A Bibliographical Register of EC/ASECS Newsletters
1978-2004
[Published in The East-Central Intelligencer n.s. 19, no. 1 (January, 2005),
33-54]
Introduction
The decision to establish a newsletter for the East-Central / American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies seems to have been fully Leland D. Peterson's, who was in 1977-1983 the Executive Secretary (serving two three-year terms). Leland's issues from January 1978 to December 1980, written for a small familiar audience, are playfully witty, conversational and opinionative--they are newsLETTERS, with too much personality to be classed as journalism. Back in 1975 Howard Weinbrot had begun editing the Newsletter of the Johnson Society of the Central Region, setting an example for Leland to emulate--at least, when I (the current editor) took over, Leland offered me the impossible advice to imitate Weinbrot's tone. Leland [LDP], as did Weinbrot, felt our newsletters should play with 18th-century conventions of language and genre. Peterson parodied 18th-century stylistic elements in his diction and syntax (such as the spelling "Compleat"), in his personae (such as that of the astrologer for the "Norfolk Intelligencers" of 1981-82, often begun with predictions for the quarter), and in his structuring the newsletter around periodical essays that are each given head-titles and contain direct address in an epistolary fashion. Perhaps the signing of articles by initials and certainly the occasional use by LDP of Latin pseudonyms mimic 18th-century conventions. Foolery and burlesque are quite rarely seen in the academic arena today, with the obvious exception of Kevin Cope's humorous revival of many hack conventions (Thomas Jefferson's preface to Jon Stewart's America: The Book doesn't appear in a scholarly work). Somewhat distinctive to LDP was a penchant for stirring up controversy as a way to generate discussion in the newsletter. For instance, he tried to kick up dispute about the value of "interdisciplinarity" in October 1978 and then about Boswell's reliability as a guide to Johnson in October 1979. In both cases, LDP spotlighted provocative scholarship recently published by Donald Greene. LDP's attention to Greene succeeded in securing for the January 1980 issue a four-page letter from Greene on the ECCB and his decision to resign from the ASECS board.
Initially, as throughout I.1 and I.3-4, LDP structured his newsletters around short (often paragraph-length) news briefs that had underlined titles (remember that the early issues were produced on typewriters, without the varying fonts made possible by the computer). Large-font head-titles were introduced by taping down photoduplicated letter-press and vignettes from 18th-century materials. They were employed for the departments, or periodic essays, that LDP created for others. Departments were regularly contributed by W. R. McLeod ("Compleat Historian"), Elizabeth Nelson ("Female Tatler"), and A. Charlotte Hogsett ("Le Pour et contre," initially penned by Jean Hunter, then by Hogsett, and as late as 1987 by Lois Ann Russell).
With issue II.1 (January 1979), LDP admitted the first recurring column, W. R. McLeod's "The Compleat Historian," which contains Renny McLeod's address in its head-title to allow others to provide him with information. LDP provided a headnote requesting "Historians with items of interest . . . [to] forward them to Renny McLeod for inclusion in this section" (II.1.4). McLeod began with "Just a few notes for the next issue of the regional newsletter," making it clear that his submission was not originally written with the expectation that he was embarking on a column. LDP evidently cut and pasted WRM's typescript to fit on to pp. 4-5.
Leland next set up the "The Female Tatler" in April 1979, asking someone to "submit a page or . . . two per quarter" (or, as is convenient) on women in the eighteenth century and on female scholars of the twentieth century." In July 1979 LDP notes that Jean Hunter has edited the "Female Tatler" this month (it contained news from four members: Beatrice Fink, Gloria Flaherty, Cynthia Sutherland, and Shirley Kenny), but "permanent editorial duties for that department will be assumed by Elizabeth Nelson," whose address is provided. LDP is to be credited with creating an early forum to serve women's studies. One can sense how about 1979 there was still a male hegemony that could be called a "boy's club" within the discipline. Women were active, even in leadership capacities (as in the founding of Eighteenth-Century Life), but there wasn't an uncountable number of renowned women scholars in 18th-century studies and their overall numbers were few. The male perspective is perhaps suggested by the opening note in a 1981 issue reporting that colonial American women didn't wear underwear other than a chemise (IV.1 [Jan. 1981], 1). Of course, the number of women in EC/ASECS has grown steadily since the 1978. In July 1980 (III.3) LDP first included a membership directory (i.e. a list with postal addresses), which he as Executive Secretary maintained: it lists 154 members, 45 of whom are women. In Kevin Berland's last issue, Winter 1985/86, he has a list of 167 members, 62 of whom are women (perhaps a few more are listed with only initials for first names). By fall 1999, over half the roughly 425 members were women (at least 216); and, of the 22 new members listed in September 1999's issue, at least 15 were women. Elizabeth Nelson would long produce her Female Tatlers on women's studies. Its recurrent motto, placed at the end of the column, as in IV.2 [April 1981], was "Our humbler Province is to tend the Fair"). Her contributions dropped off within the Intelligencer, probably in part because I insufficiently encouraged Liz, disliking, as I did, the inclusion of studies on any subject (Burke, for instance) solely because they were written by women.
Let me return to LDP's July 1979 issue. Leland was also "pleased to introduce ... the third of our special departments, Le Pour et Contre, primarily for our members in French language and literature," to be contributed by Charlotte Hogsett (II.3.1). LDP was fighting the good but usually losing fight of all newsletter editors: to squeeze contributions or at least news out of the membership. (Later Kevin Berland would begin inserting a form for members to write news on and then return to him. Other regional ASECS newsletters more severely reflect the difficulty of getting news from members. In the Intelligencer the current editor built up the section by gathering information through private correspondence, conversations at conferences, and skimming publications' contents, thus creating a sense in the reluctant that there was nothing vainly singular about calling attention to one's publications, grants, travels, etc.)
After editing the EC/ASECS Newsletter from January 1978 to December 1980, LDP turned the editorship over to his principal contributor, W. R. McLeod--who would have received the Peterson Service Award in the 1990s were he still a member. Renny McLeod continued LDP's practice of producing quarterly, or seasonal, issues on leaves the size of ordinary sheets of paper (8 1/2" x 11"), though Renny's issues were printed front and back, unlike LDP's. Renny (WRM) continued to structure the issues around periodic contributors' letters, or departments, with Leland regularly contributing one. However, WRM reduced the dependence on periodical essays, in part by deploying a lead essay on a research field or resource by a contributor often outside the membership. For instance, in IV.2, WRM published a second essay by Thomas P. Ofcansky, his colleague at West Virginia: "The Use and Misuse of Oral Traditions in African History" (Ofcansky already had contributed an essay to II.4 [October 1979]). Two of the best of the lead scholarly essays, two that I would love to reprint today, reflect on research projects: W. H. Smith's essay on the Yale Walpole in IV.4 (Nov 1981--very informative about that project and full of thought on annotation as activity,--and Ruth K McClure's account of the discoveries that led to her Coram's Children, 1981 (V.2 [May 1982])--loaded with practical advice on methods. As a historian, then at West Virginia (he's now retired and resides in Alabama), WRM gained from fellow historians contributions that would interest readers regardless of their specialty. Some of the announcements and articles reflect WRM's work--with his wife Vicky--on early 18th-century newspapers (witness his/their Anglo-Scottish Tracts, 1701-1714: A Descriptive Checklist, 1979, and A Graphical Directory of English Newspapers and Periodicals, 1702-1714, 1982). With acknowledgements, McLeod drew upon announcements and articles in other regional societies' newsletters. Under WRM began the tradition of printing the presidential address from the annual meeting, starting with the very first delivered, in fall 1981: Van Baker's "Obscure but not Unprofitable: EC/ASECS President's Remarks." Besides LDP and Elizabeth Nelson, other contributors at this time include David Vieth (especially for short announcements of conference sessions) and Ted Braun. Ted Braun contributed to Leland's third volume and McLeod's first. His "Notes from Newark" essays in the Intelligencer since the 1980s have maintained the departmental ingredient as well as the convivial and personal account of conferences, which LDP inserted into the first volumes. One of WRM's own personal touches was the "old Scottish recipe," with which several issues end. McLeod resigned from the Executive Board of EC/ASECS around the time of the 1983 meeting, which he missed; in the summer 1984 newsletter, LDP noted "Renny McLeod resigned in order to become full-time editor of his newly-founded Scottish Merchant" (12).
