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Composition: History & Theory

Timeline Introduction

This project, an interactive timeline inspired by the 1988 Rhetoric Review article “The Politics of Historiography,” pieces together histories of Rhetoric and Composition in the United States from 1600 to the present while weaving together the works of rhetoricians, educational theorists, and journal contributors, including: Lawrence Cremin, Albert Kitzhaber, Robert Connors, James Berlin, Joel Spring, Gerald Graff, and a variety of scholars in English Studies. Under the guidance of Dr. Mara Holt, we twelve graduate students and teachers have created a dialectical history as well as a valuable resource for newcomers to rhetoric and composition who, like us, knew little about the history of our field (as Rhetoric and Composition scholars) or our profession (as Freshman Composition instructors) when we entered our respective graduate programs at Ohio University. This interactive timeline is the result of a series of questions from our colleagues in the English Department (and across the curriculum):

1. How have cultural forces outside of the academy influenced the department, and, by association, the teaching (and some might argue devaluation and/or feminization) of composition?
2. Can we ever claim to achieve a definitive narrative of our professional past when history is made of collective actions as the result of collective voices interpreted (most often) by singular scholars limited by a single theoretical lens?
3. How do English Literature, Rhetoric and Composition, and Creative Writing scholars and theorists coexist in a department historically focused on professionalization and specialization?

Organization: The timeline, which is organized as a series of hypertext documents that allow for a (non)linear reading of the material, covers the following categories: Cultural Context, Developments in Elementary/Secondary Education, Developments in Post-Secondary Education, The State of the “English” Department, Theory and the Composition Classroom, Major Publications, The Journals, and Profiles.

• Cultural Context includes important dates, events, and social and political movements during the time period.
• Developments in Elementary/Secondary Education covers both pedagogical and theoretical approaches to K-12th grade students (as well as a discussion of the varying political and social motives that some historians and theorists connect to these developments).
• The section Developments in Post-Secondary Education focuses on the development and professionalization of higher education, with attention to the social, political, and material conditions of undergraduates, graduate students, administration, and faculty members.
• The State of the "English" Department examines the hierarchical struggles between literary, creative, and composition studies in each time period while Theory and the Composition Classroom pays attention to the dominant theories, pedagogies, and criticisms surrounding composition studies (particularly Freshman English/Composition courses).
• The Journals section provides the reader with a glimpse between the covers of contemporary editions of English Journal, College English, and others (including KAIROS…) in order to provide a scholarly contrast to the realities of the classroom.
• Profiles, perhaps the most “traditional” section of each period in the timeline, provides readers with biographical information for major theorists and scholars whose work we discuss in detail.

The timeline may be read in a linear fashion, from 1600 to the present, or it may be reorganized by any of the categories listed above to allow scholars to focus on one aspect of the history of English and Composition Studies.

Unlike Albert Kitzhaber’s dissertation, a seminal work of Composition Studies in its day which was photocopied and passed from person to person--knowledge made virtually inaccessible by its textual, material form--we hope that this project, through utilizing new media form, design, and accessibility, will be available to anyone interested in the history of education in the United States and will be of particular value for Rhetoric and Composition scholars and teachers who yearn for an aesthetically pleasing, navigable, and, above all, comprehensible view of the history of their profession and the cultural influences that have shaped the field into what it is today.

Project Direction:

Dr. Mara Holt, Rhetoric and Composition, Ohio University

Project Design:

Daoine Bachran, English Literature MA & Computer Consultant, Ohio University
Rebecca Butorac, Rhetoric and Composition MA candidate

Project Authors:

Rebecca Butorac, MA candidate: Rhetoric and Composition
Russell Crooks, MA candidate: Rhetoric and Composition
Melanie Lee, PhD candidate: Rhetoric and Composition
Lydia McDermott, PhD candidate: Rhetoric and Composition
Heather McFall, MA candidate: Rhetoric and Composition
Craig A. Meyer, PhD candidate: Rhetoric and Composition
Julie Nelson, MA candidate: Rhetoric and Composition
Lana Oweidat, PhD candidate: Rhetoric and Composition
Brett Pransky, MA candidate: Rhetoric and Composition
Christopher A. Sims, PhD candidate: English Literature
Todd Snyder, PhD candidate: Rhetoric and Composition
Wendy VanDellon, MA candidate: Rhetoric and Composition

Timeline

± 1600-1699

± 1700-1799

± 1800-1865

± 1865-1899

± 1900-1919

± 1920-1929

± 1930-1939

± 1940-1949

± 1950-1959

± 1960-1969

± 1970-1979

± 1980-1989

± 1990-1999

± 2000-2009

Bibliography

± Sources