A Career Characterized by Collaboration:
With a mixture of sadness for the end of an era and gratitude for her career of almost fifty years in the Department of History, we announce the retirement of Professor Mary Jo Maynes. In addition to her outstanding leadership as Department Chair from 2003 to 2006, MJ has contributed her talents and expertise on numerous service roles in the Department, University and profession. MJ is a prolific and cutting-edge scholar, who to date has published five books, seven edited volumes, several journal special issues, and more than thirty articles and book chapters. Her research has been funded by numerous grants, and in 1999, she was named as a Scholar of the College in CLA. Her research has insightfully explored labor, life stories, family, gender, and girlhood, in modern Europe and beyond.
In addition to the incisive and original analysis, what particularly marks her scholarship is collaboration. All of her edited volumes and two of her books were the products of such intellectual partnerships. One of her principal collaborators has been colleague and historian of China Ann Waltner, with whom she published Family: A World History (Oxford, 2012), a co-edited volume, as well as seven articles with another underway. “I am a different kind of historian than I would have been if MJ had not been my colleague,” notes Ann of their partnership; “She presses me to think about questions which might not have otherwise occurred to me.” Two graduate students, Birgitte Soland and Ulrike Strasser, collaborated with Ann and MJ on one of those volumes: Gender, Kinship and Power: A Comparative and Interdisciplinary History (Routledge, 1996). “What a model of truly egalitarian advising and mentoring of (then) young women historians!,” declared Ulrike of the experience. “What has really made MJ my role model as an academic,” recalls Birgitte, “is her inclusiveness; her disregard for hierarchy, rank and status; her fearless eagerness to explore new historical questions; and her constant engagement in intellectual collaborations.” MJ's collaborative work continues. She is currently working with former students Emily Bruce and Eric Roubinek on an article about the politics of women's dress in German history.
That MJ would bring graduate students onto an editorial team was characteristic of her style of mentoring the more than twenty Ph.D. students she has advised or co-advised, or currently advises or co-advises. Birgitte recalls the “whirlwind meeting” when MJ agreed to advise her dissertation and she “was introduced to MJ’s quick way of speaking, her creative mind, her intellectual curiosity, and her humor, warmth and kindness.” Years later, Elizabeth Dillenberg had the same impression on meeting MJ, noting her “kindness, supportiveness, and encouragement.” That encouragement continued as Elizabeth wrote her dissertation and then book: “She pushed me to grow as a historian, consistently challenging me with her insightful feedback and thoughtful comments that pushed my research in new directions.” All the graduate students she worked with looked to MJ as a “model academic and feminist,” as Jen Illuzzi remarked, adding “it is a beautiful thing, I think, to know that there are so many of us spread out around the country, trying our best to live up to her model of care, intellectual curiosity, and healthy skepticism.” Those alumni include not only advisees, but dozens of students from multiple departments who enrolled in her seminars and on whose committees she served. In recognition of her 2002, MJ received the University’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education.
Such mentorship extended beyond her own students. She was one of the founders of and continues to take turns facilitating the Workshop in the Comparative History of Gender, Women, and Sexuality (WCHWGS), a supportive space for faculty and graduate students from numerous departments to receive feedback on work in progress. Sarah Chambers, who served with MJ and Tracey Deutsch as the North American co-editors of the journal Gender & History from 2013 to 2018, recalled the focused attention with which MJ worked with authors, particularly junior scholars, so that their published articles could achieve their greatest impact; she took the same care, moreover, in providing feedback to authors whose manuscripts were not accepted so that they could continue to develop their work for future publication in another venue.
The inspiration that MJ provided to junior scholars and graduate students also extended to undergraduate students. In addition to teaching European and Women’s history classes, MJ developed popular sections of the core History courses, such as a junior seminar on “Children and Youth in History” and a capstone on “Modern Political Revolutions.” Always innovating, she even developed a new course in her final years of teaching on the engaging topic of “Seeing History through Comics.” In terms of numbers of students, her biggest impact was through teaching World History. This area was another collaboration with Ann Waltner as they developed first a section of World History from 1500 to World War I based on comparative case studies from four continents and then a version focused on “The Family from 10,000 BCE to the Present.” When teaching to a room of 300 undergraduates, Ann recalls, they would think of ways to grab the students’ attention, such as occasionally holding a staged argument. They also asked student teams to give presentations. “They were great fun,” notes Ann. “I remember one which dealt with the theme of choice of marriage partners as the TV show, ‘The Dating Game’.”
One of those students who took World History in Fall 1999 was Amanda Nelson. “I was a brand-new freshman, just being introduced to the university,” she remembers, “And there was MJ — a character in front of the classroom — engaging, deeply knowledgeable, and fun — offering not just history, but a way to feel grounded in it.” Ten years later, Amanda was promoted to department administrator in History the same year MJ took on a term as interim chair (2008-2009). She notes that MJ brought the same qualities to departmental leadership as she did to teaching and mentoring: collaboration, encouragement, kindness, and respect. “She’s been deeply committed to the idea that a department should be more than just a workplace — it should be a community,” adds Amanda, “she’s helped shape a department culture we can all be proud of.”
MJ’s lasting impact will be felt both in her scholarship and in this legacy of community and collaboration among colleagues, staff, students, and alumni. Knowing full well that she will remain active, we wish her well in her retirement and look forward to staying connected through workshops and her continued mentorship of students.