As its third editor, the Society drafted Kevin Berland, a relatively new--but very clubbable--member on the tenure track at Penn State. The tools of Kevin's talents, besides the guitar and the sketch-pad, included the computer, and he brought the newsletter into the computer age. Dropping the old volume and issue numbering, Kevin produced a new series of six issues between "Winter 1983" and "Winter 1985/86," each on 8 1/2" by 14" sheets folded into a booklet of 24-32 pages. All are distinguished by his cover drawings, beginning with "Thrale's Ales," depicting Dr. Johnson walking with a bottle of ale. Following in WRM's tradition, Kevin [KJHB] was more of an editor than an author of the newsletter. His opening issue set that pattern, with Peter Briggs's "President's Remarks" from Delaware in 1983 (recall that delightful address on "Marketing the Eighteenth Century"), Elizabeth Nelson's "Female Tatler," Van Baker's Executive Secretary report, a membership roster, and Publius Lepidus's [LDP's] remarks on the widespread abandonment of MLA and preference for 18C societies, with an account of the Delaware meeting's pleasures. In the next issue, Kevin reprinted copy that WRM had already secured, Paul J. Korshin's "The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography: A New Case of Censorship" (8-16), with facsimiles of the "original text" of Korshin's foreword (as general editor for the volume) to ECCB, n.s. 5 ([viii]-xi) and "the altered version . . . published," showing deletions, as of Korshin's charge that ASECS spent $20,000 in NEH funding for the ECCB on unrelated expenses or at least expenses unknown to its general editor, Robert Allen (cancellans ix). Korshin's account ignited a controversy much hotter than any LDP had dreamed of creating, and LDP himself tried to throw water on the fire in the following issue. But Korshin's account of the history of ASECS's relations with the ECCB is invaluable, and this editor is proud that our newsletter was its venue--in part because Korshin went on to edit what is unquestionably the best journal in 18th-century studies, The Age of Johnson. KJHB's issues regularly carried contributions by stalwart members like Leland Peterson and Liz Nelson (and William Horne was a contributing editor to several issues). They were also increasingly strengthened with news of developments in 18th-century studies outside the EC/ASECS. As we all know and hopefully posterity will appreciate, Kevin went on to create and maintain the most successful 18th-century newsletter of the past dozen years, his C18-L discussion list and its many offshoots, including the Selected Readings archived at the C18-L website.
The current editor (Jim May [JEM]) was recruited by Van Baker, Cal Winton and other board members at the fall 1986 meeting and produced his first issue in December 1986. From the beginning, JEM's EC/ASECS newsletter appeared on folded 8 1/2" x 11" sheets, resembling, or attempting to resemble, the dense economy of the Johnsonian New Letter then produced by John Middendorf. Beginning with JEM's fifth issue, in Spring 1987, the new series was retitled "The East-Central Intelligencer," the substantive having associations with Leland's periodical essays and with the Swift-Sheridan periodical edited expertly by our member James Woolley. Since this series began with a December issue, the volume unit failed to mirror the calendar year, but this was corrected by publishing Vol. 3, no. 1, in January 1989. The "n.s.," or more exactly "3rd ser.," of newsletters was initially produced with an Apple IIe and then from 1988 to 2003 with a Macintosh computer with a Microsoft Word text in Times Roman 14-pt., reduced 69%--unfortunately, the editor's campus removed the Macs in 2004, throwing him back on a less dense type-face produced on Word for IBM. Since 1986 usually three issues have appeared: January, May, and September. Volumes have been distinguished by different colored stock, but only in January 1993 were cover illustrations added to distinguish issues (and to allow a needed illustration for an article). The editor's technical ignorance has caused frequent aberrations in pagination and running-titles--at present I'll be damned if I can figure out how to reduce the size of the page numbers in this issue. Adaptations to a four-page unit have often led the editor to clip words throughout the issue (for which he apologizes to contributors). Another constraint involves the weight of the issue in ounces: the 76-page issue common in recent years allows the issue to weigh in just under 4 ozs.
Many members, especially Betty Rizzo, rallied to supply copy for the new editor, and the first issues of the new series had a multi-vocal diversity rarely attained since while it covered a great many projects and resources in short articles. At the start of the new series, Linda Merians served as a "Contributing Editor," and thereafter her contributions earned her the title "Associate Editor." Linda's most important contributions included the Pedagogue's Post department and articles on primary research and resources in the United Kingdom. After she assumed the duties of Executive Secretary in August 1995 and her contributions necessarily were reduced somewhat, Linda Merians was again styled a "Contributing Editor." William C. Horne was a contributing editor through April 1988, compiling on occasion the news of members. And, for three years beginning in May 1996, Barbara Knauff was a contributing editor; she was able, as a German-born professor of French, to add sorely needed materials on non-English-speaking cultures. In practice, "contributing editor" means "regular contributor," and, so, we might designate Theodore E. D. Braun a "contributing editor" for his regular "Notes from Newark," and for the appropriations from TEDB's "Forthcoming Meetings" list in the ASECS News Circular (he then served as ASECS's coordinator for affiliated societies)--at times TEDB directly submitted the information to JEM; thus, TED's surveys appeared directly in both newsletters. Into the late 1990s, Leland D. Peterson also deserved the title of Contributing Editor. LDP contributed "Spectator" essays to each issue of JEM's first volume. Before running LDP's essay in April 1987, out of ignorance of LDP's generic conventions, I (i.e. JEM!) appropriated part of that department for correspondence with and on LDP [there styled "Kikarow"], thus depriving the founder of the column's ownership. JEM (that would be me) wrongly supposed the "Spectator" was the locus for various people's comments for the good of the order. Thus the January 1989 Spectator incorporates comments on the College Park meeting in 1988 from "St. Denys" (T. E. D. Braun) and the Executive Director of the MLA's response to Kikarow's "Spectator No. 4.," before wandering off into the editor's own reflections on the treatment of minor figures.
The Intelligencers have been lengthy enough to benefit from a table of contents, which KJHB had employed and Tom Bonnell even offered to produce for me, but I have been too impatient with production delays and too frugal of space to include them. The issues' contents are structured to begin with the Society's news, typically an account of the annual conference, presidential address, prize announcements (back when our members deserved prizes!) and business-meeting minutes; they then proceed to articles related to research and then to those on teaching; thereafter they offer book reviews (increasing in number over the past decade); then news of members, beginning with Ted Braun's collegial "Notes from Newark," and then announcements, in the order: forthcoming meetings, exhibits and seminars, fellowships, publication opportunities, and lastly research tools (of late often on WWW sites). The editor's exchange of issues for other editors's newsletters has enabled him to include many announcements--but these publications are perks he wouldn't give up even if they didn't. The issues have frequently ended with an alphabetized series that allows the removal of the running-titles and thus the recovery of three lines per page: membership directories, indices of the Intelligencer itself, and, beginning in 1998, the editor's bibliographies of scholarship. Originally eight bibliographies of recent scholarship were envisioned; almost all (but not yet all) those fields have been covered. Directories appeared every year until 1997 and in every other year thereafter, typically in the May issue--their production is the hardest task an editor can have: he must strike the names of those who've not found the newsletter worth the dues and wonder "Is it something I said--or didn't say?" and "Am I wasting mine and others' time?" Illustrations apart from the cover have generally been avoided due to an obsession with economy (McLeod isn't the only Scot to serve as editor) and an awareness of the limits of photocopying, yet some have been introduced, first for Ted Braun's article in Spring 1988 (signed "Saint Denys") and frequently in recent years beginning with Joan Stemmler's presidential address on the use of the golden ratio in painting and frequently thereafter to illustrate articles by Hermann J. Real.
