Alcott Society Call for Papers - Thoreau Annual Gathering 2025

Please see the following CFP for the Thoreau Annual Gathering to be held in Concord, Mass., this coming summer (9-13 July). It is a tight deadline, I’m afraid, so I would much appreciate your responses as soon as possible.

The Alcotts: A revolutionary family
 
The theme of this year’s Thoreau Annual Gathering is Thoreau’s Revolutions: an opportunity to address Thoreau’s attitude towards the American revolution, but also to explore broader interpretations of revolution in his life and writing. The Alcott family were at the heart of the revolutionary changes in Concord, Boston, and beyond, with each member of the family contributing to the rapid change of 19^th-century America. The Louisa May Alcott Society (LMAS) would therefore like to invite proposals for a panel based on the revolutionary activities of the Alcott family. Possible topics might include:
 
Education (Bronson’s educational reforms; Louisa’s Plumfield; May’s teaching of formerly enslaved people and her experiences as an art student and teacher, etc)
Women’s rights and roles, including women’s suffrage
The Alcotts, anti-slavery activities, and the underground railroad
Social work (Abba’s experiences in social work; social work in An Old-Fashioned Girl and Little Women, etc)
The Alcotts and the Civil War
Fruitlands and the Consociate Family
Writing revolution; revolutionary reading
Revolutionary spaces
Domestic revolution
Transcendentalism and literary revolution
The Alcotts and industrial revolution
Revolution in Louisa’s ‘blood-and-thunder’ works
 
Do also feel free to suggest your own. Please send any questions and all proposals to Krissie West at Kristina.west@rhul.ac.uk or in reply to this email no later than Friday 6^th December.