he Harriet Beecher Stowe Society offers academics, independent scholars, and students an opportunity to share in the study and appreciation of the works and life of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Through presentations of scholarly work, round-table discussions, and conferences, the Society provides a forum for Stowe studies. The Stowe Society was founded in 1996 by Dorothy Baker of the University of Houston.
Check out our latest newsletter here!
Award for Graduate Students
The Stowe Society is excited to announce a call for papers from graduate students conducting research on Harriet Beecher Stowe. We are offering an Outstanding Paper Award to support conference travel and a guaranteed spot on our Stowe panel at the upcoming Society for the Study of American Women Writers Conference (SSAWW). The prize will cover the conference registration fee. To be considered for the award, please submit an essay (maximum of eight pages) to Dr. LuElla D'Amico ([email protected]).Submissions should not have your name or any identifying information on them, as they will be anonymously reviewed by Stowe Society members. We look forward to reviewing your submissions!
Call for Papers: The Histories and Futures of Harriet Beecher Stowe
for the Society for the Study of American Women Writers Conference, November 6-9, 2025
Deadline for submissions: February 17, 2025
The SSAWW conference theme, “Understanding Histories, Imagining Futures,” is an apt description of the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe, a writer equally comfortable offering readers her interpretation of the past and promulgating a vision for the future. In both her fiction (e.g., The Minister’s Wooing) and her nonfiction (e.g., Woman in Sacred History), Stowe routinely dives into the near or distant past as a means of understanding the present. Whether she is offering practical advice for building an idealized home life, as in The American Woman’s Home, imagining America’s racial future, as in her most famous work, or writing for future adults (that is, children), Stowe is unafraid to offer advice or, indeed, commands, for how to ensure a future that fits her moral and political vision. For this panel, we invite proposals for papers that illuminate Stowe’s interpretations of the past and/or in the future in any of her work as well as papers that consider Stowe’s own future inside and outside the academy.
If interested, please submit your paper title, a 250-300 word abstract, your contact information, and a 60-word biography to Allison Speicher ([email protected]) no later than 2/17/25. Submissions will be reviewed promptly.
New Hybrid Lecture Series, hosted by the Stowe Center
The Stowe Center is launching a hybrid lecture series this year called Who Is Harriet? that features scholars who are exploring Harriet Beecher Stowe and her work today. Lifetime members Dr. Hedrick and Dr. Chakkalakal are a part of our inaugural slate of speakers.
Below are the links to the Who Is Harriet? series events, all of which can be attended virtually.
The 19th Century American Home: “Life’s Undress Rehearsal” by Dr. Joan D. Hedrick
March 19, 2025, 6-7:15 PM
Charles W. Chesnutt’s Reconstruction of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Dr. Tess Chakkalakal
June 4, 2025, 6-7:15 PM
Who Is Harriet?: The Public Debates of Federick Douglass and Martin Delany by Dr. Tracey E. Hucks
September 25, 2025, 6-7:15 PM
Stowe’s Feminist Theology by Dr. Claudia Stokes
November 5, 2025, 6-7:15 PM
Dead Writers Audio Program
We are thrilled to share the first episode of member Tess Chakkalakal's audio program Dead Writers with you, “Secret Encounter: Harriet Beecher Stowe.”
Episode link: https://www.mainepublic.org/dead-writers
Episode description: Tess and Brock stay close to home while studying Harriet Beecher Stowe, the 19th-century author famous for writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Susanna Aston tells the harrowing story of how Stowe harbored fugitive slave John Andrew Jackson, and how one decision can change the course of history.
Program description:
Dead Writers takes listeners inside famous American authors’ homes. Riffing on literature, history, home décor, gardens, and ghosts, literary critic Tess Chakkalakal and novelist Brock Clarke bring great American writers, and the books they wrote, back from the dead.
And click here to learn more about Stowe on the Go, a program hosted by the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, "that facilitates difficult conversations using historical objects and nurtures common ground for common good":
https://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/programs-learning/programs/
The Collected Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Joan Hedrick and Susan Belasco are pleased to announce a contract with Oxford University Press for The Collected Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Along with Wesley Raabe, the Textual Editor, Joan and Susan have established an Advisory Board, prepared an editorial handbook, and are now in the process of working on proposals and inviting volume editors for the 33 planned volumes. The first objective of this edition is to publish readable, scholarly editions of Stowe’s novels, travel writing, poetry, short stories and sketches, religious writings, and journalism. A secondary purpose is to publish an edition of Stowe’s letters. Each volume in the Collected Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe will be printed in a hardback of 500-600 pages, depending on the volume contents. As with Oxford’s other editions, The Collected Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe will also be available by individual or institutional subscription through the Oxford Scholarly Editions Online series. With the support of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, these scholarly editions will allow straightforward access to Stowe’s writing, with tools for scholars, allowing readers to see textual variants and move as seamlessly as possible between text and commentary.
Joan Hedrick, Charles A. Dana Professor Emerita of History, Trinity College [email protected]
Susan Belasco, Professor Emerita of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln [email protected]
Wesley Raabe, Associate Professor of English, Kent State University, [email protected]
Officers:
President ❘ LuElla D'Amico ❘ University of the Incarnate Word
Past President ❘ Beth L. Lueck ❘ University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Vice President ❘ Allison Speicher ❘ Eastern Connecticut State University
Treasurer ❘ Nancy Lusignan Schultz ❘ Salem State University
Secretary ❘ Monica Urban ❘ University of Houston
Bibliographer ❘ Nicole Green ❘ University of Florida
Newsletter Editor ❘ Erika Haskins ❘ University of the Incarnate Word
Check out our latest newsletter here!