The Intelligencer has from the beginning focused decidedly on resources for historical scholarship, indeed, endeavoring to itself be a resource for studying the history of the 18th century. That editorial intention reflects the inclinations not only of the editor but the former editors, major contributors, and the members recurrently attending our conferences. There's very little theorizing and lingo-dressing at our meetings. (That's a fact, and we know what a fact is likely to be.) The Intelligencer's attention to primary materials, editorial labors, and the like has drawn into the membership many fine scholars, from A. C. Elias and Hermann Real a decade ago to Frank Ellis this winter. To some extent, this orientation excludes other voices from the newsletter that might gain it a larger (if sillier) readership--I fear, in my dusty penchant for gathering up publications and recording rare book and MSS sales, I must sound like an old pedant or even a codger to many, especially younger scholars. Of course, while I'm soul searching, I must admit that we've never adequately attended to the disciplinary range of dix-huitièmists--in this February's issue Brij Singh offers perhaps our first essay ever on painting! My anxiety about the scope of the Intelligencer's menu is based in part on our failure, despite very modest dues, of ever breaking 500 members.
Some growth we can boast. The Intelligencer's circulation grew slowly initially, then dramatically after about 1991. Only 250 copies were printed for the 1991 and January 1992 issues but, since 1997, we've been printing and distributing about 550 copies. Presumably the expansion of membership and circulation is related to an increase in the newsletter's value: Since the 1996 volume, we've averaged over 200 pages per volume at the anachronistic dues rate of $10 for regular members and only $5 for graduate students (just five measly bucks even if you live in England!). That dues rate has been possible in part because of subsidies from Penn State University, ranging from $500 to $1000. Recent donors can be acknowledged by citing sponsors in 1997 and 2004. For the 1997 volume, Penn State provided $800 in printing subvention: $300 from the DuBois Campus, $200 from the English Department; $200 from J. L. West, III's Center for the Study of the History of the Book; and $100 from Rare Books Curator, Charles Mann. In 2004, DuBois granted $350, the Commonwealth College into which it falls, another $200, the English Dept., $200, and James L. West's Center, $200. All new-series volumes have been printed by Action Graphics of Clearfield (initially located in DuBois). After the 84-page September 1998 issue broke their stapling machine, the press began to farm out the work to the DuBois Bindery (imagine my delight in discovery DuBois had a bindery!). The printer's bills have always seemed reasonable, with the 550 copies of September 2004 costing $907--that is less than half the $560 paid for printing 250 copies of the January 1992 issue. Postage expenses have grown relative to printing costs, particularly as issues have grown in length and members in foreign countries have joined. The 3-oz. June 1997 issue was mailed for $.78 to American and $95 to Canadian members; but the September 2004 issue at the new standard weight of 4 ozs. cost $1.06 for American and $1.60 for Canadian members. Most recent issues have cost $4 to mail to Europe, where we've now roughly 15 recipients. The first-class mailing costs for the September 2004 issue were roughly $650.
Contents notes have been provided in the register below for the issues preceding the current editor's. Any corrections or clarifications to those notes will be gratefully received and put to use on a future occasion. This register may appear in a reprinting of the EC/ASECS newsletters or, at least, at the Society's website.--James E. May
Bibliographical Register of East/Central ASECS Newsletters
1978-1980: Vols. 1-3
Edited by Leland D. Peterson English Dept., Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VirginiaTitle: "East-Central [American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies] Newsletter"
Format: photocopied on one side of a 8.5 x 11" sheets. Return address and title "EAST-CENTRAL / * | NEWSLETTER' atop p. 1, a double-rule and then the text; at the foot is "American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies", completing the title at the top. James Woolley reports from inspecting his originals, "The early ones look like they were mailed in an envelope (folded to 5 x 8" size), but beginning with III.2 (April 1980), they have mailing labels and the "postage paid" indicia rubber stamped on the front cover; i.e., they seem to have been mailed at full 8.5 x 11" size."
Length in pages for 12 issues: 125 without most mailing (address) pages.
I.1: January 1978: pp. 1 2-6 Contents: Begins with a Latin motto and concludes with Leland D. Peterson's [LDP's] signature and then a parodic colophon or address at the end; organized around paragraphs of news headed by underlined titles. LDP first justifies the newsletter despite the existence of both Eighteenth-Century Studies and the EC/ASECS's "quarterly journal" Eighteenth-Century Life. The newsletter will allow an exchange of information, comment on conference papers and recent publications, propose issues for discussion, etc. Correspondence of 100-500 words is called for. The Society is argued to be "worth it," with testimonials by various correspondents, including "J)___ B___ of Scotland and a "J.S.D.S.P." The news and discussion paragraphs range from Handel, to James Clifford's published attack on the hard-school of interpreting Gulliver's Travels, to Arthur Scouten's paper at the 1977 EC/ASECS, which questions value of inter-disciplinary studies and the effort of the "PQ-ASECS annual bibliography" for 1973's coverage of non-English authors, to a published critique of modern architectural additions to older buildings, to news of a London fellowship, a campaign to publish the papers from the 1977 meeting, and news of the 18th-century discussion group at Delaware.
I.2: April 1978: pp. 1 2-6 Contents: Paragraph-length announcements and reflections, as a summary of Donald Greene's questioning the thesis of Ronald Crane's "Genealogy of the 'Man of Feeling'" in Modern Philology and W. R. McLeod's call for assistance with his checklist of serials from 1702-1714. On. pp. 4-6 are re-numbered sheets of essay on "Eighteenth Century Holdings in Eleutherian Mills Historical Library" by Evelyn Hundley Kuserk, double-spaced and paginated 1-3.]
I.3: July 1978: pp. 1 2-7 Contents: Includes an opening memorial tribute to James Lowry Clifford, continues with news of conferences (the forthcoming EC/ASECS and the last ASECS) and periodical news (of ECL and Restoration, edited by J. M. Armistead and D. Vieth, whose first number of Vol. 2 is available free from the former and whose first article in that number is summarized: Vieth's "The Curse of Interdisciplinarity"). A page and a third is devoted to Renny McLeod's account of the Buten Museum of Wedgwood in Merion, PA. The final page of the issue has a poor photocopy of a photograph of theatrical scene.
I.4: October 1978: pp. 1 2-7 Contents: Entirely by LDP, with a provocative rekicking of the interdisciplinarity issue within ASECS, quoting others' opinions; the reporting of tributes to deceased James Clifford; news of the Newcomen Society honoring inventor Thomas Newcomen, of new periodicals, including The Periodical Post Boy Reviv'd, ed. by R. B. White and R. N. Gosselink and focused on pre-1800 periodicals, and the U. of Delaware 18th-century group; also McLeod's report of visiting the new ESTC project at the British Library.
II.1: January 1979: pp. 1 2-7 Contents: After an invitation to the 1979 meeting in Williamsburg, LDP notes the effort to build a controversy around interdisciplinarity has succeeded: a forum on the subject in the ASECS News Circular of October 1978 is reported and LDP responds with his (and Vieth's and Scouten's) views that ASECS should not legislate that sponsored scholarship be interdisciplinary (it's enough that diverse disciplines meet within the same tent). W. R. McLeod's first "The Compleat Historian" column appears on pp. 4-5, and LDP closes the issue with a long personal account of the EC/ASECS at Duquesne U. and the U. of Pittsburgh (pp. 5-7).
