Dr. Nancy Rosoff, dean of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies, presented on “Materialities: Covers and Illustrations in British and American School and College Stories” at the annual meeting of the History of Education Society in Liverpool, England, in November.

The paper, which Rosoff co-wrote with Stephanie Spencer, head of the Department of Education Studies and Liberal Arts at the University of Winchester, discusses the illustrations and covers of several novels written for teenage girls, set in schools and colleges, and published in the United States and the United Kingdom in the first half of the twentieth century.

“The covers and illustrations engaged readers, drew attention to particular moments in the plot, and identified key characters in the stories,” said Rosoff. “The materiality of these series helped to keep and build a loyal readership.

The paper is part of Rosoff and Spencer’s Transnational Femininities project, which focuses on “the cultural constructions of female identity” in teenage girls’ fiction published between 1910 and 1965.

For more on the project, contact Dr. Rosoff at rosoffn@arcadia.edu or read more online.