Award for Graduate Students
The Stowe Society is excited to announce a call for papers from graduate students conducting research on Harriet Beecher Stowe. We are offering an Outstanding Paper Award to support conference travel and a guaranteed spot on our Stowe panel at the upcoming Society for the Study of American Women Writers Conference (SSAWW). The prize will cover the conference registration fee. To be considered for the award, please submit an essay (maximum of eight pages) to Dr. LuElla D'Amico ([email protected]).Submissions should not have your name or any identifying information on them, as they will be anonymously reviewed by Stowe Society members. We look forward to reviewing your submissions!
Call for Papers: The Histories and Futures of Harriet Beecher Stowe
for the Society for the Study of American Women Writers Conference, November 6-9, 2025
Deadline for submissions: February 17, 2025
The SSAWW conference theme, “Understanding Histories, Imagining Futures,” is an apt description of the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe, a writer equally comfortable offering readers her interpretation of the past and promulgating a vision for the future. In both her fiction (e.g., The Minister’s Wooing) and her nonfiction (e.g., Woman in Sacred History), Stowe routinely dives into the near or distant past as a means of understanding the present. Whether she is offering practical advice for building an idealized home life, as in The American Woman’s Home, imagining America’s racial future, as in her most famous work, or writing for future adults (that is, children), Stowe is unafraid to offer advice or, indeed, commands, for how to ensure a future that fits her moral and political vision. For this panel, we invite proposals for papers that illuminate Stowe’s interpretations of the past and/or in the future in any of her work as well as papers that consider Stowe’s own future inside and outside the academy.
If interested, please submit your paper title, a 250-300 word abstract, your contact information, and a 60-word biography to Allison Speicher ([email protected]) no later than 2/17/25. Submissions will be reviewed promptly.
New Hybrid Lecture Series, hosted by the Stowe Center
The Stowe Center is launching a hybrid lecture series this year called Who Is Harriet? that features scholars who are exploring Harriet Beecher Stowe and her work today. Lifetime members Dr. Hedrick and Dr. Chakkalakal are a part of our inaugural slate of speakers.
Below are the links to the Who Is Harriet? series events, all of which can be attended virtually.
The 19th Century American Home: “Life’s Undress Rehearsal” by Dr. Joan D. Hedrick
March 19, 2025, 6-7:15 PM
Charles W. Chesnutt’s Reconstruction of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Dr. Tess Chakkalakal
June 4, 2025, 6-7:15 PM
Who Is Harriet?: The Public Debates of Federick Douglass and Martin Delany by Dr. Tracey E. Hucks
September 25, 2025, 6-7:15 PM
Stowe’s Feminist Theology by Dr. Claudia Stokes
November 5, 2025, 6-7:15 PM
Dead Writers Audio Program
We are thrilled to share the first episode of member Tess Chakkalakal's audio program Dead Writers with you, “Secret Encounter: Harriet Beecher Stowe.”
Episode link: https://www.mainepublic.org/dead-writers
Episode description: Tess and Brock stay close to home while studying Harriet Beecher Stowe, the 19th-century author famous for writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Susanna Aston tells the harrowing story of how Stowe harbored fugitive slave John Andrew Jackson, and how one decision can change the course of history.
Program description:
Dead Writers takes listeners inside famous American authors’ homes. Riffing on literature, history, home décor, gardens, and ghosts, literary critic Tess Chakkalakal and novelist Brock Clarke bring great American writers, and the books they wrote, back from the dead.
And click here to learn more about Stowe on the Go, a program hosted by the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, "that facilitates difficult conversations using historical objects and nurtures common ground for common good":
https://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/programs-learning/programs/
The Collected Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Joan Hedrick and Susan Belasco are pleased to announce a contract with Oxford University Press for The Collected Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Along with Wesley Raabe, the Textual Editor, Joan and Susan have established an Advisory Board, prepared an editorial handbook, and are now in the process of working on proposals and inviting volume editors for the 33 planned volumes. The first objective of this edition is to publish readable, scholarly editions of Stowe’s novels, travel writing, poetry, short stories and sketches, religious writings, and journalism. A secondary purpose is to publish an edition of Stowe’s letters. Each volume in the Collected Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe will be printed in a hardback of 500-600 pages, depending on the volume contents. As with Oxford’s other editions, The Collected Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe will also be available by individual or institutional subscription through the Oxford Scholarly Editions Online series. With the support of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, these scholarly editions will allow straightforward access to Stowe’s writing, with tools for scholars, allowing readers to see textual variants and move as seamlessly as possible between text and commentary.
Joan Hedrick, Charles A. Dana Professor Emerita of History, Trinity College [email protected]
Susan Belasco, Professor Emerita of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln [email protected]
Wesley Raabe, Associate Professor of English, Kent State University, [email protected]
Officers:
President ❘ LuElla D'Amico ❘ University of the Incarnate Word
Past President ❘ Beth L. Lueck ❘ University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Vice President ❘ Allison Speicher ❘ Eastern Connecticut State University
Treasurer ❘ Nancy Lusignan Schultz ❘ Salem State University
Secretary ❘ Monica Urban ❘ University of Houston
Bibliographer ❘ Nicole Green ❘ University of Florida
Newsletter Editor ❘ Erika Haskins ❘ University of the Incarnate Word