II.2: April 1979: pp. 1 2-11 Contents: First comes LDP's review essay on two books and article offering good preparation for visiting Williamsburg, site of the 1979 EC/ASECS (1-4), then after an update on a tribute to J. Clifford and news of the 1980 EC/ASECS and a Folger conference in 1979, appear McLeod's "department," or column, "The Compleat Historian" on pp. 6-7 and the inaugural "Female Tatler" by LDP himself (pp. 8-10); the issue ends with further discussion of interdisciplinarity and a correspondent's notice of several publications on Rousseau.
II.3: July 1979: pp. 1 2-11 Contents: Early and late appear LDP's news and account of the 1979 ASECS in Atlanta, particularly its business meeting during which the Executive Board decided to discontinue support for The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography (ECCB) and First Vice-President Donald Greene resigned. (LDP speculates that Greene's resignation was a response to the Board's decision and not related to his vocal protest of the Board's failure to observe a required voting rule.) The issue also contains three columns: McLeod's "Complete Historian" on pp. 3-4, a "Female Tatler" by Jean E. Hunter of Duquesne U. on p. 7, and the first "Le Pour et contre" column, by A. Charlotte Hogsett of Mary Baldwin College, 8-9.
II.4: October 1979: pp. 1 2-11 Contents: LDP begins by eating "crow" for doubting ECCB's feasibility, observing that AMS Press has announced it will publish ECCB beginning with n.s. 2 (for 1976); he concludes with news of the ASECS in Washington and an account of the scholarly background of its co-chair, Ann Kelly; a further account of the Atlanta ASECS (with kudos to Jane Perry-Camp for her plenary on "Humor in Late 18th-Century Music") and diverse news, as of the Boswell Papers Project and Donald Greene's challenge to the notion that Boswell is the best interpreter of Johnson. In addition the issue contains with McLeod's "Complete Historian" on pp. 2-4 (with several paragraphs by Thomas Ofcansky on the state of research regarding North American slavery and a helpful notice of "Finding Aids to the Microfilmed Manuscript Collection of the Genealogical Society of Utah," ed. R. M. Haigh), and Nelson's "Female Tatler," largely printing Phillipa Kafka's remarks on Catherine Macaulay on pp. 5-7.
III.1: January 1980: pp. 1 2-22 [ii?]; with contents table on p. 1 Contents: The issue is distinguished by Donald Greene's letter clarifying his resignation from the ASECS board (2-5), with trenchant criticisms of the executives financially unsound and illegal actions (he strongly felt the budget needed to be first reviewed before any decision about ASECS's ability to fund ECCB occur). Thereafter come many reports: a preview of the 1980 conference in Winston-Salem, a discussion of the 1979 EC/ASECS meeting in Williamsburg, with reports by four correspondents on presentations at the meeting: S. Philip Hines, Jr., on "Decorative Arts," La Monte Crape on "Architecture" (his two-page report is in cursive!), William Horne on "Music," and Richard Quintance on "Landscape Gardening"; Quintance continues with a research report and query on landscape gardening and politics (7-12); a short account from G. S. Rousseau on his visiting professorship at Cambridge, with comparisons to life in southern California (12-13); news of Handel and Mozart events; "Compleat Historian" by McLeod, loaded with news of scholarly projects (14-16); progress report on ESTC by C. Y. Ferdinand, including accounts of staff, methods, and grants received (17-19), and "Le Pour et Contre" by A. Charlotte Hogsett, with a lengthy report and query on drama from Theodore E. d. Braun (20-21); and final remarks on members participation in the last ASECS and Bill Horne's effort to set up a charter flight to the 1980 ASECS in San Francisco (what ambition!). Without a doubt this issue was an admirable accomplishment and leaves the current editor with envy.
III.2: April 1980: pp. [ii, illus. cover sheet] 1 2-10 11 12-13 [14, labeling page?] Contents: LDP on the state of EC/ASECS (grown from 94 in 1979 to 145 as of April 1980), playfully fantasizing about a vaster expansion; he credits Renny McLeod's membership efforts for much of the growth. Next LDP discusses the 1980 EC/ASECS in Winston-Salem (he sells it hard since that weekend Northeast and Midwest ASECS also meet); he discusses candidates for EC/ASECS offices; and he celebrates Arthur H. Scouten on the occasion of his forced retirement at age 70 from Penn. Another fine survey of scholarly and archival projects and publications follows in McLeod's "Compleat Historian," which concludes with some current library exhibitions of note (7-9). After a page listing donors to the Clifford memorial fund (donated to Yale's Johnson edition), Nelson's "Female Tatler" offers abstracts from the Williamsburg conference session on "Literature and Women" (Leland E. Warren on Lennox's Female Quixote, Julia Epstein on Burney's Evelina, and a note by Beth Lambert on Anna Seward's status as a poet among her contemporaries [11-13]).
III.4: October 1980: pp. 1 2-10 [LDP celebrates publication of Eighteenth-Century Life, 5, nos. 2-3, "the Clifford Memorial issue," edited by T. E. D. Braun and Van R. Baker with essays from the York College meeting (1977) on teaching the eighteenth century (1). Congratulations are offered to Jean Hunter and Cynthia Sutherland, founding editors of ECL, for editing its first 20 numbers. (R. Maccubbin now takes over as editor.) There follow David Vieth on "Satires on Readers" (3-5), McLeod's "Compleat Historian" (6-8 [unsigned]), and "Calories and Culture" by John C. Super of West Virginia U. (9-10).
1981-February 1983: Vols. 4-6
Edited by W. R[eynolds]. McLeod History Dept., West Virginia University, Morgantown, WVTitle: "East-Central Newsletter | American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies"
Format: photocopied on 8 1/2 x 11" sheets, front and back except coversheets and issue IV.2 [April 1981] which was apparently copied on one side only. The issues were folded over, with the final leaf bearing a mailing label. For Vol. IV.3 through Vol. VI.1, McLeod distributed issues with a non-profit permit and "postage paid" labeling. On p. 1 title at head, double rule, text and at the foot after a rule the return address and issue no. and date. McLeod's issues contain fewer news notices and rely more on submitted essays; all have a lead essay by another scholar. As in LDP's issues, head-titles with addresses are used for departments or columns, as "Female Tatler" and "Compleat Historian."
Total length in pages for 9 issues: 144 pp.
IV.1: January 1981: pp. 1 2-20 [ii, blue cover sheet] Contents: "Unmentionables Unmentioned" by Howard H. Peckham, noting that, until the 1790s, American women, like English ones, wore only the chemise as an undergarment (1); "Norfolk Intelligencer" column of Leland D. Peterson, where under the personal of Dr. Abraham Foresight, LDP promises intelligence of the future and reveals the results of Executive Board elections at the preceding meeting; he also notes that the newsletter editor and the editor of Eighteenth-Century Life, Robert Maccubbin, will have seats on the Executive (2-3). Maccubbin has asked that EC/ASECS members first submit revised papers for publication in ECL, from which he will publish at least three annually, and that he would "give EC/ASECS members a reduced price for subscriptions" to ECL. In "The Female Tatler," Elizabeth Nelson surveys a number of publications, particularly biographical works on women but also scholarship on diverse subjects by women scholars (3-5); important EC/ASECS addresses (5); "Eighteenth Century American Agricultural History" by John T. Schlebecker of the Smithsonian Institute, a double-spaced essay (6-11, with single-spaced footnotes); "Compleat Historian" by McLeod (12-14), with news of institutions (e.g., the temporary closing of the Governor's Palace at Colonial Williamsburg), projects, publications in all fields (literature and gardening as well as history), calls for papers, and program notes on forthcoming meetings (as on the SEASECS's meeting in February 1981); the conference report "Johnson Symposium at Tuscaloosa" by David M. Vieth (15); EC/ASECS Constitution (16-18); and "Minutes of the Business Meeting . . . 18 October 1980" by Leland D. Peterson (18-19); statement of finances (20). LDP notes that the Executive voted "to continue dues at $10.00 per year, with $6.00 to go for a subscription to Eighteenth-Century Life, and $2.00-3.00 for the Newsletter."
