By Gautham Rao This article was the result of a moment of enormous luck. I can remember exactly where I was when it happened: Saturday, April 11, 2015, in the lobby of the Massachusetts Historical Society, somewhere between 10:30 and 10:45 in the morning, in between sessions at the wonderful conference, “‘So Sudden an Alteration’: The Causes,… Read More »
By Matthew Dziennik “New York’s Refugees and Political Authority in Revolutionary America,” WMQ (Jan. 2020) began with an intellectual humbling. It came at a brown bag at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation where I was presenting on my research. I laid out my argument in the clearest terms – the revolutionary committees of safety were fundamental to American independence but they were also oppressive organizations that limited the creation of free and open society. They… Read More »
By Ali MacDonald Last month I took a day out of my research trip to visit George IV: Art & Spectacle, currently on display at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace (Nov 15, 2019 – May 3, 2020). In a sense this exhibition seeks to rehabilitate our long-standing conception of George as a bad son, bad father,… Read More »
We are delighted to announce that the Virginia Consortium of Early Americanists (VCEA) will hold its annual meeting on Saturday, January 25th, 2020. Our good friends at the University of Richmond will serve as our hosts for what promises to be another exciting day of conversation and scholarship. Please find below the program for this year’s… Read More »
by Liz Covart On November 29, 1773, a group of concerned Bostonians met in Boston’s Old South Meeting House to discuss how to deal with the ships just arrived from London laden with tea to be sold by the East India Company under the terms of Great Britain’s Tea Act. The act sought to accomplish three objectives.… Read More »
As the fall semester at W&M winds to a close, we at the Omohundro Institute are particularly grateful for the work of the OI Editorial Apprentices. The decades-long program introduces entering graduate students to the practices of scholarly publishing and historical editing. Each year, students participate in two weeks of full-time training in August, followed… Read More »
by Janine Yorimoto Boldt “My Will is that none of the Pictures of what Sort Soever be Removed out of my Dwelling Hall.” With those words, Henry Custis (ca. 1677-1733) of Northampton County, Virginia clearly stated his intention that the family portraits (and any other pictures) should remain with his house in perpetuity. Custis would… Read More »