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By Kevin Butterfield September 26, 2018

OI History: Tales from Former Apprentices, Part 4

As part of our seventy-fifth anniversary, we at the Omohundro Institute continue to reflect on what makes our institution such a special place. One of those things is our Apprenticeship in Historical Editing. Today’s guest post comes from former apprentice Kevin Butterfield who is now the Executive Director of the Fred W. Smith National Library for the… Read More

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By Holly White September 05, 2018

OI History: The Past and Present of the OI’s Apprenticeship in Historical Editing

As part of our seventy-fifth anniversary, we at the Omohundro Institute continue to reflect on what makes our institution such a special place. One of those things is our Apprenticeship in Historical Editing. I was an apprentice from 2010–2011 and received my training from the managing editor of the William and Mary Quarterly, Erin Bendiner, and the managing editor… Read More

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By Sarah L. H. Gronningsater August 29, 2018

From "Eureka!" to footnotes

This post comes to us from Sarah L. H. Gronningsater (University of Pennsylvania), author of “‘Expressly Recognized by Our Election Laws’: Certificates of Freedom and the Multiple Fates of Black Citizenship in the Early Republic” in the July 2018 issue of the William and Mary Quarterly. She responds to the question How does your essay in the WMQ relate to your larger… Read More

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By Matthew Mulcahy and Stuart Schwartz August 08, 2018

Short answer: what to do with 5,000 more words

Today’s post, by July 2018 WMQ authors Matthew Mulcahy and Stuart Schwartz, authors of “Nature’s Battalions,” comes in response to the following question: “WMQ articles are capped at 10,000 words (plus notes). If you had 5,000 more words to play with, how would the article be different?” by Matthew Mulcahy and Stuart Schwartz Our article “Nature’s Battalions” was born out of our… Read More

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By oieahc July 25, 2018

Meet the 2018 Scholars' Workshop

The 2018 Scholars’ Workshop convened at the Omohundro Institute on July 2. Each summer up to eight untenured scholars gather for two weeks to work both as a group and individually with OI editors and staff on either a manuscript chapter or a journal article in progress. The weeks include seminar-style meetings on conceptual development, manuscript editing, and source… Read More

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By Alyssa Mt. Pleasant, Caroline Wigginton, and Kelly Wisecup June 15, 2018

Collaboration can't be rushed

Today’s post comes courtesy of authors from the William and Mary Quarterly April 2018 Forum “Materials and Methods in Native American and Indigenous Studies: Completing the Turn.” by Alyssa Mt. Pleasant, Caroline Wigginton, and Kelly Wisecup The forum is the result of a multi-year collaboration between three editors, not all of whom had worked together before or even met in person. Read More

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By Alejandra Dubcovsky May 23, 2018

Thoughts on writing for the WMQ-EAL forum

Today’s post is by Alejandra Dubcovsky, author of “Defying Indian Slavery: Apalachee Voices and Spanish Sources in the Eighteenth-Century Southeast” in the April 2018 issue of the William and Mary Quarterly. The April issue is part of a forum, “Materials and Methods in Native American and Indigenous Studies” published in collaboration with Early American Literature.  I thought doing a forum would… Read More

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By Nadine Zimmerli May 03, 2018

Atomic Bonds

By Nadine Zimmerli, Associate Editor, Books My job continues to surprise and delight. The most unexpected and fascinating email I received last year contained the following attachment, courtesy of Cameron Strang, whose OI book Frontiers of Science comes out this summer: This card connects one Institute to another: issued by the library of the Institute for… Read More

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By oieahc March 15, 2018

Further Thoughts on Douglas Winiarski's Bancroft Prize-winning Book

This week we were thrilled to learn that Douglas L. Winiarski’s Darkness Falls on the Land of Light: Experiencing Religious Awakenings in Eighteenth-Century New England (OI and UNCP, 2017) was one of three books awarded the 2018 Bancroft Prize. This sweeping history of popular religion in eighteenth-century New England is simultaneously magisterial in scope and carefully attuned… Read More

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By David Chan Smith February 22, 2018

On Fit and Frame

Today’s post is by David Chan Smith, author of “The Hudson’s Bay Company, Social Legitimacy, and the Political Economy of Eighteenth-Century Empire” in the January 2018 edition of the William and Mary Quarterly.  The six reviewers! This was my first thought when asked how my article on the political economy of empire had changed from its initial submission… Read More

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By Jeffrey Glover September 06, 2017

Framing Early American Scholarship

In today’s post, Jeffrey Glover, author of “Witnessing African War: Slavery, the Laws of War, and Anglo-American Abolitionism” in the July 2017 edition of the William and Mary Quarterly, reflects on what it means to frame an article.  I was surprised by the readers’ and editor’s reports on my submission to William and Mary Quarterly. I was not surprised by how… Read More

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By Matthew Kruer August 30, 2017

Emotional Subjects, Big and Small

Today’s post comes from Matthew Kruer, author of “Bloody Minds and Peoples Undone: Emotion, Family, and Political Order in the Susquehannock–Virginia War” in the July issue of the William and Mary Quarterly.  Early Americanists are thinking big these days. When, in early 2016, Karin Wulf introduced[1] the twitter hashtag #VastEarlyAmerica and Josh Piker advocated[2] that “early… Read More

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