IV.2: April 1981: pp. 1 2-12 [ii, cover sheet, with return address on center of verso, allowing sheets to be folded in half for mailing]; pages printed only on recto. Contents: Article on the Literary Text Project by Stephen Ackerman, after an introductory editor's note (1-5). In a call for participation, Ackerman reports that he and others have "incorporated in DC as a nonprofit educational organization" offering for classroom use a computerized text-base allowing professors to teach hard-to-find texts, as of minor authors rarely anthologized (Ann Kelly, Beth Lambert, Roger Miles, Erich Molin were also on the LTP's board of directors). Presently 125 poetical texts are included (a two-page list exemplifies the anthologized poems), and Ackerman hopes to see that figure rise to 400 or more before titles by Pope and others are added. Hereafter come a call for submissions to SECC from its editor, Harry Payne (5), the "Norfolk Intelligencer," with a bantering call for reports on the health of 18th-century British literature in academic studies and a preview of future meetings, including a report on the Bryn Mawr meeting in 1981 and an account of members' efforts for the 1981 ASECS in Washington (at which a Handel Society conference will occur (6-8); "The Use and Misuse of Oral Traditions in African History," with an account of new and old methodologies, by Thomas P. Ofcansky (McLeod's colleague at West Virginia); "The Female Tatler," ed. by E. Nelson, containing Edward Geist's essay on Elizabeth Carter (10-12); and postscript call for papers from the chair of the MWASECS meeting.
IV.3: August 1981: pp. 1 2-18. The bottom half of the final page bears a return address and a non-profit permit and "postage paid" stamp, along with space for the recipient's mailing label.
Contents: "Grants and Grantsmanship: The Art of Applying for and Receiving Humanities Foundation Grants" by James A. Watson, with a headnote by WRM, a set of practical reminders and a list of addresses for local states and DC's humanities foundations; the "Norfolk Intelligencer," after a memorial tribute to Leland Peterson's mentor Samuel Holt Monk, who died 22 March 1981, notes a report of healthy attendance in an English lit survey, proceeds to survey of the Washington ASECS highlighting awards, musical presentations, Henry Snyder's presidential address warning scholars not to overlook sermon literature, from which Leland Peterson digresses to Donald Greene remarks on sermon literature and to Louis Landa, present at the plenary, celebrating his contribution to Swift studies and noting Princeton's publication of a collection of his essays. A directory of members and some announcements follow, as that Irma Lustig showed a film on the Boswell papers at the ASECS (10-12). There follow "Dean [Josiah] Tucker [1713-1799]" by George Shelton of the U. of Victoria, a career sketch (13-15); a note on the death of Robert B. White on 20 March 1981; "The Female Intelligencer" with Elizabeth Nelson's survey of many publications by or on women, all briefly mentioned (16-17; several paper-calls for the ASECS meeting in Houston and the editors appeal for contributions (17); and a dues reminder from the Executive Secretary, Leland Peterson (18).,/p>
IV.4: [Fall] 1981 ("Nov." MS on May copy; "October" on Van Baker's copy): pp. 1 2-18 Contents: "The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence: An Editorial History" by Warren Hunting Smith, a superbly written and insightful assessment of the editorial enterprise, examining with uncommon candor the annotations in the evolving project (1-3); "The Female Tatler" by Elizabeth Lambert with an informative set of summaries for papers at the 1981 EC/ASECS meeting relevant to women's studies (3-4); notice of The Eighteenth-Century Woman exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum (3); "Obscure but not Unprofitable: EC/ASECS President's Remarks" by Van Baker, which WMR headnotes as "the first year that the President has addressed the meeting" (as we learn from the address, the Executive Board voted at the preceding meeting that the President shall henceforth address the conference). Van Baker offered a biographical talk on the eligibility of John Andrews of 18th-century Philadelphia for membership in EC/ASECS--Van had previously written on Andrews and could direct us to that 1976 article for scholarly references (5-9). Andrews, we learned, was a Tory Episcopal minister who long taught classics at his own school in York and eventually at Penn, who accomplished much though he has been lost to posterity. There follow "Voltaire and His Contes: A Review Essay on Interpretations Offered by Roy S. Wolper" by Theodore E. D. Braun, examining approvingly a series of five articles explicating Voltaire's fiction by the thrust of the tales and insisting critics have wrongly read it too autobiographically (9-14); a call for papers for the Bethany EC/ASECS in 1982; "The Norfolk Intelligencer" by Leland D. Peterson (15-18), doubling as minutes for the 1981 meeting and containing the announcements that the dues will be raised to $12.50 to cover a $1.50 increase in the ECL subscription and a $1 increase in newsletter costs and that Leland Peterson has resigned as Executive Secretary; MLA sessions treating the 18th century, reported by David Vieth and a recipe for Atholl Brose from the McLeods (18).
V.1: February 1982: pp. 1 2-16 Contents: "Confessions of a Book Review Editor" by R. G. Peterson (St. Olaf College), on his year's experience as book-review editor for Eighteenth-Century Studies (1-3), with discussions of how Peterson finds reviewers, how he's pained to decide whether to send out for review books only partly about the 18th century or about areas too little of interest to the membership or too commonly covered in other reviews, how those approached respond, etc., noting "During my first year, I received about 250 books; out of these, about 110 have been sent out for review and about 90 will be reviewed." There follow a job listing by the Winterthur and news of members I. Lustig and G. S. Rousseau. "The Norfolk Intelligencer" by Leland Peterson recommends an edition of Gulliver's Travels reproducing J. J. Grandville's 445 illus. from the 1838 French edition with Desfontaines' translation and then reviews a lecture by Irvin Ehrenpreis on 23 November 1981 at the Folger (4-7). Leland Peterson, after describing a print depicting Gulliver's peeing on the palace, notes that P. Harth and F. Lock have criticized allegorical interpretations of GT, but Ehrenpreis's lecture, "The Allegory of Gulliver's Travels," was "an uncompromising exposition of the thesis that the traditional interpretations of the allegory in 'The Voyage to Lilliput' were still valid and persuasive." There follows "Roughing It: Experiences of an Academic Historian in Public History" by James Kratsas of Kansas State Historical Society, on what public history and archive/museum studies in graduate school don't prepare one for (8-11); "The Female Tatler" by Elizabeth Nelson, with short accounts of papers on women at the last MLA, on Dryden in the spring 1981 Comparative Literature, on S. Fielding's David Simple at the CEA in October, and brief mention of a couple recent dissertations by women on Johnson and Boswell (11-12); news of three upcoming meetings (12); a thorough financial report for 1 December 1980-30 November 1981 by Leland Peterson, noting expenses of $1541.67 for the year and a balance of $431.69 (13); a call for participation in the EC/ASEC at Bethany College (14); "And from the East," an invitation to attend the International SECS congress in Budapest with a travelogue of its pleasures, by Linda Frey and Marsha Frey (14-15); a request by WRM to support his petition for a session on transatlantic commercial relations at ASECS, one that would bring the distinguished Prof. W. E. Minchinton to ASECS; and various announcements taken from the NEASECS newsletter, as the establishment of a newsletter for the Correspondence of Madame de Graffigny Project and the Journal of the Early Republic (15-16) and internship openings at Historic Deerfield; with some publications announcements for books on furniture and art (16).
