Noted historian Linda Colley of Princeton University will deliver the 2016 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Lecture: “Word Power and Power in the World: Printing Written Constitutions after 1776,” on Tuesday May 3. The lecture will begin at 4 p.m. in the auditorium of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. A reception will follow.
The lecture is free and open to the public, but space is limited. An RSVP to May3RSVP@virginia.edu is requested.
Word Power and Power in the World: Printing Written Constitutions after 1776
Just like novels, the new constitutions that spread throughout the world after 1776 were not just written, but printed and published. What sort of work did constitution writers want print to accomplish? What were the consequences of this explosion and diffusion of constitutional print? And how far did it serve to limit as well as encourage access to new ideas about politics, rights, and law? In this lecture, Linda Colley examines the evidence.
About Linda Colley
Linda Colley CBE, FBA, FRSL, FRHistS, is a leading historian who specializes in Britain, empire, and nationalism. Her books include In Defiance of Oligarchy: The Tory Party 1714-1760 (1982), Namier (1982), Captives: Britain, Empire and the World 1600-1850 (2002), and The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History (2007), which was named by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year. Her third book, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837 (1992) won the Wolfson History Prize. Her work has been translated into ten languages.
In 2014, Linda Colley was listed by The Sunday Times as one of the 100 most
influential Britons.
Her most recent work is Acts of Union and Disunion, a 15-part BBC Radio 4 series and book about what has held the United Kingdom together—and what might drive it apart. She also writes regularly on history, politics, and art for newspapers and magazines; including The Guardian, London Review of Books, New York Review of Books, and New Republic. She has served on the Board of the British Library, the Council of Tate Gallery of British Art, the Advisory Board of the Yale Center of British Art, and been a Trustee of Princeton University Press.
She is currently the Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University. She previously held Chairs in history at Yale University and the London School of Economics, and she was the first woman Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge University.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Lectures
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series is a collaborative effort between the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, the University of Virginia Library, and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Chair in the Corcoran Department of History at the University. The lecture was established to bring to the University eminent scholars whose research will provide fresh insights into topics related to Jefferson.