We learn with regret that funding support at Washington State University for the eminent scholarly journals ESQ and Poe Studies may be threatened. As the elected Executive Committee of a scholarly organization directly interested in the established value and continued flourishing of these journals, we write to attest to their great importance and to express our support for their continued existence at WSU. These two journals are among the most successful and prestigious in the field of American literary studies, and have been among the most effective of all instruments in the recent rebirth and exciting reorientation of nineteenth-century American literary studies as an academic field characterized by fresh intellectual approaches and new archival discoveries. They have been inspirational for the innovative reorientations of the research agendas of many scholars through the United States and, indeed, throughout the world. Although we recognize the serious fiscal challenges that confront institutions of higher learning in the present moment, we ask that the administration of Washington State University reconsider and reject the possibility of defunding ESQ and Poe Studies. These journals are not only essential to the broad academic fields in which they have played and will continue to play so central a role, they bring wide recognition to the English Department at WSU and, indeed, to the university itself. Their intellectual luster reflects brightly on the university that has been their home for many years, and we trust that WSU will find the means to continue to support ESQ and Poe Studies as part of its intellectual mission. Executive Committee, C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists
Christopher Looby, UCLA (President)
Elisa Tamarkin, UC Berkeley (Vice President)
Kirsten Silva Gruesz, UC Santa Cruz (Program Committee Chair)
Caroline Levander, Rice University (Membership Committee Chair)
Lloyd Pratt, University of Oxford (Communications Committee Chair)
Lara Langer Cohen, Wayne State University (Member at Large)
Jordan Alexander Stein, Univ. of Colorado (Member at Large)