CALL FOR PAPERS: "1775: A Society on the Brink of War and Revolution, April 10-11, 2025"

The Concord Museum, the David Center for the American Revolution at the American Philosophical Society, and the Massachusetts Historical Society will hold a conference on April 10-11, 2025 on the theme “1775”. The conference will be convened at the Concord Museum and marks the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord. There will be opportunities for attendees to visit historic sites and view objects and collections significant to the Revolution.

Proposals are due October 15, 2024. More information and CFP here.

^{Image: A View from the Town of Concord, by Timothy Martin Minot. Massachusetts, about 1825. Concord Museum Collection, Bequest of Mrs. Stedman Buttrick, Sr.; Pl414.}

The David Center for the American Revolution integrates the collections of the David Library with that of the APS to create a one-stop-shop for the study of the American Revolution.

The David Library collections consist of approximately 8,000 volumes, 9,000 reels of microfilm, and the large Sol Feinstone manuscript collection. The Sol Feinstone Collection, a rich collection of letters and documents, was assembled by DLAR Founder Sol Feinstone (1888-1980) over a period of fifty years. It includes material on almost all notable Americans from before the Revolution to the 1850s, as well as prominent Europeans and documents relating to military affairs. There are substantial groups of letters from: John Adams, Henry Dearborn, Alexander Hamilton, Jedidiah Huntington, Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette, George Washington, and a long run of letters from a Massachusetts military surgeon named Samuel Adams. Many letters, though written by revolutionary figures, relate to events that occurred before or after the War.

This adds to the APS Library's Early American History Collections, which are particularly strong for the period from 1750 to 1840. In addition to the Benjamin Franklin Papers and the Thomas Paine Collection, the APS has a wide assortment of documents from the revolutionary era. Among these are official government documents and correspondence, military records that range from the Continental Army to Pennsylvania county records, and personal correspondence from various historical actors. Notable collections of correspondence include the Nathanael Greene Papers, the Peale-Sellers Family Collection, the Richard Henry Lee Papers, and the William Temple Franklin Papers. 

Of particular note is the record of the American missions to Europe during the American Revolution. The William Temple Franklin Papers, the Arthur Lee Collection, the Benjamin Franklin Papers, and the Benjamin Franklin Bache collections provide a nearly complete window into America’s diplomatic maneuverings in Europe during the American Revolution. 

Brendan McConville (Co-Chair), Professor of History, Boston University and member of the David Library's Board of Trustees

Katherine Grandjean, Associate Professor of History, Wellesley College

Patrick Griffin, the Madden-Hennebry Professor at the University of Notre Dame

Woody Holton, the McCausland Professor of History at the University of South Carolina

Jack Rakove, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies, Stanford University

R. Scott Stephenson, President and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution

The David Center regularly holds a variety of programs including international conferences, monthly seminars, public lectures, family and adult programming, and major exhibitions inspired by the Sol Feinstone Collection. Stay up to date on upcoming David Center programs here.

The next David Center Conference will be held at the Concord Museum on April 10-11, 2025 on "1775: A Society on the Brink of War and Revolution." Call for papers is here.

Past Conferences and Workshops

July 2024: "The Origins of Revolution: 250th Anniversary of the Fairfax Resolves Papers," at George Mason's Gunston Hall and the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon

December 2023: "Empire and its Discontent, 1763-1773," at Massachusetts Historical Society

October 2021: "Meanings of Independence" at American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, PA

The David Center Seminar is a forum for works-in-progress that explore topics in the era of the American Revolution (1750-1820), which meets roughly once a month on Wednesdays from 3:00-4:30 p.m. ET during the Fall and Spring semesters. All meetings in 2024-2025 will be held on Zoom. The seminar strives to create a collegial environment that will bring together scholars of the era from throught the world to support fellow colleagues' work, share knowledge, and advance scholarship.

2024-2025 David Center Seminar Schedule

September 25, 2024: Justin Clark, "The Post-Revolutionary Credit Crisis and the Triumph of Market Time"

October 30, 2024: Susan Branson, "Sheep Too Good To Eat: Merino Influenza and the Promotion of Economic Development in the Early Republic"

December 4, 2024: Chloe Chapin, "'The Simple Dress of an American Citizen': Fashioning the American Revolution"

February 12, 2025: C. David Carlson, “Transatlantic Finance Networks and American Development in the Early Republic"

March 12, 2025: Ben Remillard, "Friends, Brothers, and Citizens: The Revolutionary War Veterans of Color Who Shaped the Early Republic"

May 7, 2025: Ross Nedervelt, "British Security and American Sovereignty in Revolutionary Border-sea Spaces, 1783-1815"

The David Center for the American Revolution is a proud sponsor of America2026–a four-year collaborative program of scholarly events, publications and resources centred on the histories and memories of the American Revolution in comparative European and transatlantic perspective.

As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its independence in 2026, America2026 aims to uncover, map, and analyse the networks and exchanges connecting the actors, the ideas and the legacies of the American Revolution across the Atlantic Ocean, from the mid-eighteenth century through the 1820s and in the present day. It seeks to fully contribute to the debates and the cultural and academic productions that will accompany this commemorative moment and lead to critical reviews of the study of the American Revolution.

Based in France, this program connects senior and junior researchers from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States for a series of academic conferences and collective publications, an exhibition, and an upcoming improved and interactive website, which will host information about events and networks as well as resources about the changing meaning of 1776.  

For the most up-to-date information, sign up for their newsletter here:
https://www.america2026.eu/contact

The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon (GWPL) and AMERICA2026.eu are thrilled to announce a new fellowship program to facilitate the greater international exchange of scholars studying the era of the American Revolution.
In 2024, the GWPL has special travel fellowship funds available for scholars who are interested in either presenting at or have a reason to attend and participate in one of the following conferences AMERICA2026.edu is hosting.

These conferences are:
- May 16-17 in Normandy, "New Perspectives on French and American Revolutionary Constitutions"
- November 13-14 in Toulouse, "American Politics and the Memory of the Revolution (18th-21st centuries)"

Please submit any questions about the program to [email protected]. For more information on America2026.eu please visit their website.  For more on the George Washington Presidential Library and its other fellowship offerings and events, please visit: https://www.mountvernon.org/library/.