Associate Professor of American Studies
Department(s): American Studies
Contact
Office: Miller Library 254
Phone: 859-4586
Fax: 859-4705
Email: lsaltz@colby.edu
Mailing Address
5320 Mayflower Hill
Waterville, Maine 04901-8853
Education
Ph.D., Yale University, 1998
M.A., Yale University, 1993
B.A., University of Chicago, 1983
Areas of Expertise
- 19th century American visual culture
- 19th century American literature
- History of photography
- Film
Professional Information
Laura Saltz received her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University in 1998 and her BA from the University of Chicago in 1983. She is currently on leave from her position at Colby College and is completing a manuscript called Photography’s Imponderables: American Romanticism and the Science of Light. The book examines photography’s emergence in the context of scientific debates about whether light was a particle or wave. By foregrounding the importance of physics to the conceptualization of early photography, the book demonstrates that Transcendental and romantic American writers turned to photography to conceptualize a range of ideas they associated with nature, including gender, and creativity. This project began during a year-long fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Saltz works in the interdisciplinary field of American Studies, with a specialization in the literary and visual cultures of the nineteenth century. In 2012, she received the Margaret Church Award for the best essay published in Modern Fiction Studies (MFS) in 2011, “‘The Vision-Building Faculty’: Naturalist Vision in The House of Mirth.” In 2007 she received the James M. Gargano Prize from the Poe Studies Association for the outstanding essay on Poe in 2006, “‘Eyes which Behold’: Poe’s ‘Domain of Arnheim’ and the Science of Vision.” Saltz is also passionate about teaching writing. She worked for seven years in the Expository Writing Program at Harvard University, and co-authored with Nancy Sommers “The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshman Year.”
Courses Currently Teaching 2012-2013
On sabbatical 2012-2013