Doctoral candidate Steve Witt successfully defended his dissertation, "Making Internationalism Conscious: Libraries and the Transnational Struggle for Global Order (1911-1951)," on May 30.
His committee included Associate Professor Kathryn La Barre (chair); Professor Emeritus Alistair Black; affiliated faculty member Clara Chu, director of the Mortenson Center; and Melanie Kimball, associate professor of library and information science at Simmons College.
From the abstract – Focusing on the role of information professions and INGOs in the creation and dissemination of information to support the internationalist movement during the early 20th century, this dissertation examines three historical cases: the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's (CEIP) International Mind Alcove Program, the international community's work to re-build the University of Louvain Library, and the American Library Association's development of the Paris Library School. Analyzing these cases historically through the dual lens of library history and transnational history, this dissertation provides a unique view of the role of information professions in promoting internationalism. The history provides further understanding of the evolution of these information dissemination and propaganda activities as they were implemented domestically and abroad toward enacting the transnational aspirations of internationalists during this period.