PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

2006- Professor of History and Department Head, MIT

1998-06 Associate Professor of History with Tenure, MIT

1995-98 Associate Professor of History without Tenure, MIT

1991-95 Assistant Professor of History, MIT

1993, 2002 Faculty Instructor, Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies at Radcliffe

1990 Acting Instructor, Dept. of History, UC Berkeley

1988 Graduate Student Instructor, Dept. of History, UC Berkeley

1986-88 Research Assistant, Family Reconstitution Project, UC Berkeley

1987 Graduate Student Instructor, Dept. of Economics, UC Berkeley

PUBLICATIONS

Book:

Civic Charity in a Golden Age: Orphan Care in Early Modern Amsterdam, University of Illinois Press, 1997.

Articles:

“Poor Consumers as Global Consumers: the Diffusion of Tea and Coffee Drinking in the Eighteenth Century,” The Economic History Review, Vol. 61, No. S1, August 2008:172-200.

“Exotic Goods, Popular Consumption, and the Standard of Living: Thinking About Globalization in the Early Modern World,” Journal of World History, Vol 18, No. 4, December 2007.

“Goods at Pawn: the Overlapping Worlds of Material Possessions and Family Finance in Early Modern Amsterdam,” Social Science History, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2007:213-238.

“Inequality Among the Poor of Eighteenth Century Amsterdam,” Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 44, No. 1, January 2007: 1-21.

“After-Death Inventories as a Source for the Study of Material Culture, Economic Well-Being, and Household Formation Among the Poor of 18^th c. Amsterdam,” Historical Methods, Vol. 39, No. 1, Winter, 2006: 10-23.

“Summaries of Dissertations: Gerschenkron Prize Panel Discussion,” Journal of Economic History, Vol. 66, #2, June 2006: 499-502.

"The Not-So-Merry Widows of Amsterdam, 1740-1782." Journal of Family History, Vol. 24, No. 4, 1999: 441-467.

"Individual Life Chances Within the Rural Norwegian-American Family, 1850-1910," coauthored with Jon Gjerde. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 30, No. 3, 1999: 377-406.

"Nederlands Republikeinisme en de Politiek van Liefdadigheid," Tijdschrift voor Sociale-Geschiedenis, Vol. 22, No. 4, 1996: 443-455.

"Fertility, marriage, and culture: demographic processes among Norwegian immigrants to the rural Middle West," coauthored with Jon Gjerde, Journal of Economic History, Vol. 55, December, 1995: 860-888.

"Meeting needs and suppressing desire: consumer choice models and historical data," Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 26, Autumn, 1995: 191-207.

"Monotonous but not meager: the diet of burgher orphans in Early Modern Amsterdam," Research in Economic History, 1993: 69-116.

"Consumer behavior in an early modern Dutch orphanage: a wealth of choice," Journal of European Economic History, Vol. 22, #1, 1993: 121-142.

"Summaries of recent dissertations," Journal of Economic History, Vol. 52, June, 1992: 447-449.

"Internal migration in Friesland: 1750-1805," Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 22, Winter, 1992: 387-409.

Book chapters:

“Christian Charity and the Politics of Orphan Care in the Dutch Republic.” In Richard

McKenzie, ed. The History of Orphanages Reconsidered. Forthcoming with Encounter Books,

Spring 2008.

“A Home Fit for Children: The Material Possessions of Amsterdam Orphans,” forthcoming in Domestic and Institutional Interiors in Early Modern Europe, London: Ashgate, forthcoming Autumn 2008.

“The Transmission of Assets and Family Networks: Managing the Property and Care of Orphans in Eighteenth Century Amsterdam.” In David Green and Alastair Owens, eds., Family Welfare: Gender, Property and Inheritance since the Seventeenth Century. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004: 143-162.

“Petty Debts and Family Networks: The Credit Markets of Widows and Wives in Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam.” In Beverly Lemire et al., eds. Women and Credit: Researching the Past, Refiguring the Future. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2001: 33-50.

Review articles:

“Maps Matter: a new spatial view of the 13th century manorial economy.” A review of Bruce

M.S. Campbell and Ken Bartley. England on the Eve of the Black Death: an Atlas of the Lay

Lordship, Land and Wealth, 1300-49. Historical Methods, Vol. 40, #4, Fall 2007.

