Global Early America before 1700

Convened by Alison Games, Georgetown University

January 30-31, 2026

Huntington Library, San Marino California

Was there a global early America? Atlantic approaches to early America have become commonplace, as have perspectives rooted in ideas about “vast” early America, yet little scholarship has sought to situate early America in a global context. Is such a context useful? What might it illuminate about the history of early America before 1700? This WMQ-EMSI Workshop invites scholars in history and related disciplines to explore these questions from a diverse array of methodological and geographic perspectives. Participants are urged to think about what global contexts might entail as broadly and creatively as possible, considering connections, comparisons, and convergences as well as shared processes or experiences.

Participants will attend a two-day meeting at the Huntington Library (January 30-31, 2026) to discuss a pre-circulated, unpublished chapter-length portion of their current work in progress along with the work of other participants. Subsequently, the convener, Alison Games, 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 USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute (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.

Program of Events

Friday, January 30, 2026

9:00-9:30am               Coffee

9:30-10:00am             Welcome and Introductions

Welcome

• Julia Gaffield, William and Mary Quarterly
• Peter Mancall, Early Modern Studies Institute

Convener’s Introduction

Alison Games, Georgetown University

10:00-11:00am           SESSION 1

 Paul Musselwhite, Dartmouth College

“The Early American Plantation in a Global Agricultural Revolution”

Comment: Michelle McKinley, University of Oregon

Chair: Peter Mancall, Early Modern Studies Institute

11:00-11:15am           Morning Coffee

11:15am-12:15pm      SESSION 2

 Susanah Romney, New York University

“Negotiating the Wild Coast: Indigenous-European Interactions in Early Seventeenth-Century Guayana”

Comment: Scott Berthelette, Queen’s University

Chair: Julia Gaffield, William and Mary Quarterly

12:15-1:45pm             Lunch

1:45-2:45pm               SESSION 3

 Kristie Flannery, Australian Catholic University

“The Miracle of the Crab and the Conquest of the Sea”

Comment: Melissa N. Morris, University of Wyoming

Chair: Josh Piker, Omohundro Institute

2:45-3:00pm               Afternoon Coffee

3:00-4:00pm               SESSION 4

 Casey Schmitt, Cornell University

“Mona Island: Global Trade and Resistance in the Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Caribbean”

Comment: Andrea Mosterman, University of New Orleans

Chair: Peter Mancall, Early Modern Studies Institute

 Saturday, January 31, 2026

9:00-9:30am               Coffee

9:30-10:30am             SESSION 5

 Michelle McKinley, University of Oregon

“Amas de leche: Wetnurses in the Early Modern Iberian Empire”

Comment: Susanah Romney, New York University

Chair: Julia Gaffield, William and Mary Quarterly

10:30-10:45am           Morning Coffee

10:45-11:45am           SESSION 6

 Melissa N. Morris, University of Wyoming

“Shipboard Encounters and the Making of the Modern World”

Comment: Casey Schmitt, Cornell University

Chair: Josh Piker, Omohundro Institute

11:45am-1:15pm        Lunch

1:15-2:15pm               SESSION 7

 Scott Berthelette, Queen’s University

“Ouréhouaré’s Odyssey: The Journey of a Haudenosaunee Headman Through the Seventeenth Century French Atlantic World”

Comment: Kristie Flannery, Australian Catholic University

Chair: Peter Mancall, Early Modern Studies Institute

2:15-2:30pm               Afternoon Coffee

2:30-3:30pm               SESSION 8

 Andrea Mosterman, University of New Orleans

“Neither Enslaved nor Free: The Struggle for Freedom of New Netherland’s Black Community”

Comment: Paul Musselwhite, Dartmouth College

Chair: Julia Gaffield, William and Mary Quarterly

3:45-4:45pm               Final Discussion

Moderator: Alison Games