V.2 May 1982: pp. 1 2-14 Contents: "Coram's Children [1981]: The Story behind the Story" by Ruth K. McClure, an enjoyable narrative of McClure's research from undergraduate thesis, through dissertation and publication, with insights not only into the Foundling Hospital but into researching a historic institution on the site of its physical and archival remains (1-4); "The Norfolk Intelligencer" by Leland D. Peterson, a personal narrative reviewing the 1982 ASECS in Houston that focuses on the controversy over the value of the 56-vol. Garland Facsimile Edition Eighteenth-Century English Drama, with Paula R. Backscheider as gen. ed. (5-8). We hear that David Vieth condemned the edition for failing to follow proper textual rules and acknowledging such, and that Percy Adams, ed. of no. 35 in the series, The Plays of James Thomson, followed at the podium with claims that he'd secured the best texts for reproduction. Later in the day and the account we learn that A. H. Scouten would be complaining in print that Adams had used Alexander Donaldson's 1768 octavo as a copy text and that John Greene had documented in a forthcoming PBSA article the inadequacies of that careless reprint--Adams' decision seems to have had no textual basis, but Leland Peterson judges not, only sympathizes with the beleaguered editors. There follows an Sheldon Hanft's account of "The Carolinas Symposium on British Studies" as an organization with an annual meeting and projects, including the "Locator Bibliography of Research Materials for British Studies in the Southeast" (nearing completion) compiled by members and edited by Hanft (9-11); an invitation to the 1983 SEASECS (11); "The Female Tatler" with Phillipa Kafka's biographical account of Catherine Macaulay (12-13); and calls for participation at the 1983 SCSECS at Arizona State U. and the EC/ASECS at Bethany.
V.3: August 1982: pp. 1 2-12 Contents: "The North American Conference on British Studies" by Martin J. Havran of the U. of Virginia, a Past President of NACBS, on an organization founded in 1950, now with 750 members, mostly in history; noting its periodicals British Studies Intelligencer, Albion, and Journal of British Studies and its eight published books (1-4); several calls by members for essays and ASECS papers (4); "The Norfolk Intelligencer" by Leland Peterson with "A Further Note on the Garland Eighteenth-Century English Drama" collection discussed in Leland Peterson's last column and another subheading "On the Pleasures of Editing" (5-7), with the former arising from correspondence claiming Leland Peterson wronged the editors of that series and providing four of the volumes' introductions and leading to generalizations about the nature of facsimile editions and the speculation that "aesthetic considerations" had too much of a role in the selecting of copy; and the latter reprinting praise from a Penn alumni magazine for Irma S. Lustig's co-edition with Frederick Pottle of Boswell: The Applause of the Jury, 1782-1785 (1981). There follows "The Female Tatler," in which Elizabeth Nelson briefly surveys many publications, placing foremost Betty Richardson's "Women and Writing: A Decade of Scholarship and Criticism" in the winter 1982 Papers on Language and Literature (8-9); the announcement of three exhibits at the Yale Center for British Art (9); and a directory of the roughly 150 current members (10-12). Absent from the issue is any invitation or account of the EC/ASECS conference in Bethany, WV, other than the announcement of the date at the foot of p. 1.
.V.4: Autumn [November] 1982: pp. 1 2-16 Contents: "Famous Friends: A Presidential Address" by Victor G. Wexler [on Arthur Wilson and James Clifford, presented at Bethany College, 21-23 October 1982] (1-4); Somber news of the death of Mary Baker, wife of Executive Secretary Van Baker; "Recent Trends in the Study of Eighteenth-Century England," a review of recent books organized around fields like social and political history, by W. A. Speck of the U. of Hull (4-6); announcement that Modern Language Studies will publish reviews (6); "Norfolk Intelligencer," by Leland D. Peterson, signed "Iam Afeenix," noting this 20th regular contribution to the newsletter will be his last but occasional columns will follow, with a good humored defense of his performance (7); "Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting 22 October 1982 Bethany, West Virginia," taken by Vicki B. McLeod in Van Baker's absence, most importantly noting that subscriptions to Eighteenth-Century Life will no long be a required portion of members' dues (now set at $8) but members will on their own subscribe or not as they choose; also reported are the newly elected officers and choice of future meeting sites (8); "And Then There Were Four" by Linda Frey and Marsha Frey, a review essay on biographies of Leopold I, Emperor Joseph I, Wilhelm Egon von Fürstenberg, and Prince Eugene of Savoy (9-11); "The Female Tatler" by Elizabeth Nelson reporting on papers at the 1982 NEASECS and on recently published studies of Richardson, Swift, Fielding, 18th-century feminists, and others (11-12); "Why We Need New Approaches to Early American Literature" by Carl R. Kropf, an effort to provoke a look at the inadequacy of colonial American literary studies (too often rooted in a later vantage point)--and to provoke attendance at an ASECS session on "New Approaches to Early American Literature" (Kropf admits to not being an Americanist, 13-15); announcement of child born to Jean Hunter and Paul Mason and of exhibition on "Pennsylvania Germans" in Philadelphia (15); a request from the editor for 2000-word reports on neglected areas of 18th-century studies or argumentative essays challenging truisms, noting deadlines of 1 December, 1 March, 1 June, and 1 Sept, a Scottish recipe for "Hot Pint" for editor, and then the upside-down return address and postage permit stamp (16).
VI.1: February 1983: pp. 1 2-16 Contents: "Trends in American Material Culture," a valuable survey of scholarship, by Ian M. G. Quimby of the Winterthur Museum, which considers the impact of "material culture" studies on fields like History, Archaeology, Art History, American Folk Studies, and Museums and offers a two-page bibliography (1-10); calls for papers for the EC/ASECS, MLA, MW/ASECS, and NE/ASECS meetings in 1983 (10-11); "The Female Tatler" by Elizabeth Nelson, with a long paragraph on the Literary Text Project's printed announcement for its first volume, A Collection of English Poetry by Women, 1660-1800, with a call for scholars to donate texts they've edited to the database and reports of publications (11-12); conference info. for the SEASECS and SCSECS meetings in March 1983 (12); and "What's Everybody's Business Is Nobody's Business" by Calhoun Winton (13-16), a review essay on the accomplishments and areas of research opened by Elizabeth Eisenstein's The Printing Press as an Agent of Change (1979) and Jean Hagstrum's Sex and Sensibility (1980). Note that this issue lacks Leland Peterson's usual column and makes no mention, as in the "Female Tatler" to the October 1982 meeting of the Society.
Winter 1983-Winter 1985/86
Edited by Kevin J. H. Berland Penn State University--Shenango CampusTitle: "EC/ASECS Newsletter" [with variants as Winter 1983]
Total length in pages of six issues: 172 including 12 blanks.
Format: Folded format photocopied on an 8 1/2" x 14" sheet; all issues carry Kevin Berland's drawings on front cover, with blank verso; usually the adjacent final leaf had return address (with recto on inside blank). The issues carried a running-title, such as "EC/ASECS Newsletter Winter 1983 [page no.]," on each page. The openings (with facing pages) have an area 13" across by 7 1/2-3/4" tall.
1. Winter 1983: pp. [ii, cover drawing and blank verso], 1-24, [ii, blanks]. Cover drawing: "Thrale's Ales" depicting Johnson walking with bottle of ale (credited as in other KB issues to "Asparagus Studios" [i.e., KB]). Masthead lists the editor's production assistants (so acknowledged in all KB's issues) and notes "Female Tatler" is edited by Elizabeth Nelson, offering her address for correspondents (offered in all KB's issues).