"Urban Identification in Early Modern Europe," Journal of Urban History, Vol. 33, No. 2, January 2007: 306-309.

Encyclopedia articles:

“Pilgrim Donations & the Economics of Shrines,” in The Encyclopedia of Medieval Pilgrimage.

Forthcoming. Leiden: Brill Publishers.

“Orphans and Foundlings” and “Poverty,” in Europe, 1450-1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Vols. 4 and 5. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2004.

Working papers:

“Public Goods versus Private Spending: a model for linking surplus production, capital accumulation, and monumental architecture in Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean,” March 2006.

Book reviews:

Review of Ann Goldgar. Tulipmania: Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age, forthcoming in Social History.

Review of Maarten Prak, Catharina Lis, Jan Lucassen, and Hugo Soly, eds. Craft Guilds in the

Early Modern Low Countries: Work, Power, and Representation, forthcoming in Social History.

Review of Herman Roodenburg, The Eloquence of the Body: perspectives on Gesture in the

Dutch Republic, in Journal of Social History, Vol. 41, No. 3, Spring 2008.

Review of Maarten Prak, The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century, in Journal of

Economic History, Vol. 67, No. 2, June 2007.

Review of Govind Sreenivasan, The Peasants of Ottobeuren, 1487-1726: A Rural Society in Early Modern Europe , in Journal of Economic History, Vol. 65, No. 3, September 2005.

Review of Sheilagh Ogilvie, A Bitter Living: Women, Markets, and Social Capital in Early Modern Germany, in Journal of Economic History, Vol. 65, No. 2, June 2005.

Review of Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, The Peasants of Languedoc, for the Economic History Net Project 2001. http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/mccants.shtml

Review of Patrick O’Brien, ed., Urban Achievement in Early Modern Europe: Golden Ages in Antwerp, Amsterdam and London, in Journal of Economic History, Vol. 63, No. 1, March 2003.

Review of Rudolf Dekker, Childhood, Memory and Autobiography In Holland: From The Golden Age To Romanticism, in American Historical Review, Vol. 107, No. 5, December 2002.

Review of Richard Lachmann, Capitalists in Spite of Themselves: Elite Conflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe, in Enterprise and Society, Vol. 2, No. 4, December 2001.

Review of Pamela Sharpe, ed., Women’s Work: The English Experience, 1650-1914, in Victorian Studies, Vol. 43, No. 1, Autumn 2000.

Review of Peter Musgrave, The Early Modern European Economy, in The Sixteenteenth Century Journal, Vol. 30, No. 3, Fall 2000.

Review of Charles H. Parker, The Reformation of Community: Social Welfare and Calvinist Charity in Holland, 1572-1620, in Social History, Vol. 25, No. 2, May 2000.

Review of Craig Muldrew, The Economy of Obligation: The Culture of Credit and Social Relations in Early Modern England on EH.Net, August 1999.

Review of C. Trompetter, Agriculture, Proto-Industry and Mennonite Entrepreneurship: A History of the Textile Industries in Twente, 1600-1815, in American Historical Review, Vol. 104, No. 1, February 1999.

Review of Benjamin Roberts, Through the Keyhole: Dutch Child-rearing Practices in the 17th and 18th Century, Three Urban Elite Families, in Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 30, No. 2, Autumn 1999.

Review of Jan de Vries and Ad van der Woude, The First Modern Economy: Success, Failure, and Perseverance of the Dutch Economy, 1500-1815, in Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 29, No. 2, Autumn 1998.

Review of Marjolein ‘t Hart, Joost Jonker and Jan Luiten van Zanden, eds., A Financial History of the Netherlands, in Journal of Economic History, Vol. 59, No. 1, 1999.

Review of Benjamin Orlove, ed. The Allure of the Foreign: Imported Goods in Postcolonial Latin America, Electronic publication on the Economic History in February 1998.

Review of Thomas Max Safely, Charity and Economy in the Orphanages of Early Modern Augsburg, in Journal of Economic History, Vol. 58, No. 1, March, 1998.

