World and Ground

Twelve scholars in early American history and culture presented papers on subjects ranging from the history of slavery to the development of capitalism at the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute’s (EMSI) 12th annual conference. Titled “World and Ground: New Early American Histories,” the conference was held March 6-7 on the USC University Park campus

“The conference theme, “World and Ground,” refers to studies that use close, on-the-ground analyses of particular places or events to interrogate or illuminate larger interpretative paradigms, such as the Atlantic World, the rise of the nation-state, and the spread of early modern empires,” said Peter Mancall, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities and Linda and Harlan Martens Director of EMSI.

The conference attracted over 50 scholars, including faculty members and Ph.D. students from USC Dornsife and other area institutions as well as long-term fellows at the Huntington Library. The conference marks EMSI’s 1,000th scholarly presentation since its founding in 2003. The idea for the event sprang from EMSI’s annual workshop that meets each May at The Huntington Library in conjunction with the William and Mary Quarterly, the leading journal in early American history and culture. This partnership began in 2004 and has led to ten articles in the Quarterly.

“We thought this would be a good time to step back and assess the field more broadly,” said Mancall, professor of history and anthropology, and vice dean for the humanities. “We invited scholars whose work is at the cutting edge of early American history. The idea was to cut across topics and regions by using ‘world-and-ground’ methodology.”

According to Mancall, the broad geographical reach of the papers submitted confirmed that what used to be the focus of early American history — the 13 colonies along the Atlantic coast — has expanded to include the Southwest, Canada, and the Caribbean.  One scholar even included Mauritius in her paper.

The conference speakers will contribute their essays to a peer-reviewed volume titled “World and Ground” to be published by a leading academic press.

Other topics covered during the conference included the history of slavery, the development of colonial forts, antiquarian collecting practices and legal history. Rather than looking at localized studies to understand one area, the conference examined what a particular place can tell us about other general patterns, Mancall said. One example was a case study of Boston that enabled participants to examine how capitalism emerged in North America.

Participants were entertained with musical performances of historic music by USC Thornton School of Music students and alumni, including 18th-century sea shanties and a pirate ballad.

In his opening remarks Mancall shared some of EMSI’s successes over the last 12 years: a postdoctoral fellows program that has resulted in six fellows securing tenure-track faculty positions; the University of Pennsylvania book series called “The Early Modern Americas,” for which Mancall has edited 10 volumes; partnerships with The Huntington and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture at the College of William and Mary; and an annual series of concerts in collaboration with the USC Thornton School of Music.

“EMSI is where it is today because of the wonderful support we have received from USC Dornsife, The Huntington, The Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Linda and Harlan Martens, who endowed the director’s chair, and former faculty member Carole Shammas” Mancall said. “We didn’t do this on our own. We did it with a huge amount of support from a lot of people. It really does take a village.”