Contents: contents table (1); Peter Briggs's "President's Remarks . . . University of Delaware, September 30, 1983[:] Marketing the Eighteenth Century," wherein the Muse of Marketing suggests we issue bumper-stickers like "When Sam Johnson talks, people listen" (2-9); Elizabeth Nelson's "Female Tatler," listing studies found in the monthly serial Literary Criticism Registry (10-11); Executive Secretary Van Baker's minutes for the business meeting, noting W. R. McLeod's resignation from the executive board, a 20% discount for members subscribing to Eighteenth-Century Life, and the newly elected officers of EC/ASECS (12-13); a roster of the current 155 members' names (14-15); and "Of the Fourteenth Annual EC/ASECS Conference at Newark . . . 1983," on why many have dropped their membership in the MLA and prefer conventioneering at regional ASECS meetings, with sample pleasures from the Delaware meeting, by Publius Lepidus [Leland D. Peterson]--Leland Peterson is somewhat concerned that the MLA is losing its 18th-century studies contingent (16-21). The 1984 meeting at the Naval Academy is announced in a box (21) and three pages of announcements close out the issue (22-24), the first of which is that an editorial committee will attempt to publish selected papers from the Delaware meeting, entitled Man, God, and Nature in the Eighteenth Century [eventually published by T. Braun, D. Mell, & L. Palmer]. Besides a call for papers for the Midwest MLA and national meeting, and an announcement of the new "Center for the History of British Political Thought," there's a call from J. Milhous and R. D. Hume for scholars to assist them in compiling their register of English theater documents, 1660-1737.
2. Spring 1984: pp. [ii] 1-20 [ii]. Cover illus.: Diderot bearing encyclopedia volumes is welcomed at the "EC/ASECS" door.
Contents: contents table (1); "The Female Tatler: A Fall Harvest of Scholarship," with a dense list of publications by women or on women authors (3-7); "The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography: A New Case of Censorship" by Paul J. Korshin (8-16), with facsimiles of the "original text" of Korshin's foreword (as general editor for the volume) to ECCB, n.s. 5 ([viii]-xi) and "the altered version of the page which AMS Press published," showing deletions, as of Korshin's charge that ASECS spent $20,000 in NEH funding for the ECCB on unrelated expenses or at least expenses unknown to its general editor, Robert Allen (cancellans ix)--Korshin in his introduction and within the censored preface tells the history of ASECS's relations with the ECCB, how, while Executive Secretary of ASECS, he had led the effort to secure two three-year grants from the NEH, whose terms ASECS may have insufficiently honored; Korshin also notes his role in negotiations with AMS in 1979 when ASECS's support was being withdrawn. The issue concludes with "Calls for Papers," largely for ASECS and MLA affiliates (17-20) and a leaf with recto blank and return address on verso follows.
3. Summer 1984: pp. [ii] 1-28 [ii]. Cover illus.: 18th-century Annapolis, with other illustrations on pp. 3, 8, 15, 18, 22, 27, and [30]. Masthead notes William Horne, associate editor, and Elizabeth Nelson departmental editor for "Female Tatler."
Contents: contents table (1); Editor's note (2-3), apologizing for the failure to include opposing views to Paul Korshin's on the ECCB within the last issue; also noting two innovations: the inclusion of academic affiliations within the membership list (taken from the ISECS directory) and the inauguration of a "news of members" section in imitation of the Association of Canadian Teachers of English); "Preview of the 1984 Meeting" in Annapolis by chair Phil Jason (4-8); LDP's "The Norfolk Intelligencer: ASECS 1984: In the Home of the Bean and the Scrod," on the Boston ASECS and on the background to the publication of Korshin's essay on the ECCB, criticizing both ASECS's executive secretary Ronald Rosbottom and ECCB editor Henry Snyder, the latter for altering Korshin's preface to ECCB, n.s. 5 [for 1979]); defending Snyder's right to make editorial deletions, LDP calls for forgiveness and accommodation by all parties (9-15). "The Female Tatler," with the masthead of the 1709-1710 periodical supplied by Maureen Mulvihill, contains an abstract from Miriam Dick of an MLA paper on Pamela; half a dozen miscellaneous notes on recent publications follow and the issue concludes with a call for contributions to the 1985 ASECS's women's studies session (15-18). The "calls for papers" section covers a conference on women and the arts at Hofstra and the McMaster Association for 18th-century studies, and lists Northeast MLA sessions related to the 18th-century (20-21). The roster of members (23-27), followed by a boxed announcement for the 1985 EC/ASECS (28), concludes the issue. The final leaf has a return address but no space for a mailing label, suggesting the issue was mailed in an envelope.
4. [July 1985]: pp. [ii] 1-24 [ii]. Cover portrait of Laurence Sterne; back cover blank with a stamped return address and space for the mailing label and postage [dated 5 July 1985]. Masthead lists William C. Horne as Associate Editor and Elizabeth Nelson as editor of "Female Tatler," providing her address for correspondence. The issue is itself undated, with the editor's preface noting the issue was delayed by the lack of an executive secretary and thus "funds or mailing lists since October."
Contents: contents table (1); "Letter from the Editor" on the delay in publication, on society's thanks to Philip Jason for chairing the Annapolis meeting, on the need for members to send professional news (the issue included a news of members form to advance that end) and to donate articles, notes and reviews, and on a recent list of dangerous books (2-4); letter "From the President," i.e. Leland Peterson (5-6); "Johnson, West, and Greene: An Exchange," with two letters by Donald Greene and one by Anthony West replying to Greene's first, reprinted from the New York Review of Books, June 14, 1984 (7-10). There follows a "Female Tatler" column by T. E. D. Braun entitled "Olympe de Gouge's Father: Butcher or Poet, Homme du Peuple or Nobleman?" (11-16). Thereafter come calls for papers (17-22) and news of members (23-24), a blank, and then the final page with stamped return address.
5. September 1985 [mailed spring 1986, see contents for Winter 1985-86]: pp. [ii] 1-20 [ii]. William Horne, associate editor. Cover illustration: landscape with town foreground beneath Ronald Reagan in a cowboy hat holding a sword; below title for Leviathan flanked by vignettes relating to war.
Contents: contents table (1), Editor's note with apologies for delay in publication (2); "Come to Gettysburg [conference of EC/ASECS in October 1985]" by Mary Margaret Stewart, providing an agenda with session topics and times (3-6); "With Apologies to I. Ehrenpreis" by L. D. Peterson, a review essay on Ehrenpreis's three-volume biography of Swift with the publication of Dean Swift (1983), acknowledging limitations in Ehrenpreis's psychological analysis within Vol. 1 and in other remarks insufficiently recognizing Swift's placement in "the ancient tradition of rational or natural theology" (drawing on Geo. Sherburn's criticisms); also examining the evolution of Ehrenpreis's interpretation of Gulliver's Travels (esp. Book IV) and apologizing for accusing Ehrenpreis of "obfuscation" made in PMLA (October 1971); "Membership List," with institutional affiliation (13-17); "Calls and Miscellaneous" (18-21), including Lois Ann Russell's for the "Pour et contre" column and others for MLA teaching volumes, Journal of Newspaper and Periodical History, Thomas Reid Newsletter, Autobiography Studies Newsletter, and Prose Studies; and return address and space for mailing label (22).
6. Winter 1985/86: pp. [ii] 1-26. Cover portrait of Woody Allen in 18th-century garb. Masthead lists William C. Horne as Assistant Editor and Elizabeth Nelson as editor of "The Female Tatler."
Contents: contents table (1), Berland's editorial note, apologizing for mailing this issue in spring 1986 with the September 1985 issue and announcing his resignation as editor, concluding with a jocose set of literary questions (2-4); "Female Tatler" by E. Nelson (5-6); "Reflections on the MLA Centennial: A Valedictory?" [Presidential Address at Gettysburg College, 19 October 1985] by Leland D. Peterson (7-21, with tables and footnotes); and a membership list (22-26).