Review of Barbara Krug-Richter, Zwischen Fasten und Festmahl: Hospitalverpflegung in Munster 1540 bis 1650, in Food & Foodways, 1997.

Review of Karel Davids and Jan Lucassen, eds., A Miracle Mirrored: The Dutch Republic in European Perspective, in Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 27, No. 4, Spring, 1997.

Review of Steven Harrell, ed., Chinese Historical Microdemography, in Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 27, No. 2, Autumn, 1996.

Review of Herman van der Wee, The Low Countries in the Early Modern World, in Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 26, No. 3, Winter, 1996.

SEMINARS and COLLOQUIA

October “Poor Consumers in a Global Marketplace: Consuming Tea, Coffee, and Sugar in the

2008 18th c.” Presented to Institut National Reeherche de la Agronomique, Paris.

March “Luxury and Misery: the Mysterious Double-Life of Textile Production and

2008 Consumption.” Presented at the Economic History Seminar at SUNY Binghamton.

October “Hands-on History.” Redefining the MIT Classroom: Award-Winning Experiments

2007 in Curricular Change.

December “Gothic Economies: Small Gifts, High Finance, and the Politics of Investing in

2006 Eternity.” Presented at the Columbia University Seminar in Economic

History.

November “Public Goods versus Private Spending: Surplus Production, Capital Accumulation,

2005 and Monumental Architecture in Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean.” Presented at the Medieval Global Economies conference, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

October “Exotic Goods, Popular Consumption, and the Standard of Living: Thinking about

2005 Globalization in the Early Modern World.” Presented at the Economic History

Workshop, Yale University.

March “Global Consumers in Unexpected Places: Working Class Consumption of Tea

2005 and Coffee in 18th century Amsterdam.” Presented to the Economic History Workshop, University of Utrecht.

November “A Home Fit for Children: The Material Possessions of Amsterdam Orphans.” Invited

2004 lecture at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, as part of their program on Domestic

and Institutional Interiors in Early Modern Europe.

April “Wealth Inequality in 18th Century Amsterdam: A case study of the poor to middling

2004 citizenry.” Presented at the All-UC Conference in Economic History: The New History of Economic Inequality, UCLA.

September “Wealth Inequality in 18th Century Amsterdam.” Presented at the Annual Meetings

2003 of the Economic History Association.

June “How much did it cost to discover America” Teaching World History symposium at MIT

2003

January “Declining Fertility in Post-Industrial Societies.” Panelist for MIT/MISTI forum.

2003

July “Goods at Pawn: the Overlapping Worlds of Material Possessions and Family Finance in

2002 Early Modern Amsterdam” Presented at the Thirteenth International Economic History Congress, Buenos Aires.

February “Clothing on Credit.” Presented at the European Social Science History Conference,

2002 The Hague.

April “Global Trade brought Home: Consumption of Tea, Coffee and Porcelain in Middling

2001 and Poor Households in 18th Century Amsterdam..” Presented at the All-UC Economic History Conference.

April “The Transmission of Assets and Family Networks: Managing the Property of

2000 Orphans in 18th Century Amsterdam.” Presented at the European Social Science History Conference, Amsterdam.

June “Migration and the Opportunity to Marry Among Norwegian-American Children,

1999 1850-1910.” Presented at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute conference on “Leavers and Stayers in the Household.”

March “The Cost of Discovering America: Columbus and the 2 Million Maravedis.”

1999 Lecture for MIT Odyssey Series, with the John’s Hopkins University Center for the Academic Advancement of Youth

September “Let Them Drink Tea: The Consumption of Colonial Groceries Among the Amster-

1998 dam Kleine Burgerij.” Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Economic History Association.

August “The Credit Markets of Widows and Wives in 18th Century Amsterdam.” Presented

1998 at the Twelfth International Economic History Congress, Madrid.

March “Organized Paternalism, Risk-Sharing, and the Deserving Poor in Republican

1998 Holland.” Presented at the European Social Science History Conference, Amsterdam.

November "The Acquisition of Status: Cultural Consumption among Amsterdams

1997 Kleine Burgerij." Invited lecture at N.W. Posthumus Instituut conference on "Culture and Consumption in the Eighteenth Century," Rotterdam.

April "The Politics of Inequality: Widows and Orphans in Early Modern Europe."

