Author Joseph M. Adelman
By Joseph M. Adelman July 05, 2022

BFW: Experiences of Revolution, Part 2: Disruptions in Yorktown

Each year, the Ben Franklin’s World team produces a special episode for the Fourth of July holiday. This year, we’re going even further, sharing two themed episodes that explore how ordinary Americans experienced the Revolutionary War. On Tuesday, July 5, the second of those episodes—“Experiences of Revolution, Part 2: Disruptions in Yorktown,” episode 333—debuts wherever… Read More

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By Joseph M. Adelman June 28, 2022

BFW: Experiences of Revolution, Part 1: Occupied Philadelphia

Each year, the Ben Franklin’s World team produces a special episode for the Fourth of July holiday. This year, we’re going even further, sharing two themed episodes that explore how ordinary Americans experienced the Revolutionary War. On Tuesday, June 28, the first of those episodes—“Experiences of Revolution, Part 1: Occupied Philadelphia,” episode 332—debuts wherever you enjoy… Read More

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By Joseph M. Adelman April 11, 2022

Public Commissions for the 250th: What You Need to Know

In 2026 the United States will mark the 250th anniversary of American independence—the Semiquincentennial. It would be the understatement of two-and-a-half centuries to suggest that it will likely be a busy year for the history profession across the nation and even internationally. Of course, history professionals are not the only people interested in how to commemorate the anniversary or… Read More

#VastEarlyAmericaAcrossAmerica1776 14 min read
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By Joseph M. Adelman October 15, 2019

Articles of Amendment: Copying “The” Bill of Rights

Today’s post accompanies “Creating the First Ten Amendments,” episode 260 of Ben Franklin’s World and part of Doing History 4: Understanding the Fourth Amendment. Last week as I was listening to Ben Franklin’s World, I was struck by the way in which Liz Covart and… Read More

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By Joseph M. Adelman May 22, 2018

Call: Reflecting on 75 Years of OI Books

NOTE: We’re extending the call to June 22! Please see below for the link to apply. Over the past seventy-five years, the Omohundro Institute has published dozens of books that run the gamut of early American history and help trace the development of the field from a relatively narrow focus on the English colonies to what we are now… Read More

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By Joseph M. Adelman August 15, 2017

Teaching with Ben Franklin's World

Among many other things, the advent of history podcasts has opened new possibilities for engagement both inside and outside of the classroom at all levels. The first Doing History series, which outlines the process that historians use to develop and create historical research projects, was designed in part for exactly that purpose. Over the past few months, we’ve heard from numerous teachers at all levels from elementary to college about the ways in which they’re using Doing History and Ben Franklin’s World as part of their teaching and professional development. With a new semester just about to begin and instructors polishing up syllabi and lesson plans, we wanted to share how some teachers are doing so. Read More

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By Joseph M. Adelman September 06, 2016

2017 Conference Applications Due Soon

The fall semester is just underway on campuses across the United States, but it’s already time to think about next summer’s conference season. In just one week (on September 15), we will reach the application deadline for the 23rd Annual Institute Conference, scheduled for June 15-18, 2017, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The program committee, chaired by… Read More

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By Joseph M. Adelman October 13, 2015

Florida at the Margins

State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, https://floridamemory.com/items/show/33605. This week marks the end of our series highlighting the roundtables from the joint meeting of the Institute and the Society of Early Americanists. Thanks to all the participants for your contributions. Today’s post comes from Thomas Hallock, Associate Professor of English at the University of South Florida-St. Read More

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By Joseph M. Adelman October 06, 2015

Environment and Agency in Early America

Our series on the roundtables from this summer’s annual conference continues with a post from John Easterbrook. He recently received his PhD from the Department of English at New York University, where he completed his dissertation, “The Political Ecology of Early Anglo-American Writing, 1609-1847.” Our roundtable on “Environment and Agency in Early America” originated with a question posed to… Read More

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By Joseph M. Adelman September 29, 2015

Recovering Literary Texts, One at a Time

In our third entry of our summer conference roundtable roundup, we look back to a workshop on teaching once-forgotten texts with Meredith Neuman. Neuman is Associate Professor of English at Clark University and author of Jeremiah's Scribes: Creating Sermon Literature in Puritan New England (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013). It may have been the first panel slot on the first day of the conference, but the “Just Teach One” (JTO) workshop was standing room only. Perhaps half of the attendees had “At Least Taught Once,” but many had “Not Taught Any.” The room was full of enthusiasm for the project—now in its third year—that makes available pdf transcriptions of little-known early American texts and asks instructors to set aside just one day in their syllabus to experiment in the classroom. Neither the workshop facilitators (Duncan Faherty, Andy Doolen, and Ed White) nor the handful of “Have Taught Many” participants in the room claimed any special expertise on the use of JTO texts in the classroom. Rather, the entire session was marked by a spirit of open exchange and the desire for collaborative approaches to implementing the project in the classroom. Read More

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By Joseph M. Adelman September 22, 2015

A Social Media Brouhaha: Talking about Blogging in Chicago

Today we continue our series with a review of the roundtable on "The Maturing Blogosphere of Early America." You may have heard that there was some amount of controversy about social media during the OI-SEA meeting in Chicago this past June. But almost all of that happened after the roundtable session, so we'll get to that in a minute. Read More

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By Joseph M. Adelman September 15, 2015

Witnesses and their Testimony in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World: Identifying Commonalities and Exploring Differences

Today we continue our series exploring the roundtable sessions from last summer’s Institute-SEA conference with a post from Sara T. Damiano. She will receive her Ph.D. from the History Department at Johns Hopkins University this fall. This spring she will be a postdoctoral fellow in the Program in Early American Economy and Society at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Read More

conferences 9 min read
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