy of Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei. Hauptarchiv. NSDAP Hauptarchiv, the Nazi party’s own archive of its history; and very extensive holdings of parliamentary proceedings for the German states during the 19th century and of German and Austrian newspapers (i.e., the Vossische Zeitung, the Neue Preussische Zeitung, Germania, Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, and Vorwärts from Berlin; the Neue Freie Presse and the Arbeiter-Zeitung from Vienna; Münchner Neueste Nachrichten from Munich, Kölnische Zeitung from Cologne; Narodni Listy from Prague; Pester Lloyd from Budapest, etc.). A list of CRL’s holdings may be found at: http://www.crl.edu/catalog/index.htm. For the French holdings the following site is helpful: http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/ARTFL/projects/CRL/.
In addition, both Regenstein and the CRL contain large collections of microfilm materials relating to German and Austrian international and political history, such as the Confidential political correspondence series and other series of the British Foreign Office, the archives of the German Foreign Ministry from 1867 to 1945, and the U.S. Department of State central files for Germany and Austria for the interwar and postwar periods.
As more and more materials are available digitally and on-line through databases such as the Chicago-based Project for American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language (ARTFL), it is essential for students to stay abreast of the various on-line directories. Good places to start for Europeanists include the various subject pages maintained by the librarians at the Regenstein, including the History Page, the Judaica and Hebraica Page, the Slavic and East European Studies Page, and the Middle East Page. RLG’s Archival Resources, available through the Library’s electronic resource page, provides a searchable catalogue of holdings in libraries and other repositories throughout the world. ArchivesUSA is an extremely useful search engine that allows the user to locate primary sources in her own library, other local libraries, or national ones. It is available through the University of Chicago’s website: http://archives.chadwyck.com/infopage/ausa_abt.htm.
Other Chicago area institutions have rich holdings relevant to students of European History. For sources in visual and material culture, the Library of the Art Institute of Chicago and of the Illinois Institute of Technology are very useful. The Spertus Institute’s library supplements Regenstein’s collection of Judaica. Northwestern’s Library provides a crucial complement to the University of Chicago’s in colonial and African History. The Newberry Library as the third largest collection of French Revolutionary pamphlets in the world as well as other crucial holdings in European history.
The Newberry Library has a significant number of French revolutionary pamphlets, materials about Napoleon, and European children’s books. The French in the Americas collection is very useful for students of French colonialism in North America and the Caribbean. Some of these documents include fur traders’ accounts of their travels in North America in the 18th and 19th centuries; extensive documents in the history of Quebec; and documents about French Jesuit missionaries in the Americas.
Northwestern University Library has a rich Special Collections department which includes a site with links to over 1200 digitized photographs and images recorded during the Siege and Commune of Paris. Northwestern’s Siege & Commune Collection also contains the originals of 1500 caricatures, 68 newspapers in hard-copy and film, hundreds of books and pamphlets and about 1000 posters. The Spanish Civil War Collection includes photographs, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, and books, and there are also Dutch, Danish, and Norwegian underground publications from World War II.
The Library of the Art Institute of Chicago contains many useful sources for European cultural historians. The Ryerson Library and the Burnham Library of Architecture form a research collection of national and international significance, one of the largest art museum libraries in the world. All periods and media are covered, but special emphasis is placed on architecture of the 18th through 20th centuries and 19th century painting, prints, drawings, and decorative arts. Special collections include the Percier and Fontaine Collection of 17th-19th century architectural books, the Mary Reynolds Collection on Dada and Surrealism, the George R. Collins Archive of Catalan Art and Architecture, and the Mrs. James Ward Thorne Collection of illustrated books.
For students of European colonialism in Africa, Northwestern’s Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies is Chicago’s best center for primary and secondary sources on colonial African history. It contains many 19th and 20th century European scientific descriptions of African peoples and lands, as well as maps, posters and other visual sources.
TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES
There are a number of ways in which students in modern European history can expect to gain teaching experience in their years at the University of Chicago. Students who have completed their oral field exams, or will soon complete them, may apply to serve as interns in the undergraduate College Core sequences "The History of European Civilization," "Self, Culture, Society," "Power, Identity, and Resistance." These text-based sequences taught in small discussion sections of 20-22 students; depending on the section, interns assist faculty in meeting with students, evaluating assignments, and conducting discussions.
Depending on their area of specialization, students also teach in courses offered by the Committee on Jewish Studies, the Center for Gender Studies, and the Center for Race, Politics, and Culture. Advanced graduates who have served as interns or course assistants may apply to lead their own section in the appropriate Core Course. In the History department, advanced graduates may also apply to serve as preceptors for the undergraduate B.A. seminar and to teach courses of their own design through the Von Holst Prize Lectureship program. Recent History graduate students have also served as preceptors for the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences and as interns in the Little Red Schoolhouse Writing Program. Advanced graduate students are also eligible to offer courses of their own design through the Graham School of General Studies. There are also regularly opportunities for advanced graduates to serve as visiting lecturers at other institutions in the Chicago area, such as Chicago State University, Columbia College, DePaul University, and Dominican University.
Practical and theoretical teacher training for graduate students across the University is available through the Center for Teaching and Learning.