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Involving Students
Student Contributions
Linda Van Netten Blimke, an assistant professor at Concordia University of Edmonton, Canada, reflects on her editing experience with the Juvenilia Press
Working with the Juvenilia Press and the editorial team led by Dr. Juliet McMaster on Crossing Canada, 1907: The Diary of Hope Hook (Juvenilia Press, 2011) was a truly enriching experience both personally and professionally. I jumped at the opportunity to edit Hope Hook’s travel diary; my own research interests in eighteenth-century women’s travel writing nicely dovetailed with Hope’s early twentieth-century travel diary. At the time I approached the project as an opportunity to add a publication to my curriculum vitae; now, five years after the book’s publication, I realize that my involvement in this project provided me with valuable skills and knowledge that benefitted me through the process of writing my dissertation and through the process of navigating the academic job market. The following reflection is based on a talk that I gave to a new team of Juvenilia Press editors.
When I first joined the Hope Hook team, I was neck-deep in writing my dissertation and I worried that the research and writing involved in the project would interfere with my dissertation deadlines. However, I ultimately found that both the research I conducted for the Hope Hook project and the experience of balancing multiple scholarly endeavors ultimately enriched my own research and increased my productivity. I was fortunate enough to be assigned the travel-related aspects of Hope Hook’s diary, which merged with my own research interests. The knowledge that I gained regarding transatlantic travel in the early twentieth century introduced me to a world of information that tremendously broadened my knowledge in my own field—information that I still find myself frequently referencing in my own work and in the classroom. The challenge of researching obscure historical information also developed my skills as a researcher. Faced with finding nitty-gritty technical details of early twentieth-century rail and steamship travel, I quickly discovered that my traditional research methods no longer worked. Instead, I rolled up my sleeves and delved into the blogosphere to find enthusiasts who could point me in the right direction; I found obscure databases containing old government records and scoured sites such as ancestry.com for historical documents; and I navigated my way to the dustiest corners of rarely used libraries on the outskirts of the city. Not only did this make me feel like an academic Indiana Jones (without all the running about and dodging large objects), but it also directed me towards resources that otherwise I would have never considered or explored. The investigative skills that I acquired on this project ultimately made me a better, more adventurous researcher.
I worked with a wonderful and diverse collection of scholars on the Hope Hook project, and the experience of working with a team opened my eyes to the benefits of scholarly collaboration. I learned new research techniques and resources from the historian on our team; I gained valuable training in editorial work from our coordinator, Dr. McMaster; I acquired helpful knowledge and insights from another team member who shared similar academic interests in travel writing; and I learned to critically evaluate my own writing style after both editing the work of others and having my own work edited. As a result of this experience, I have eagerly joined research clusters in my current university and am presently discussing opportunities for further collaboration with scholars in my field.
As I have mentioned, one of the reasons I decided to join the Hope Hook project was the tantalizing opportunity to add a publication to my curriculum vitae. This opportunity indeed proved valuable when I joined the competitive academic job market a few years after the publication of Crossing Canada. Not only was I able to feature an edited book on my curriculum vitae, but several team members and myself expanded our experience with the project into a conference paper that we presented at the International Conference on Literary Juvenilia. While interviewing with a small university with whom I was delighted to accept a position as an assistant professor, I frequently referenced my experience with the Hope Hook project in order to highlight my ability to collaborate with others (an important characteristic in a small university), my skills in time management (an even more important characteristic in a teaching-focused university), and my potential as a scholar. I am grateful to both Dr. McMaster and the Juvenilia Press for providing me with the opportunity to professionalize at such an early stage in my career.