Dear friends
I also put this message to one side, but I
am very grateful for your thoughtfulness! The ball is rather in my court
now – and Jo Ann’s example of a group of feminist scholars in New York makes me think
that one does need a group of people for mutual support and to tap into any
available help. The internet allows one to belong to a virtual society
that is world wide, but I think a group of independent scholars would benefit
from geographical closeness.
So if there are any
independent/retired/unemployed scholars of matters medieval out there who live
within striking distance of London or Cambridge, I would love to
hear from you!
many thanks
Cate
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From:
medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Jo Ann McNamara
Sent: 06 March 2007 20:45
To:
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Subject: [M-R] helping
Sometimes I put notes from the list aside with good
intentions and then the mail piles up and I get way behind. So it is with
Catherine Gunn's important reminder that the lack of institutional affiliation
(or lack of access to a major research library) is a severe handicap for some
of our members. I have been trying to think of a solution to her plea for
a helping system without immediate success. Back in the 70s when the job
market fell apart, the same situation boiled over. At that time, a group
of feminist scholars in New York
tried to address certain aspects of the situation with some success. We
formed an Institute for Research in History and some of the leaders (not, alas,
me) learned how to get it registered as an official grant-eligible
institution. This provided an important umbrella for independent
scholars. Catch-22 is that lots of grants are not open to people not
affiliated with an institution that gathers in the overhead. In our case,
the overhead was used to open an office and provide limited employment for a
couple of people. The Institute required members to belong to seminar
groups to provide a scholarly community. Actually, some of those groups
are still functioning even though the Institute ultimately faded away as the
world of grants got narrower. Still, I think this is a problem that a
community of scholars should still try to solve. We might also think
whether or not it would be possible for larger institutions to create some sort
of system for extending JStor or other on-line privileges to eligible
scholars. Some universities offer library privileges to scholars in their
immediate community (as does Columbia
University) but in the
world of the net, this might be extended with profit to all.
Sometimes identifying a problem is an important step in the
direction of solving it, so I hope this communique helps in that direction.
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