The William & Mary Quarterly-EMSI Workshop series is designed to identify and encourage new trends in our understanding of the history and culture of early North America. It fosters intellectual exchange among scholars working on thematically related topics that may be chronologically, geographically, or methodologically diverse. The participants are primarily mature scholars working on second or subsequent book projects; they share their works in progress with the aim of deepening and enriching their perspectives, their approaches, and ultimately the final products of their research.

Convened by Alison Frazier Games, Dorothy M. Brown Distinguished Professor of History at Georgetown University, the 2026 WMQ-EMSI Workshop theme is "Global Early America before 1700." 

Was there a global early America? Atlantic approaches to early America have become commonplace, as have perspectives rooted in ideas about "vast" early America, yet little scholarship has sought to situate early America in a global context. Is such a context useful? What might illuminate it about the history of early America before 1700? This WMQ-EMSI Workshop invites scholars in history and related disciplines to explore these questions from a diverse array of methodological and geographic perspectives. 

Please check back soon for more information about the workshop.