1997 Invited lecture by Women's Studies Program, Rhode Island College.

February "From Petty Debts to State Finance: the Credit Markets of the Working Poor in

1997 Eighteenth Century Amsterdam." Presented to the Harvard Economic History Workshop.

November "The Not-so-Merry Widows of Amsterdam, 1740-1782." Presented at the

1996 Indiana University Economic History Workshop.

October "The Methodology of the Economic Historian," Ford Methodology Colloquium,

1996 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

October "Men, Women and Debt: Gender and Access to Credit in Eighteenth Century

1996 Amsterdam." Presented at the Social Science History Association.

April The John Lax Memorial Alumnae Lecture, Department of History,

1996 Mount Holyoke College.

December "Nederlands Republikeinisme en de Politiek van Liefdadigheid." Presented

1995 at the invitation of the N.W. Posthumus Instituut, Rotterdam.

November "The Debts and Possessions of Amsterdamers: Evidence from the Mid-eighteenth

1995 Century." Presented at the Social Science History Association.

March "Dutch Republicanism and the Politics of Charity." Presented at Stanford

1995 University, History Department Lecture Series.

October "Consumption, leisure and the gendered division of labor." Presented to

1994 the MIT Burchard Scholars' program.

December "Civic Duty and Personal Gain: The Management of the Amsterdam Municipal

1993 Orphanage." Presented at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference.

November "Childhood Mortality in the Amsterdam Orphanage: Some Eighteenth Century

1993 Evidence." Presented at the Social Science History Association.

March "Fertility, Household Structure and the Life Course: Demographic Processes

1993 among Immigrants to the Rural Middle West." Presented to the Harvard Economic History Workshop.

November "Employment Opportunities for Orphan Boys in Early Modern Amsterdam."

1992 Presented at the Social Science History Association.

September "Meeting Needs and Suppressing Desire: Civic Morality and Institutional Consump-

1992 tion in the Dutch Republic." Presented to the Economic History Association.

FIELDS OF RESEARCH INTEREST

Wealth and income inequality

Global trade networks and European consumerism

Women's work and access to credit

History of nutrition and social welfare

Migration and labor market participation

Historical demography

COURSES TAUGHT

Undergraduate Courses:

The Medieval Economy in Comparative Perspective

Writing the History of Modern Europe

History of the Western World, 1400-1815

The Emergence of Europe, 500-1300

Seminar in the History of Western Thought, 500-1300

The Renaissance and Reformation

The Economic History of Work and the Family

Family Time -- Market Time: Seminar in Gender, Work and Leisure

Art and Society in the Dutch Golden Age

Peasants, Paupers and Poor Relief: Charity in Early Modern Europe

Labor, Class and Community in Industrializing Europe

A Brief History of Cosmology -- a freshmen seminar

Medieval Foodways – a freshmen seminar.

Graduate Courses:

Engineering Systems Research Methods – MIT Portugal Program

Theories and Methods of History -- HASTS graduate seminar

Methods for Research in the Social Sciences – HASTS graduate seminar

Boundaries of Domesticity in Early Modern Europe – graduate seminar in the Women’s Studies Consortium

Transformations of Families – graduate seminar in the Women’s Studies Consortium

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

2008- Chair, Economic History Association Research Grants and Fellowship Committee

2007-08 Lead Faculty, Engineering Systems Research Methods Course, MIT-Portugal Program

2007- Trustee, Economic History Association

2007 Program Committee Co-chair, Annual Meetings of the Economic History Association

2007-08 Member, ICPSR Undergraduate Research Paper Prize Committee

2007-09 Member, Economic History Association Dissertation Grant Committee

2007 Editorial reviewer for: Social Science History, Economic History Review, Textile

History, Explorations in Economic History, History of the Family, Economic

History Review and Historical Methods

2006-09 Member, Executive Committee, Social Science History Association

2006- Network co-chair, Economics: European Social Science History Conference

2006-09 Network co-chair, Economics: Social Science History Association

2005 Convener, Dissertation Session for the Economic History Association

2005 Chair, President’s Book Award Com., Social Science History Association

2005-08 Chair, Finance Committee of the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies

2004-05 Chair, Board of the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies

2005 Editorial reviewer, Textile History and Explorations in Economic History

2004- Editorial reviewer, Journal of Economic History

2003 MIT Delegate to the 40th Triennial Council of the Phi Beta Kappa Society

2003-05 President’s Book Award Committee, Social Science History Association

2003-04 Co-Chair, Board of the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies

2002-03 Editorial reviewer, MIT Press

2002-06 MIT representative to the Board of the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies

2002 Editorial reviewer for, Journal of Economic History, Routledge Press, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, and American Journal of Education.

