SAHGB’s flagship journal Architectural History launches its first Special Collection
The editorial board of Architectural History is pleased to announce that the 2021 issue of the journal includes, for the first time, a Special Collection of articles on a single theme - ‘The New History of the American Renaissance’.
Building on the insights provided by the ‘new history’ of American capitalism, the collection provides a reappraisal of what turned out to be a pivotal episode in 19c and 20c architecture and urbanism, not just in the USA but worldwide.
Guest-edited by Horatio Joyce, the collection comprises eight articles, written by scholars ranging from early career to emeriti. Together they re-examine this flowering of American architecture from the viewpoint of today, exploring its role in wider economic, political and cultural developments of the time – from interiors to landscape architecture and from colonial expansion to city planning.
The articles comprising the collection have been uploaded to the Cambridge University Press website (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/architectural-history/special-collection-the-new-history-of-the-american-renaissance), where they can be viewed free of charge until 28th February 2022.
The idea for the collection originated with the session presented by the SAHGB at the 2019 annual symposium of the (American) Society of Architectural Historians, marking the 40th anniversary of the 1979 landmark Brooklyn Museum exhibition, The American Renaissance 1876-1917. The session, entitled ‘Fantasies of Aristocracy: England and the American Renaissance’, was convened by Horatio Joyce, the recipient of the SAHGB’s PhD Scholarship 2015-2018.
In developing the collection for publication, the range of topics and authors has expanded considerably to reflect developments in the discipline and in society more widely, including the increased attention given to the ways in which race, gender and class are inscribed in our architecture and cities.
Mark Swenarton, the editor of Architectural History, commented:
‘The articles in the collection provide a refreshingly new take on a well-established subject, the impact of which was felt not just the USA but across the English-speaking world. The contributions are wide-ranging in focus and approach, from the import of English thinking to the role of architects in US imperialism and from memoirs of the 1979 exhibition to the development of the elite resort of Palm Beach. Together they reveal the American Renaissance as an integral part of the culture of a new superpower which would soon come to dominate the world.’