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Uncommon Sense

PublicationsBlog
By Nadine Zimmerli and Kathy Burdette January 04, 2017

Finding Calm amidst Chaos, or, Zen and the Art of Conference Attendance

With the 2017 meeting of the American Historical Association convening this week in Denver, Associate Editor of Books Nadine Zimmerli and Senior Project Editor Kathy Burdette share their thoughts on the experience of the fabled exhibit hall from the perspective of the exhibitors. NADINE: Ask anyone in our profession about attending AHA, and your query will… Read More

conferences 11 min read
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By Karin Wulf January 02, 2017

Report from #VastEarlyAmerica, 2017

Welcome to 2017, where the past is always urgent.  There are times when the present and future seem like all we can handle, but to paraphrase Santayana repeating the past is not the real danger of neglecting history.  It is that our understanding or misunderstanding of history is always, explicitly or implicitly, even when it’s out of our direct… Read More

#VastEarlyAmerica 4 min read
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By Gabriel Cervantes December 21, 2016

Clarifying the purposely obscure

Today’s post comes courtesy of Gabriel Cervantes, author of “Learning from Stephen Burroughs: Republication and the Making of a Literary Book in the Early United States” in the October 2016 issue of the William and Mary Quarterly.   by Gabriel Cervantes When I first started working on Stephen Burroughs’s Memoirs, I realized that the narrative uses poetry in clever ways. Read More

WMQ 7 min read
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By Martha Howard December 14, 2016

ICYMI: Doing History "To the Revolution!" sneak peek!

We are excited to announce a second year of collaboration with Liz Covart, creator of Ben Franklin’s World, in 2017. Together we bring you Doing History: To the Revolution! Professor Mary Beth Norton kicked off the season early with a sneak peek yesterday. Building on her recent article in the William and Mary Quarterly, Professor Norton asks… Read More

Doing History 2 min read
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By Paul W. Mapp December 07, 2016

The Year in Publications

Today’s post comes from our interim Editor of Books, Paul W. Mapp. From an editor’s point of view, and, I suspect, from the reading public’s point of view, the exciting feature of 2016 for the Books program here at the Institute was the publication of a good number of excellent titles. Equally heartening are the numerous and strong volumes… Read More

books 10 min read
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By Karin Wulf December 06, 2016

Pay it Forward: The OI’s Digital Collections Fellowship

by Karin Wulf   It’s clear that #VastEarlyAmerica includes not only an expansive conceptual, geographical, and chronological scope, but also new and exciting methodologies. The possibilities for doing digital historical scholarship, from research to publication platforms, have expanded exponentially over the last decade; I find this a tremendously encouraging sign about the vitality and future of our field. I… Read More

digital projects 5 min read
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By Josh Piker December 02, 2016

R/O?

Today’s post is from Josh Piker, Editor of the William and Mary Quarterly.  There are certain little things about the Quarterly that I will never be able to change.  Some of those—like the journal’s cover—I wouldn’t change if I could.  Of course, Karin Wulf has made it very clear that, forced to choose between the journal’s cover and its Editor,… Read More

WMQ 9 min read
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By Rachel Banke November 15, 2016

Garter Day in the Archives

Today, Georgian Papers Programme fellow Rachel Banke writes about her experience while conducting research in the Georgian archives at Windsor Castle’s Round Tower. Applications for the next round of GPP fellowships are due February 20, 2017. Scholars at all levels—graduate students, junior and senior faculty, and independent scholars of all ages—are eligible for the award. Apply here. Read More

Georgian Papers Programme 5 min read
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By Christopher Heaney November 09, 2016

Jamestown, Peru?

Today’s post comes from Christopher Heaney, Assistant Professor, Penn State, 2016-2018 Barra Postdoctoral Fellow, McNeil Center for Early American Studies, and WMQ author (October).   “Do we really need a ‘Peruvian Atlantic’ … ?” asked Reader B. For the sake of my argument, I couldn’t help but agree. The original subtitle of what became my essay in this fall’s issue of the… Read More

#VastEarlyAmerica 9 min read
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By Samuel Fisher November 02, 2016

The Notes You Don’t Play

Some Reflections on Vastness and the Word Count by Samuel Fisher, WMQ author (October 2016) I suppose it’s safe to say that the vastness of early America is a bit of a preoccupation in these parts. Big, expansive frameworks are the norm now; that much we know. The hard part comes when we try to actually put them to… Read More

WMQ 8 min read
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By Josh Piker October 19, 2016

My First Issue

I have been Editor for over two years, and I’ve yet to publish my first issue. I don’t like to rush into things. April 2016’s issue has been out for over five months now, but that wasn’t my first issue. For those of you in the northern hemisphere, July 2016’s issue arrived in your mailbox just as the heady… Read More

WMQ 12 min read
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By Martha Howard October 12, 2016

Summing up 3 days of discussion on slavery

The “Region and Nation in American Histories of Race and Slavery” conference took place at Mount Vernon, Virginia, this past weekend (October 6-9, 2016) before a crowd of over 125 people. With over three days of panels and papers as stimulation, the discussions were intense, long, and fruitful. Here a tiny smattering of the 1000+ tweets (#SlaveryMV) tells the… Read More

conferences 1 min read
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