Join us in the OI Conference room, Swem Library, campus of William & Mary, for a discussion of “Separate Creations: Political Community and Loyalty in the 1790s.”

Jessica Roney is an associate professor at Temple University. Her first book, Governed by a Spirit of Opposition: The Origins of American Political Practice in Colonial Philadelphia, studies voluntary associations and civic culture in Philadelphia from its English founding in 1682 until the American Revolution and argues that, in Philadelphia, the civic engagement of ordinary white men (rather than exclusively of elites) was far more pervasive than historians had understood. Her current book project, Revolutionary Settlement: The Colonies of the American Revolution, examines two linked diasporas that resulted from the American Revolution: one of Loyalists predominantly to Canada, and one of Anglo-American settlers to the trans-Appalachian west where they founded colonies that might—or might not—one day be part of the United States.

The OI holds between three and six colloquia per semester to discuss projects (usually a postdoctoral book chapter or article) in progress. The paper is pre-circulated and available by request. Although only postdoctoral work is presented, graduate students at all levels are warmly encouraged to attend the sessions and participate in the discussions.

To receive copies of the pre-circulated papers you must register in advance. All colloq participants are expected to have read the paper before the discussion and are asked to refrain from sharing the papers with others. We thank you for your observance of this request.