The Trials of Madame Restell: Nineteenth-Century America's Most Infamous Female Physician and the Campaign to Make Abortion a Crime

Madame Restell (1811-1878) was the most famous abortion provider and female physician in nineteenth-century America, so much so that "Restellism" became a synonym for abortion.  Nicholas Syrett, author of The Trials of Madame Restell: Nineteenth-Century America's Most Infamous Female Physician and the Campaign to Make Abortion a Crime (2023), reflects on Restell's life, placing it alongside the history of the criminalization of abortion in the United States.

Digital Antiquarian

The American Antiquarian Society is launching a new initiative with a conference and workshop to explore critical, historical, and practical challenges of archival research and access, offering project-based development and discussion focused on the AAS’s unparalleled holdings in pre-1876 books, manuscripts, newspapers, and graphic arts. The Digital Antiquarian conference and workshop are presented by the AAS, with generous support from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Becoming Lunsford Lane: The Lives of an American Aeneas

Lunsford Lane (1803-79) became a folk hero to many enslaved Southerners, as well as a generation of abolitionists, when he challenged the rules of enslavement and, later, pushed the boundaries of free citizenship in North Carolina.  As the author of a unique “slave narrative” and speaking partner with some of the era’s greatest orators, including William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Highland Garnett, William Wells Brown, and Frederick Douglass, Lane became a celebrity. Gradually, however, the persona he created faltered and his influence waned.

Published by the Author: Self-Publication in Nineteenth-Century African American Literature

Bryan Sinche discusses his 2024 book, Published by the Author: Self-Publication and Nineteenth Century African American Literature , which focuses on a host of Black writers who bypassed white gatekeepers and editors by self-publishing their life stories. Based on extensive research and brimming with new discoveries, Published by the Author recovers a number of long-forgotten authors and shows how they capitalized on the economic and social possibilities of authorship and bookselling.

Material Religion: Objects, Images, Books

Scholars of religion have taken a material turn, delving into the study of images, objects, monuments, buildings, books, spaces, performances, and sounds. What do these inquiries look like in the context of early America, and how did religious materialities shape early American worlds? The goal of this seminar is to explore this area’s exciting archives, theories, and methods, enabling participants to bring together religion and materiality in their own work in fresh ways.

Material Religion: Objects, Images, Books

2023 CHAViC-PHBAC Summer Seminar

Scholars of religion have taken a material turn, delving into the study of images, objects, monuments, buildings, books, spaces, performances, and sounds. What do these inquiries look like in the context of early America, and how did religious materialities shape early American worlds? The goal of this seminar is to explore this area’s exciting archives, theories, and methods, enabling participants to bring together religion and materiality in their own work in fresh ways.

Like Children: Black Prodigy and the Measure of the Human in America

In this virtual program, Camille Owens draws from her book, Like Children: Black Prodigy and the Measure of the Human in America (2024) and nineteenth-century archives to present new insights into Black childhood.  Highlighting examples of Black children’s performances, cultural representations, and labor in the 1800s, Owens illustrates how Black children were used in the construction of white childhood, in the empowerment of white men, and in the measure of the human—and explores what it means for the study of American childhood to recognize Black children at its center.