Interact & Discuss
Upcoming Events
Calls for Proposals
The OI’s mission is to support, produce, and advance scholarship focused on early American history and culture and an important part of that mission is the production of conferences, workshops, and other gatherings each year. Each is meant to serve as a forum for a rich variety of scholarship on early America and we encourage scholars across the academic spectrum as well as at all stages of academic career development to propose topics, panels and papers.
Annual Series
In addition to conferences, we host several annual events including a colloquia series and lecture series. While most of these events take place in our home base, Williamsburg, Virginia, we host several each year online so that people can join us easily from wherever they are.
Conferences
The OI’s annual conference is a major meeting for scholars of early America. The content of each meeting is handled by a program committee charged with privileging new ideas and interpretations over well-worn topics. Junior as well as senior scholars present their work and care is taken to keep the meeting and accommodations affordable for graduate students and emerging scholars. From 2022 through 2026, the annual conference will be centered on the American Founding Era. The five-year “For 2026” series is co-sponsored by the OI, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and William & Mary.
OI Coffeehouse
Begun in winter 2021 as a way of bringing people together virtually while the pandemic kept us apart physically, the OI Coffeehouse has proven a valuable online gathering place for many.
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Colloquia
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.
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Council Lecture
Organized by the OI Executive Director and the Chair of the OI Council, the Council Lecture series reflects the Omohundro Institute’s ongoing commitment to excellence in early American scholarship. It is meant for both scholarly and non-scholarly audiences. No admission is charged and an informal reception follows the event. All speakers in the series have served on the Omohundro Institute Council—service for which we are enormously grateful.
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History of Slavery
The Omohundro Institute is proud to have organized a series of conferences, beginning in 1998, dedicated to the examination of slavery in the early modern Atlantic world.
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