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Publishing



Most dissertations do not get published, however,  publishing has a lot to do with career.  Laurel Thatcher Ulrich was just another young history professor at New Hampshire until her Goodwives was published. I believe that was in 1982.  Shortly after she went to Harvard.  Since there she has published A Midwife's Tale and Homespun.  If she had been kept from publishing Goodwives by an archives were she was researching, she might not have received her position at Harvard.  I think she chairs the American History Department.

 It must be a terrific let down for the young woman.  First you are told the Johns Hopkins Press will publish your dissertation, then the rug is pulled out from under you because the institution where you did your research disagrees with your findings.  I guess the lesson here is don't sign anything unless you know the full implications.

Barbara O'Brien
College Archivist
Western Maryland College
bobrien@wmdc.edu