Author: James Smith Allen
Born: b. 1949
Bio: James Smith Allen is Professor Emeritus of History at Southern Illinois University Carbondale after 26 years of service as faculty member and educational administrator.  

A specialist in nineteenth-century French social and intellectual history, Dr. Allen is interested primarily in the social history of romanticism, reading, feminism, and memory. His publications include three monographs, *Popular French Romanticism: Authors, Readers, and Books in the 19th Century* (1981) -- also available in Italian translation -- *In the Public Eye: A History of Reading in Modern France* (1991), and *Poignant Relations: Three Modern French Women* (2000). 

In 1994, Dr. Allen also edited *In the Solitude of My Soul: The Diary of Geneviève Bréton, 1867-1871*. He has just completed an autobiographical study of personal and historical memory, entitled *A Privileged Past* (2010).  In keeping with his interest in collective memory, Dr. Allen's current research project is a book-length study of women in modern public space, with particular attention to their role in Freemasonry.