Table Of ContentDoing Recent History
series editors
Claire Potter, Wesleyan University
Renee Romano, Oberlin College
advisory board
Mary Dudziak, University of Southern California
Devin Fergus, Hunter College, City University of New York
David Greenberg, Rutgers University
Shane Hamilton, University of Georgia
Jennifer Mittelstadt, Rutgers University
Stephen Pitti, Yale University
Robert Self, Brown University
Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of Virginia
Judy Wu, Ohio State University
Doing Recent History
On Privacy, Copyright, Video Games,
Institutional Review Boards, Activist Scholarship,
and History That Talks Back
EDITED BY
CLAIRE BOND POTTER
.
AND RENEE C ROMANO
The University of Georgia Press
Athens and London
© 2012 by the University of Georgia Press
Athens,Georgia 30602
www.ugapress.org
All rights reserved
Set in Minion by Graphic Composition, Inc., Bogart,Ga.
Printed digitally in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Doing recent history : on privacy, copyright, video games,
institutional review boards, activist scholarship, and history
that talks back / edited by Claire Bond Potter and Renee C. Romano.
p. cm. — (Since 1970 : histories of contemporary America)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8203-3467-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8203-3467-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8203-4302-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8203-4302-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. United States—History—20th century—Historiography—Methodology.
2. United States—History—21st century—Historiography—Methodology.
3. Historiography—United States—Sources.
4. Historiography—Methodology.
5. Historiography—Technological innovations.
6. History, Modern—Historiography—Methodology.
I. Potter, Claire Bond, 1958– II. Romano, Renee Christine.
E175.7.O6 2012
973.072—dc23 2011044423
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
ISBN for this digital edition: 978-0-8203-4371-6
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
introduction Just over Our Shoulder: The Pleasures and Perils of
Writing the Recent Past
renee c. romano and claire bond potter 1
part 1 Framing the Issues
Not Dead Yet: My Identity Crisis as a Historian of the
Recent Past renee c. romano 23
Working without a Script: Refl ections on Teaching Recent
American History shelley sang- hee lee 45
part 2 Access to the Archives
Opening Archives on the Recent American Past:
Reconciling the Ethics of Access and the Ethics of Privacy
laura clark brown and nancy kaiser 59
Who Owns Your Archive? Historians and the Challenge of
Intellectual Property Law gail drakes 83
part 3 Working with Living Subjects
The Berkeley Compromise: Oral History, Human Subjects,
and the Meaning of “Research” martin meeker 115
The Presence of the Past: Iconic Moments and the Politics
of Interviewing in Birmingham
willoughby anderson 139
vi contents
When Radical Feminism Talks Back: Taking an
Ethnographic Turn in the Living Past
claire bond potter 155
part 4 Technology and the Practice of Recent History
Do Historians Watch Enough tv? Broadcast News as a
Primary Source david greenberg 185
Playing the Past: The Video Game Simulation as Recent
American History jeremy k. saucier 201
Eternal Flames: The Translingual Imperative in the
Study of World War II Memories
alice yang and alan s. christy 225
part 5 Craft ing Narratives
When the Present Disrupts the Past: Narrating
Home Care eileen boris and jennifer klein 249
“Cult” Knowledge: The Challenges of Studying New
Religious Movements in America julius h. bailey 275
Contributors 295
Index 299
Acknowledgments
it is common in acknowledgments for authors to thank
their editors. But in our case, we owe more than a debt of gratitude to Derek
Krissoff , our wonderfully supportive editor at the University of Georgia
Press. The Since 1970: Histories of Contemporary America series was really
Derek’s idea. What about a book series that published only works of recent
history, perhaps those that focused on events since 1970? he asked Renee
at a history conference a few short years ago. Begun in a conversation over
drinks, then a set of notes that became a proposal, the series was launched
last year. This anthology is among the fi rst works published in that series.
So fi rst and foremost, we would like to thank Derek for his intellectual in-
sight that this was a project whose time had come; his belief that we were
the people who could do it; his enthusiastic support for both the book series
and this anthology; and for his skills in seeing a volume through to publica-
tion. And, of course, we need to thank him for all the subsequent drinks we
have imbibed and meals we have eaten at history conferences while talking
about the book series and this anthology.
Renee would most like to thank her coeditor, Claire Potter. Claire has
been a mentor and friend for more years than I care to admit, and it has
been a highlight of my professional career to have the opportunity to work
with her closely on a collaborative project. I moved to a new institution,
Oberlin College, just as the Since 1970 series was getting under way, and I
am blessed to have wonderful colleagues here who have been supportive of
this project and of my work more generally. Finally, I would like to thank
my family. My husband, Sean Decatur, has been his usual supportive self,
cheerfully listening to me talk through my ideas and challenges related to
vii
viii acknowledgments
this work, while my children, Sabine and Owen, proved willing conspira-
tors whenever I needed a break.
Claire is indebted to Renee Romano for her shrewd intelligence, her
ability to keep things moving, and for being the colleague and friend with
whom everyone would like to work but is rarely able to. This series, and
the book, are a small piece of the story of what I have learned from her
and what we have accomplished together. By imagining this anthology, and
bringing her experience editing another book to the collaboration, she en-
sured that our friendship would more than survive her move to Oberlin: it
would fl ourish. It has been a particular pleasure to work with Derek. I fi rst
met him as a seminar student at Wesleyan University a very long time ago,
and he has long since established himself as a friend and colleague. When
Renee led me over to the University of Georgia Press booth at a conference
to sketch out a couple of ideas, it was clear that the three of us were a match.
At Wesleyan, I would like to thank all my colleagues at the Center for the
Americas for their constant encouragement; the Colonel Return Jonathan
Meigs First Fund and history department colleagues for a grant that paid
for research cited in my own chapter; and Academic Aff airs for the travel
and grant money it has devoted to this project. Although e- mail and cell
phones have sped up collaborations dramatically since Arthur Schlesinger’s
day, sometimes an airplane and a hotel room just work better. In the fi nal
days of preparing this manuscript, Lila and Harry Jacob opened their beau-
tiful home in Ely, Minnesota, to a historian who needed only peace, quiet,
and good cheer to make it to the fi nish line. Most important, I would like
to thank my partner, Nancy Barnes, whose energy, aff ection, advice, and
editorial skills always make things so much better than they would be if I
tried to do them alone.
We would also like to thank Estelle Freedman and Susan Ware. As dis-
sertation advisors, Estelle and Susan were the fi rst to introduce us to the
methodology of researching and writing history. We are indebted to them
for pushing our work while we were in school and for their continued sup-
port ever since.
Finally, we look back over our shoulders at two years with the authors
in this volume. Th eir hard work, vision, and willingness to push just a little
harder to get things right made this book happen. Thank you.
Oberlin, Ohio
New Haven, Connecticut
Doing Recent History