December 1986-2004, n.s. 1-18
Edited by James E. May Penn State University--DuBois CampusTitles: "EC/ASECS Newsletter": n.s. Vols. 1.1-3 and 2.1 [December 1986, April 1987, September 1987, December 1987]; re-titled: "The East-Central Intelligencer": Spring 1987-. New series numbering adopted. Total Length in 18 n.s. vols.: 3068 leaves with 21 blanks.
Format: Folded 8 1/2" x 11" sheets (openings with two pages are roughly 7 3/4-7/8" tall and about 10 1/8" wide; offset in four-page units with a colored, heavier-weight stock for a cover. Produced initially with an Apple IIe and then a Macintosh computer with a Microsoft Word text in Times Roman 14-pt., reduced 69% (roughly 1988-2003). In 2004 the DuBois Campus removed its Macintosh computers and issues were then printed with Word for PC with Windows using Times 10-pt. (1 and 1.8 top and bottom margins and 1 and 2.75 left and right margins). The front cover holds the return address (which after Vol. I included the issue's number and date) and space for a mailing label and, inside, the masthead; the inside back cover is typically an extension of the text. Back outside cover is blank until cover illustrations were added beginning in January 1993 to distinguish issues and allow a needed illustration for an article. Running-titles have generally carried a title (initially "EC/ASECS" and then "The East-Central Intelligencer" plus the date), but only the date appeared in Vols. I.3 (September 1987) and II.2 (Spring 1988), and no running head appears in V.2 (May 1991).
Frequency: Normally three issues per year (three in all volumes but those for 1995, 1998, and 2000). Since this series began with a December issue, the volume unit failed to mirror the calendar year until this was corrected by publishing Vol. 3, no. 1, in January 1989.
Contents: New-series Volumes 1-15 were indexed by contents and contributors in five year units: Vols. 1-5 (published in the May 1992 Intelligencer [6.ii.30-41]); 6-10 (in September 1996 [10.iii.{49-61}]); and 11-15 (in September 2001 [15.iii {54-72}]). The index for Vols. 16-18 occurs at the start of this issue (January 2005). See the introduction above for accounts of the general contents and design of the Intelligencer issues, contributing editors, sponsors, and distribution. Note that some corrections, including the attributions of articles with omitted by-lines, occur in the bibliography below.
Register of Issues (dates derived from mastheads):
I.1: December 1986: pp. [ii] 1 2-21 [22]-[29] [i]; includes directory;I.2: April 1987: pp. [ii] 1 2-40 [ii, both blanks];
I.3: September 1987: pp. [ii] 1 2-33 [i];
II.1: December 1987: pp. [ii] 1 2-41 [i]; includes directory; erroneously numbered "Vol. 2, No. 2" on the front cover;
II.2: April 1988: pp. [ii] 1 2-41 [i] [running title "Spring 1988"]; first issue with the title The East-Central Intelligencer.
II.3: September 1988: pp. [ii] 1 2-33 [i];
III.1: January 1989. pp. [ii] 1-44 [ii, both blanks]; includes directory;
III.2: "May" ["Spring in the running title] 1989: pp. [ii] 1-28 [29] [i];
III.3: "September" ["Fall" in the running title] 1989: pp. [ii] 1-25 [i];
IV.1: January 1990: pp. [ii] 1-41 [i]; includes directory;
IV.2: May 1990: pp. [ii] 1-41 [i];
IV.3: September 1990: pp. [ii] 1-37 [i];
V.1: January 1991: pp. [ii] 1 2-43 [44]-[45] [i] + 4-p. insert with EC/ASECS Constitution (1-3) and statement of finances from 1990 Business Meeting (4);
V.2: May 1991: pp. [ii] 1-45 [i]; includes directory [lacks running title];
V.3: September 1991: pp. [ii] 1-41 [i];
VI.1: January 1992: pp. [ii] 1-40 [41] [i] + an inserted copy of the revised Constitution dated 26 October 1991 VI.2: May 1992: pp. [ii] 1-45 [46]-[49] [i]; includes index to Vols. 1-5 and directory;
VI.3: September 1992: pp. [ii] 1-44 [45] [i];
VII.1: January 1993: pp. [ii] 1-44 [45] [i, cover illustration];
VII.2: May 1993 [with erroneous running-title 'January 1993' on pp. 1-4]: pp. [ii] 1-39 [40]-[49] [i]; includes directory;
VII.3: September 1993: pp. [ii] 1-48 [49] [i];
VIII.1: January 1994: pp. [ii] 1-48 [49] [i];
VIII.2: May 1994: pp. [ii] 1-30 [31]-[45] [i]; includes directory [unattributed review on pp. 8-10 by Cheryl Wanko];
VIII.3: September 1994: pp. [ii] 1 2-44 [45] [i];
IX.1-2: Winter-Spring 1995 [running-title reads 'February 1995']: pp. [ii] 1 2-59 [60]-[73] [i]; includes directory;
IX.3: September 1995: pp. [ii] 1 2-45 [i];
X.1: February 1996: pp. [ii] 1-61 [i];
X.2: May 1996: pp. [ii] 1-57 [58]-[73] [i]; includes directory;
X.3: September 1996: pp. [ii] 1-48 [49]-[61] [i]; includes index to Vols. 6-10;
XI.1: February 1997: pp. [ii] 1-61 [i];
XI.2: June 1997: pp. [ii] 1-45 [46]-[61] [i]; includes directory (printed in reduced font);
XI.3: September 1997: pp. [ii] 1-37 [i];
XII.1-2 April 1998: pp. [ii] 1 2-72 [ii, both illustrations];
XII.3: September 1998: pp. [ii] 1-58; 1-26 [ii, both illustrations]; the second pagination series is a bibliography of "Bibliographical Tools";
XIII.1: January 1999: pp. [ii] 1-84 [ii]; includes bibliography;
XIII.2: May 1999: pp. [ii] 1 2-62 [63]-[77] [i]; includes a bibliography and the directory [This issue was completed 27 May, but when the press wasn't to work on it till early June, pages were revised, as to extend the EC/ASECS conference paper deadline, and it wasn't mailed out until 9-10 June. The article "The Case of the Eighteenth-Century Women Novelists . . ." on pp. 3-7 should have been attributed to Doreen Alvarez Saar.]
XIII.3: September [in fact, as running-title reads: 'October'] 1999: pp. [ii] 1 2-56 [ii, blank and cover illustration]
XIV.1-2: February 2000: pp. [ii] 1-60 [61]-[85] [i]; includes bibliography;
XIV.3: September 2000: pp. [ii] 1-58 [59]-[89] [i]; includes bibliography;
XV.1: January 2001: pp. [ii] 1-57 [58]-[77] [i]; includes bibliography;
XV.2: May 2001: pp. [ii] 1-61 [62]-[77] [i]; includes directory;
XV.3: September 2001: pp. [ii] 1-53 [54]-[73] [i]; includes index for Vols. 11-15;
XVI.1: January 2002: pp. [ii] 1-65 [66]-[73]; [i]; includes short bibliography;
XVI.2: May [to press 3 June] 2002: pp. [ii] 1-58 [59]-[89] [i]; includes bibliography;
XVI.3: September 2002: pp. [ii] 1-81 [i]; includes short bibliography;
XVII.1: January 2003: pp. [ii] 1-67 [68]-[76]; [ii, both illustrations]; includes bibliography;
XVII.2: May 2003: pp. [ii] 1-59 [60]-[77] [i]; includes directory;
XVII.3: September 2003: pp. [ii] 1-77 [i];
XVIII.1: January 2004: pp. [ii] 1 2-77; [i]; includes short bibliography;
XVIII.2: May 2004 [to press on 7 June]: pp. [ii] 1-69 [70]-[93] [i]; includes bibliography;
XVIII.3: September 2003: pp. [ii] 1 2-77 [i].
