The Milan Group in Early United States History


The Milan Group – originally called the Milan Group in Early United States History – was founded in 1980 by a small group of European and United States historians who had participated in the conference on radicalism in American history organized in Milan, Italy, in 1979 (perhaps the only international conference ever held on this theme). The people founding the group had been surprised by the lack of interest for the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War in so far as the forming of a national self-image – or images-, political language, development, and social change were concerned; slavery seemed to be the only area “moving” in the period then, except for the beginnings of a new history of labor and laborers.

The Group was from the beginning linked to the chair of United States History at the University of Milan and Loretta Valtz Mannucci. Our United States nucleus included Alfred Young, Eric Foner, and Herbert Gutman ( who became first United States coordinator ), Ronald Hoffman, Edward Countryman, and, soon, Sean Wilentz. On Gutman’s death, Ira Berlin became U.S. coordinator and, subsequently, Ronald Hoffman. Since 2005, U.S. coordinator is Robert Gross. From 1985, European coordinator has been Sylvia Ullmo, university of Tours, and, since we became the Milan/Montpellier Group in 2003, the Biennial Symposium ( Second Series) has transferred its venue from Milan to Montpellier and is organized by Larry Portis, though Loretta Valtz Mannucci still helps out. The Group has acquired, over the years, a number of individual members from extra-European countries other than the United States.

THE SYMPOSIA

The Milan Group began its biennial symposia in 1982 and they took on a strong comparative structure from 1984, when the topic was “The Souths and their Transformations” and regarded not only various U.S. “souths” but the Italian south as well. With the 1988 symposium, “The Languages of Revolution”, the Milan Group began a series of four revolution-related symposia (1988-94) and acquired a permanent contingent of scholars of French 18th century history. During the 1990s our participants became interdisciplinary as well, as we engaged themes then unorthodox for current historic practice. If our European coordinator, Sylvia Ullmo, Tours, was a historian in the area of American Studies, other members were art historians, scholars of political language, literature, media or cinema or music.

In January 2003 the Second Series of the Milan Group Symposia opened with a 3-day meeting in Milan on “Representations of Leadership”; a second three day meeting on the same theme was held in Montpellier in June, 2003, marking the new formation as Milan/Montpellier Group and the permanent transferral of the Biennial Symposium to Montpellier. The same year saw the first Seminar: a new Milan/Montpellier initiative consisting of one day seminars centering on more closely defined topics, usually in 20th century history. The Milan/Montpellier Group’s web-site remains in Milan.

THE QUADERNO

In 1986, the Milan Group began publication of its Quaderno series based on material from its symposia. There are now six Quaderno, covering the first 8 Symposia. Five are available in print on request. The sixth volume is an on-line publication only.The first three volumes of the Quaderno were wholly in English; volumes 4-6 have essays in French as well. The Quaderno volumes are not on sale, but may be requested by writing to this site ( see e-mail address on Home Page masthead ); they have been used successfully as the basis of seminars in various European universities. The texts of most papers presented during Second Series symposia are available by clicking on the titles which appear in the programs reproduced on this web-site.

The Milan Group and Vanderbilt University Library present Quaderni Online: http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/quaderno