The Penn State Center for American Literary Studies

Penn State is the historic home of American Literary Studies. Established in 2006, CALS honors and extends this proud tradition.

CALS is setting the national research agenda with initiatives like the founding of the acclaimed First Book Institute and C19: the Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists.

CALS faculty engage in far-reaching works of scholarship, such as Michael Berube's pathbreaking research on disability in American literature and culture.

CALS events and research support encourage top-ranked faculty and graduate students to pursue innovation in the field.

CALS "community read" programs engage readers, draw then together, and position American literature as an important public space.

Welcome to the Center for American Literary Studies

Penn State is the historic home of American literary studies. In the early twentieth century, Fred Lewis Pattee became the first English professor in the country to teach classes exclusively devoted to American works. The Penn State Center for American Literary Studies aims to be similarly ground-breaking. Founded in 2006, CALS advances the study, teaching, and reading of American literature, making Penn State an internationally-recognized source of pioneering work in American literary and cultural studies. Through its dual scholarly and public outreach mission, CALS generates vital new forms of community and intellectual exchange, engaging readers, drawing them together, and positioning American literature as an important public space.