The year was 1995. The Germanists who gathered at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI were lamenting the lack of sessions approved in their specialties (OHG, MHG, and philology, among others), while Spencer at Kalamazoo had 9-11 sessions each year. 

Since it appeared that organized societies were getting more sessions, the Germanists decided to form one. But what to call it?

Sidney M. Johnson (Indiana University) stood up and declaimed, “We will be called the Society for Medieval German Studies because our acronym will be pronounced SMuGS!”

His proposal passed to the standard for acclaim at Kalamazoo, the enthusiastic pounding of desks.

Sid’s proposed name and acronym reveals much about the early years. SMGS wasn’t meant to be a hoity-toity group, or even particularly professional, but merely a means to an end that would include all of those Germanists who had trekked to mid-Michigan every year, and to sneak our way back into more sessions on Germanic topics by playing the Medieval Institute’s algorithm.

The only anticipated job was organizing sessions, which was deliberately assigned to graduate students or newly minted professors as a means to pad their CVs while not requiring a signficant time commitment. In the organizing committee 2-3 people served for 1-3 years. The “business meetings” required around 5 minutes each year, and were mostly an excuse for more socializing.

In 1998, a newsletter was added, and Ernst Hintz (Truman State University) volunteered to gather articles and publish it.

Nearing our thirtieth anniversary, the Society remains an informal and collegial group. Over the years we have had the pleasure of hosting sessions on Old High German, Middle High German, Old Saxon, Gothic, Runic, Old Norse, and other languages across the fields of literature, linguistics, textual and material philology, and much more: the G in SMGS has accordingly become Germanic. In honor of Sid Johnson, an annual prize in his name is awarded to the best graduate student abstract submitted to our sessions as voted upon by the Executive and Advisory Committee. Membership requires no dues and new members are welcome to contact us at any time or join us at Kalamazoo – the business meetings may now last a little longer, but the libations, meals, and good cheer that surround them go ever on.

SMGS bylaws were drafted by Evelyn Meyer, Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand, and Joseph M. Sullivan after the membership supported the proposed new organizational structure for SMGS at the May 2019 membership meeting (i.e., the creation of the Executive and Advisory Committee).

The bylaws were voted on and unanimously approved by the membership during the annual meeting on May 13, 2021, and the first three-year cycle of officer terms ending in May 2022. 

SMGS Session Organizers

Scott Pincikowski 2002 -2006
Stephen M. Carey 2006-2009
Evelyn Meyer & Alexander Sager (2009-2013)
Marian Polhill & Jeffry Turco (2013-2016)
Tina Boyer & Adam Oberlin (2016-2018)
Evelyn Meyer, Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand & Joseph M. Sullivan (2018-2022)

SMGS – EAC (2025-2028): Adam Oberlin, Princeton U (president), Jonathan S. Martin, Illinois SU (vice president), Annegret Oehme, U of Washington (secretary), Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand, Appalachian SU (treasurer and social media officer), Walker Horsfall, U of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (Early Career Member), and Rabea Kohnen U of Vienna, Austria (European Representative), CJ Jones, U of Notre Dame (Liaison to MEMGS). Evelyn Meyer, Saint Louis U serves a one-year term (ending May 30, 2026) as immediate past president.