For over 40 years, RSVP’s distinguished journal, the Victorian Periodicals Review, has carried articles, reviews, and research guides on a wide-ranging variety of topics. Through VPR as well as through its lively and collegial annual conference, the Society aims to stimulate the study and discussion of the roles played by the Victorian press and its proprietors, editors, illustrators, publishers, authors, and readers in shaping 19th-century culture.
History
RSVP was founded in December of 1968 at the Modern Language Association conference in New York by an interdisciplinary group of scholars led by Michael Wolff, who became its first president. Most of its founding members belonged to the informal scholarly collective engaged in research for Walter Houghton's Wellesley Index of Victorian Periodicals and were eager to give a permanent organizational embodiment to the intellectual energy and enthusiasm generated by that remarkable project.
The 1960s witnessed an enormous upsurge of interest in interdisciplinary scholarship, particularly in the area of Victorian Studies. The vast range and number of Victorian periodicals was being recognized as an ideal resource for such scholarship since there existed periodicals touching on virtually every conceivable aspect of Victorian life. RSVP's official organ, Victorian Periodicals Review, in fact came into existence even before RSVP itself.
Commencing as the Victorian Periodicals Newsletter, the first number appeared in January of 1968 under the founding editorship of Michael Wolff. The journal began as a sort of intellectual clearinghouse for information, ideas, and projects relating to Victorian periodicals and evolved with the development of the interdisciplinary studies it represented into its present form. Its present title was adopted in 1978. For an excellent, detailed account of the founding of both VPR and RSVP, see N. Merrill Distad, "The Origins and History of Victorian Periodicals Review, 1954-84." Victorian Periodicals Review 18.3 (Fall 1985), 86-98).
Conferences
RSVP has held its annual conferences in the following cities:
- New York City 1969 & 1970
- Urbana, IL 1971
- Cambridge, MA 1972
- Washington, DC 1973
- Minneapolis, 1974
- Toronto, ON 1975
- Leicester, UK 1976
- Chicago, IL 1977
- New York City 1978
- St. Louis, MO 1979
- Philadelphia, PA 1980
- Tacoma, WA 1981
- New York City 1982
- Leicester, UK 1983
- Cambridge, MA 1984
- Toronto, ON 1985
- New York City 1986
- Aberystwyth,1987
- Chicago, IL 1988
- Pasadena, CA 1989
- Waco, TX 1990
- Washington, DC 1991
- Manchester, UK 1992
- Ann Arbor, MI 1993
- Tampa, FL 1994
- Edinburgh, 1995
- Portland, OR 1996
- Chicago, IL 1997
- Vancouver, BC 1998
- New Haven, CT 1999
- London, UK 2000
- New York City 2001
- Ann Arbor, MI 2002
- Edmonton, AB 1993
- Ghent, Belgium 2004
- Washington, DC 2005
- New York City 2006
- Richmond, VA 2007
- London, UK 2008
- Minneapolis, 2009
- New Haven, 2010
- Canterbury, 2011
For details of recent conferences, see the Conferences page.
RSVP's presidents from its founding have been:
For the current officers of the Society, see the Contact page.
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Last updated 04 August 2011. Report broken links to webmaster @ rs4vp.org.