New for fall 2025!
Apply now for one of two OI Coffeehouse Fellowships
We are refreshing the OI Coffeehouse, Vast Early America!
Since its launch in 2021, the OI’s Coffeehouse program has grown and matured, thanks to the energetic participation of scholars working across Vast Early America. Our survey earlier this summer showed that people’s needs have evolved; we want to shift the programming to meet those needs. With that in mind, we are creating both targeted structured programs in the form of research and/or writing groups focused on a particular area as well as lower-commitment “drop-in” sessions focused on either topical areas or tool-building. Consequently, we are now changing the menu just a bit.
What we are keeping:
- Just Write
- The Digital Humanities table
What we are adding:
- A professional development table for graduate students and emerging scholars, details TBA.
- Up to TWO OI Coffeehouse Fellowships focused on helping scholars find and build community as they research and write.
How the OI Coffeehouse Fellowships will work
Each OI Coffeehouse Fellow will receive $1000 for two semesters of regular meetings. At the end of the spring semester, each Fellow will deliver a 500-word blog post summarizing the highlights from the past year of meetings. The OI helps you promote your table and find participants as well as provides the meeting platform.
Interested in becoming an OI Coffeehouse Fellow? Submit the following by September 1
An abbreviated c.v. plus a one-page plan to run a weekly Coffeehouse. The plan should include your proposed area of research as well as thoughts on format and audience.
Format: The format is up to you—Reading group with pre-circulated pieces? Writing group where participants take turns presenting works in progress? A combination of both? Something else altogether? —but you must be clear in your proposal how you plan to run the sessions.
Audience: Please be clear who your intended audience is—for example, do you envision working only with people who are working on their second books? Or are you hoping to connect with people teaching courses on a particular period or area? Or are you hoping to bring together emerging scholars interested in a particular area of interest? Or another group altogether? — again, the choice is yours but please tell us who you want to reach.
Send your c.v. and proposal to us at oieahc@wm.edu by September 1.