2001-05 Delegate to the International Economic History Association

2001-05 Editorial Board, Journal of Economic History

2001 Editorial reviewer, Cambridge University Press

2001 National Bureau of Economic Research, Conference Discussant

2000 Visiting Fellow, International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam

2000 Editorial reviewer, The History Teacher

1998-2001 Board of Trustees, EH.Net, Chair 2000-01

1998-2000 Editorial reviewer, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

1998 Editorial reviewer, Nederlandsch Economisch-Historisch Archief

1997, 2000 Program committee member, Annual Meetings of the Economic History Association

1997-98 EH Net Oversight committee member, Economic History Association

1996 Panel co-chair, College Art Association -- "Boundaries of Domesticity in Early Modern Europe"

1995-99 Editorial reviewer, Journal of Economic History

1995 Project reviewer, National Endowment for the Humanities

1994-95 Senior Scholar, National Truman Scholars Leadership Week

1994-95 Panelist for the New England region Truman Scholarship Selection Panel

1991- Faculty participant in the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies at the Radcliffe

Institute for Advanced Study

1988-91 All-UC Group in Economic History

MIT ACTIVITIES AND COMMITTEES

2008- Co-Chair, MIT Council on Family and Work

2008- Member, MIT Committee on Foreign Scholarships

2007-08 Member, MIT search committee for the new Dean of Student Life

2007 Member, Compton Prize selection committee

2007-08 Member, MIT committee to plan the Sesquicentennial celebration

2007- Faculty House Fellow, Random Hall

2006-08 Chair, MIT Committee on Student Life

2006- Member, Dean for Undergraduate Education Advisory Committee

2006- Steering Committee for the Doctoral Program in History, Anthropology and STS

2005-06 Director, Doctoral Program in History, Anthropology, and STS

2005-06 MIT Classroom Assessment and Advisory Group

2005 Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow Selection Committee

2004- Faculty House Fellow, Next House

2003-05 Faculty House Fellow, East Campus

2003- MIT Council on Family and Work

2003-06 Chair, MIT Child Care Advisory Committee

2002- MIT Faculty Representative for the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation

2001-04 Member, Faculty Policy Committee

2001-02 Steering Committee on the Status of Senior Women Faculty, School of Humanities, Arts

and Social Sciences

2000-02 Faculty Advisor, Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority

2000, 03 Chair, Modern Europe Faculty Search

2001-03 President, Board of Trustees of the Technology Children’s Center

2000-01 Vice President, Board of Trustees of the Technology Children’s Center

1999-02 Chair, Founders Group for Simmons Hall

1999-04 Women’s Studies Steering Committee, Chair of Curriculum Committee

1999-07 President, Xi Chapter, Phi Beta Kappa

1999-01 Member, Provost’s Committee on Child Care Policy

1998-99 Member, MIT Residence System Redesign Steering Committee

1998-01 Member, MIT Faculty Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid

1997-07 Freshmen Seminar Faculty Advisor

1997-99 Faculty Facilitator, MIT LeaderShape Program

1997 Member, Client Team for New Graduate Housing

1997-99 Member, IAP Policy Committee

1997- Minor/major Advisor for Ancient and Medieval Studies

1996-99 Member, CUP Subcommittee on Freshman Advising

1996-97 Member, CUP Faculty Working Group on Residence/Orientation

1995-96 Member, MIT Faculty Committee on the Undergraduate Program

1993-95 Freshmen Seminar Faculty Advisor

1993-03 Board of Trustees, Technology Children's Center

1992-02 Faculty Resident Housemaster, Green Hall -- graduate women's dorm

1992-99 MIT Faculty Representative for the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation