Regional Seminar on Early American History March 2015 Meeting

The Missouri Regional Seminar on Early American History met for the second time this spring on March 27, 2015, at Cafe Napoli in downtown Clayton, MO. Led by interlocutor and MRSEAH co-convener Prof. Kenneth Owen (University of Illinois-Springfield), participants discussed a chapter from Northwestern University Assistant Prof. of History Caitlin Fitz’s forthcoming book manuscript entitled, “The Inter-American Origins of the Democratic Party.” Seminar attendees included faculty and graduate students from the University of Missouri, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, and Washington University, as well as Missouri Council on the Humanities Executive Director Steve Belko.

The Missouri Regional Seminar on Early American History is a new initiative sponsored by the Kinder Forum that provides scholars working on topics related to pre-1900 American history with an opportunity to share and discuss their current work with members of the academic community in and around the Midwest. The seminar is held twice per academic semester, rotating between Columbia and St. Louis, MO, and follows a workshop format, with organizers circulating the work to be discussed in advance of the meeting.

More information about future meetings of the MRSEAH, including a call for papers for Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 seminars, will be posted on the Kinder Forum website in June.

Caitlin Fitz received her Ph.D. in History from Yale University in 2010, and currently serves as Assistant Professor of History at Northwestern University. Prof. Fitz’s current book manuscript, Our Sister Republics: The United States in an Age of American Revolutions, is currently under contract with W.W. Norton/Liveright, and she has published articles in the Journal of American History, Journal of the Early Republic, and Civil War History, among others.