The Fifth Sons of the American Revolution Annual Conference on the American Revolution
Women in the Era of the American Revolution
Colonial Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
June 20-22, 2014
The Sons of the American Revolution and Colonial Williamsburg, with support from the Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture, invite proposals for papers to be presented at a conference that will examine and reconsider our understanding of the lives of women during a time of political and economic upheaval, social change, and armed conflict that we call the “era of the American Revolution.”
Papers may examine any dimension of women’s lives and gender roles at this time. During a period of significant disruptions in daily life and changed expectations of what a woman’s place in a marriage, the household, and the community “ought” to be, they assumed multiple roles. They displayed patriotism by supporting boycotts of British goods and encouraging manufacturing at home; they raised funds to feed and clothe the troops; they supported the family by managing the farm or family business while a husband fought; some followed the armies in supporting roles; and some were soldiers. Others remained loyal to the British crown. Over these years, they wrote poetry, essays, plays, and fiction, exchanged letters with family members and friends, and kept journals. These records, public and private, yield countless stories that allow us to construct a fuller, more complex, narrative of the period.
The papers should explore in the broadest sense the war’s impact on women’s lives. They may focus on individuals or women as a group, and they need not be strictly confined to the years between the Stamp Act and the Treaty of Paris. The topics may reach back into the colonial era or up into the early nineteenth century as long as they demonstrate a connection to the events of the Revolution. We anticipate that the conference will provide an opportunity and a congenial forum in which to recognize and build upon the pioneering scholarship of generations of historians and at the same time we hope that it will stimulate new research by junior scholars. The resulting conversations and debates will contribute to the critical ongoing effort to understand women’s lives and experiences during the era of the American Revolution.
Publication of accepted papers in an edited volume is anticipated. The SAR will cover presenters’ travel and lodging expenses and offer a $500 honorarium.
Proposals should include a 250-word abstract and a short C.V. and must be submitted by December 1, 2013, to Barbara Oberg (boberg@Princeton.edu), Department of History, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544.
This conference will be dedicated to Pauline Maier (1938-2013), a leading scholar of the American Revolution and the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of American History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.