The Sylvia Thrupp Lecture is a biennial talk given in honor of Sylvia Thrupp (1903-1997), founding editor of the journal Comparative Studies in Society and History. Thrupp was the Alice Freeman Walker Professor of History at the University of Michigan (1961-1974) and the first woman to be tenured in the Department of History. She was a specialist on medieval European societies, focusing on merchant life, urbanism, and social change. An influential advocate for comparativist approaches across the humanities and social sciences, Thrupp established Comparative Studies in Society and History in 1958 and served as its editor until 1973. Under her direction, the journal became a venue in which anthropologists, historians, sociologists, and political theorists could develop shared languages of analysis and critique. The Thrupp Lecture, held in Ann Arbor, features the work of a distinguished scholar and visiting discussants, followed by conversations with interested students and colleagues at the University of Michigan. Its goal is to recreate the energy and insight essential to Thrupp’s comparativist vision. The proceedings are published annually as a special feature in CSSH.
The Sylvia Thrupp Lecture is sponsored by the Society for CSSH, Cambridge University Press, and partners at the University of Michigan. It is supported by a generous gift made in honor of Sylvia Thrupp by an anonymous donor.
A detailed account of Thrupp’s intellectual life, at CSSH and beyond, is available here.