Since 1980, the field has generated a sizable literature, and with the establishment of this doctoral minor in 1998, the study of print culture history has found an institutional home within the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s curricular structure. The Doctoral Minor in Print Culture History gives graduate students opportunities to design a curriculum around the historical study and sociology of books and print culture within their general doctoral studies. The program particularly encourages students to do original archival and special collections work in the extensive relevant holdings of the library systems of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Wisconsin Historical Society.
See the full description of the Doctoral Minor in Print Culture History on the Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture website for more information.
Admissions
The Minor in Print Culture History is an interdisciplinary program functioning under the University of Wisconsin–Madison Graduate School’s Option A rules (see the Graduate School Catalog, Minors). To qualify, students will need written approval from their major advisor and from the director of the Doctoral Minor in Print Culture History.
All Graduate School students must utilize the Graduate Student Portal in MyUW to add, change, or discontinue any doctoral minor. To apply to this minor, log in to MyUW, click on Graduate Student Portal, and then click on Add/Change Programs. Select the information for the doctoral minor for which you are applying.
Requirements
Like the study of print culture itself, the minor is intentionally flexible and interdisciplinary. Students are required to take a minimum of 12 credits in courses whose subjects in some way address print culture, book history, or related topics. Related topics may range from the history of mass communications, cartography, literature, education, consumer movements, and library and information studies, to subjects dealing with gender, race, age, social class, and sexual orientation. Within the 12-credit minor, students are required to take at least 3 credits of seminar studies. L I S/ART HIST/HISTORY/JOURN 650 History of Books and Print Culture in Europe and North America is highly recommended for 3 of the 12 credits toward the minor.