“Small Nations, Big Histories”

Convened by Elizabeth N. Ellis and Eliga H. Gould
June 20–21, 2025
Huntington Library, San Marino, California

In early America, did the size of a nation or polity matter? Smaller political units were not powerless, and recent work has highlighted how Indigenous, African, and colonial actors from small polities transformed the continent between 1450-1850. But how did they gain and retain power in an age of imperial competition?

The history of “small nations” is a big subject. This WMQ-EMSI Workshop aims to bring together scholars from history and related disciplines whose work considers the place of small nations in early American history (1450-1850). The workshop will take a broad view of the subject matter.  We welcome proposals from scholars working on topics such as the history of the United States and Haiti, as well as the polities constructed by maroons, refugees, borderlands inhabitants, Indigenous and settler migrants, freedom seekers, and exiles. The “small nations” framework allows us to resituate the histories of nation states that dominate the historiography as well as communities that have historically been marginalized within the literature or dismissed because of their small populations or scant archival records. It also invites us to reconsider the history of polities such as the Muscogee Nation and the early American republic, often described as “nations” but that were themselves unions or associations of smaller political units that each had their own histories and agendas. We are particularly interested in exploring connections and exchanges between the different iterations of the histories of small nations.

Participants will attend a two-day meeting at the Huntington Library (June 20-21, 2025) to discuss a pre-circulated, unpublished chapter-length portion of their current work in progress along with the work of other participants. Subsequently, the conveners, Elizabeth N. Ellis of Princeton University and Eliga H. Gould of the University of New Hampshire, will write an essay elaborating on the issues raised at the workshop for publication in the William and Mary Quarterly. The participants’ meals, lodging, and travel expenses will be covered by the EMSI and the Omohundro Institute.

Proposals for workshop presentations should include a two-page c.v. and two brief abstracts (250 words each): the first describing the article or chapter draft the applicant seeks to present at the workshop, and the second discussing the scope of the applicant’s larger research project. The organizers especially encourage proposals from mid-career scholars who are working on their second (or subsequent) major project. Graduate students are ineligible.

APPLY HERE

Materials should be submitted via the link above by November 1, 2024.

The WMQ–EMSI workshops are co-sponsored by the William and Mary Quarterly and Omohundro Institute in partnership with the Early Modern Studies Institute (EMSI) at USC-Dornsife. The 2025 workshop will be the 13th in the series.