Leslie Paris
Office Hours
Fall 2026: Mondays 11-12 and Wed. 9-10 or by appointmentThematic Research Area
Regional Research Area
Teaching
Research
I am currently writing a history of American childhood in the 1960s and 1970s, which explores the effects of the era’s social and political movements in children’s culture. I’ve also published several recent articles addressing middle-aged American women and generational cohort.
Research Interests
- Modern American social and cultural history
- childhood, youth, and generation
- gender and sexuality
- popular culture
Publications
Books
M. Forman-Brunell; L. Paris. The girls’ history and culture reader: the twentieth century. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2011.
M. Forman-Brunell; L. Paris. The girls’ history and culture reader: the nineteenth century. Urbana: University of Illionois Press, 2011.
L. Paris. Children’s nature: the rise of the American summer camp. New York: New York University Press, 2008.
L. Paris; H. Bond; J.Jacobs Brumberg. A Paradise for Boys and Girls: Adirondack Summer Camps. Syracuse and Blue Mountain Lake, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2006.
Articles/Book Chapters
L. Paris, “‘I just feel awkward with girls’: Youth Sexuality in a Social Science Archive” Journal of the History of Sexuality (special issue on Queer Youth Sexuality in the Archives) 35, no. 1 (Jan. 2026), 119-127.
L. Paris, “Fifty Shades of Fandom: The Intergenerational Permeability of American Popular Culture”, Feminist Media Studies 16, no. 4, pp. 678-692, 2016.
L. Paris, “Happily Ever After: Free to Be … You and Me, Second Wave Feminism, and 1970s American Children’s Culture” in Oxford Handbook of Children’s Literature , J. Mickenberg and Vallone, L. Oxford U. Press, 2011, pp. 519-538.
L. Paris, “FOR PURE SPECTACLE AND STRONG EMOTION, NOTHING BEATS COLOR WAR”, Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 91, p. 19, 2011.
L. Paris, “Through the Looking Glass: Age, Stages, and Historical Analysis”, Journal of the History of Children and Youth 1, no. 1, pp. 106-113, 2008.
L. Paris, “Tradition and Transition at Adirondack Summer Camps”, in A Paradise for Boys and Girls: Adirondack Summer Camps, L. Paris, Brumberg, J. Jacobs, and Bond, H. , eds., Syracuse University Press, 2006, pp. 1-12.
L. Paris, ““‘Please Let Me Come Home’: Homesickness and Family Ties at Early-Twentieth-Century Summer Camps”, in The American Child: A Cultural Studies Reader, C. F. Levander and Singley, C., eds. Rutgers University Press, 2003, pp. 246-261.
L. Paris, “Small Mercies: Colleen Moore’s Doll House and the National Tour, 1935-1939”, in Acts of Possession: Essays on Collecting in America, L. Dilworth Rutgers University Press, 2003, pp. 190-220.
L. Paris, “A Home Though Away From Home: Brooklyn Jews and Interwar Children’s Summer Camps”, in Jews of Brooklyn, I. Abramovitch and Galvin, S. University Press of New England/Brandeis University Press, 2001, pp. 242-249.
L. Paris, “The Adventures of Peanut and Bo: Summer Camps and Early-Twentieth-Century American Girlhood”, Journal of Women’s History, 12, pp. 47-76, 2001.
L. Paris, “Growing Up With Growing-Up Skipper”, in The Barbie Chronicles, Y. McDonough, Touchstone Press, 1999, pp. 65-72.
Recent Public Scholarship
https://americanarchive.org/exhibits/zoom (2022)
Additional
L. Paris, “Children’s nature: Summer camps in New York State, 1919–1941”. 2000.
Awards
- National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2017
- SSHRC Connections grant, 2014-15
- Yasuo Sakakibara Prize, American Studies Association, 2012
- UBC Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant, 2012
- AURA Undergraduate Research Award, UBC, 2011
- Undergraduate Research Opportunities Mentorship Award, UBC, 2010
- Yasuo Sakakibara Prize, American Studies Association, 2009
- AURA Undergraduate Research Award, UBC, 2009
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 3-Year Standard Research Grant, 2007-2010
- Hampton Research Endowment Fund grant, UBC, 2006-2007
- Murray Research Center, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Adolescent and Youth Research Award, 2004
- Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, Visiting Fellow, Rutgers University, 2004-05
- UBC Scholar, Centre for Research in Women’s Studies and Gender Relations, Fall 2004
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 3-Year Standard Research Grant, 2002-2005