Hi everyone! Hope you are all braving the cold weather we are having here in Worcester — it seems winter came a bit early! Luckily, I’ve been staying warm and spending most of my time in the library starting research for three major projects at the end of this semester. One of these is for my seminar at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, which I am profiling today!
Every fall, the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) offers an “American Studies” seminar for Worcester college students. This fall, the topic is “Pirates in Early America” and we are led by our wonderful Prof. Wilson from Connecticut College. There are only five of us in the class — and all girls! Each week, we are able to look at primary sources that are particularly relevant to our reading and talk to one of the amazing curators at AAS. I have really enjoyed being able to dive so deeply into one topic and have the opportunity to see so many interesting primary sources!
At the end of the semester, each of us will present and write a 20ish page paper on some topic relating to pirates, primarily using the sources available through AAS. Most exciting, the AAS will archive our papers to keep in their records — not quite being published, but very close! I am writing on the role of song both as it actually was on pirate ships and as the public imagined it to be, combining both my history and music majors into one project. While I still have some research to do, I am enjoying working with the American Antiquarian Society and I am excited to present on my topic at the end of the semester.
That’s it for this class profile on AAS. Check back in soon for news on the orchestra concert this week and Thanksgiving!
