Conference | New Republic, New Worlds
From Colonial Williamsburg:
New Republic, New Worlds
Fifth and final meeting of the ‘For 2026’ Project
Williamsburg, 23–24 October 2026
Hosted by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture, and William & Mary
The American Revolution forged a new nation out of thirteen British colonies, triggering a host of predictable and unexpected consequences. This conference will explore the novel circumstances, challenges, and opportunities of the transitional era that followed victory in the War for American Independence. What were the fresh constitutional and political structures fueled by the Revolution, and what were the possibilities in play then and after? How were families, communities, boundaries, and environments changed in the new era? What were the ambitions of this new nation, and what do we now know about how diverse communities assessed its prospects? How did the various peoples within its borders and beyond respond to this new moment?
New Republic, New Worlds, the final meeting of the five-year For 2026 project, brings into conversation scholarly and public-facing research exploring the far-reaching effects of the American Revolution. It will take place October 23–24, 2026, at the William & Mary School of Education and at Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia. Daytime programs will take place on the campus of William & Mary and throughout the Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg, with two evening plenaries open to the public with no pre-registration required. Full conference registration information will be available by September.
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e v e n i n g p l e n a r i e s
The Friday and Saturday evening plenaries are free and open to the public. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, and the recorded programs will be available online on both William & Mary and Colonial Williamsburg supported pages following the event.
Ronald Johnson | Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and
Atlantic Diplomacy during the American Revolution
Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, 23 October 2026, 5pm (doors open at 4:30)
Dr. Ronald Angelo Johnson is the 2026–2027 Mellon Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the American Antiquarian Society and the Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Professor of History at Baylor University. He is the author two books: Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy during the American Revolution (Cornell University Press, 2025) and Diplomacy in Black and White: John Adams, Toussaint Louverture, and Their Atlantic World Alliance (UGA Press, 2014). He co-edited the volume In Search of Liberty: African American Internationalism in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World (UGA Press, 2021). His current book manuscript We Are All Equal: Turmoil and Triumph in the Early United States and Revolutionary Haiti is under contract with Princeton University Press.
Kathleen DuVal | The American Revolution and the Survival of Native Nations
Muscarelle Museum of Art, Williamsburg, 24 October 2026, 5pm (doors open at 4:30)
The American Revolution brought unprecedented challenges to Indigenous lives, land, and sovereignty in North America. Yet we can also tell the past 250 years of Native history as the story of surviving the creation of the United States. Focusing on Native history can help us put the American Revolution in the longer context of North America’s long past, present, and future.
Dr. Kathleen DuVal is the Carl W. Ernst Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and the author of Native Nations: A Millennium in North America, which won the Pulitzer Prize, the Bancroft Prize, the Mark Lynton History Prize, and the Cundill History Prize. Her other books include Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution, The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent, and the U.S. history textbook Give Me Liberty!, co-authored with Eric Foner and Lisa McGirr. DuVal has published in the William and Mary Quarterly, the Journal of the Early Republic, The Atlantic, Time Magazine, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. She also appeared in the recent Ken Burns film, The American Revolution.
New at Williamsburg | Campbell Archaeology Center
The center opened earlier this year; from the press release (17 April 2026) . . . .
The Colin G. and Nancy N. Campbell Archaeology Center opened to the public on Saturday, April 25. The center boasts 40,000 square feet of collection, research, and education space dedicated to advancing archaeological research and deepening public engagement with Williamsburg’s rich history. Visiting the Campbell Archaeology Center is free and open to the public. Once the center is fully operational, visitors can immerse themselves in archaeologists’ daily work, including behind-the-scenes views of the laboratories and other facilities that help researchers uncover new aspects of Williamsburg’s—and America’s—history.
“We believe Colonial Williamsburg will be able to offer a one-of-a-kind experience,” said Jack Gary, associate vice president of Historic Resources and Kahler family director of Archaeology at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. “So much of what we do as archaeologists goes unseen by the public. With the opening of the Campbell Archaeology Center, visitors will have the opportunity to engage with our process after we discover artifacts in the field and bring them into the lab for further examination.”
In addition to experiencing Colonial Williamsburg’s ongoing archaeological projects, visitors can view a selection of the Foundation’s extensive collection of artifacts on display throughout the center.
“Archaeology has played a pivotal role in Colonial Williamsburg’s first 100 years, from the discovery of many of the buildings that were recreated to recent revelations that enable us to learn about our nation’s history,” said Ron Hurst, Colonial Williamsburg’s chief mission officer. “The Campbell Archaeology Center brings our archaeology right to our visitors, allowing us to showcase our community-engaged approach and educate in a way we’ve never been able to do before.”
This tin-glazed earthenware basin, circa 1760, was excavated from the Thomas Everard House site. Virginia Royal Gov. Robert Dinwiddie was an investor in the Delftfield Pottery of Scotland where it was produced.
The Campbell Archaeology Center is unique in that it is dedicated solely to archaeology. Among the many highlights:
• An early 18th-century brick foundation viewed through a glass floor — The foundation of a building constructed around the time of the founding of Williamsburg was discovered by Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists and incorporated into the design of the new center.
• Wall of Wonder — A wide variety of more than 80 artifacts found in and around Williamsburg, including wine bottles, ceramics, and other items that show everyday life in 18th-century Williamsburg.
• Follow the ‘Squabbit’ — Is it a squirrel, is it a rabbit? It’s a ‘Squabbit’ (inspired by an artifact) that visitors can follow from lab to lab, helping them learn what happens as an artifact goes from the ground to washing to identification to analysis.
Colonial Williamsburg is the birthplace of historical archaeology, a subfield of archaeology that uses material culture to understand the development of the modern world. Decades of archaeological work in the Historic Area have resulted in one of the world’s largest archaeological collections of 17th-through-early-19th-century artifacts from colonial America. In addition to providing expanded storage facilities to properly steward this collection, the Campbell Archaeology Center includes classrooms, exhibition space, and a public archaeology teaching lab with room for visitors and community members to physically engage with artifacts.
“Even though Colonial Williamsburg has 100 years of artifacts, nearly 70% of the Historic Area has not been excavated in a modern way, meaning we have so much more to uncover and learn from,” Gary said. “This center enables us to be good stewards of the materials we excavate. What we have here—and will continue to unearth—is a national treasure, and now, we can provide the community with an emotional connection to our shared history.”
The Campbell Archaeology Center is one of the Foundation’s signature projects commemorating America’s 250th anniversary in 2026. The building, designed by the architecture firm of Clark Nexsen, will join several new sites on Nassau Street to help create a major visitor corridor to the Historic Area. The site of the Williamsburg Bray School, one of the earliest institutions dedicated to Black education in North America, opened to the public in 2025, and the African Baptist Meeting House, one of the first Black church congregations in the nation, will be dedicated in October 2026. Nearby, the Custis Square excavation site offers a self-guided tour that explores the life and opulent gardens of plantation owner John Custis IV.
Funding for the Colin G. and Nancy N. Campbell Archaeology Center was provided in part by a lead gift from the late Forrest E. Mars. Jr., former Colonial Williamsburg trustee and longtime donor, who chose the name in honor of the Campbells’ service to the institution. Colin Campbell, a chairman emeritus of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation who passed away in 2024, served as the organization’s president and CEO from 2000 to 2014, during which time he expanded the Foundation’s educational programs and increased its endowment. Nancy Campbell is chair emerita of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Together, the couple received The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s prestigious Churchill Bell Award in 2014.
Glass Gallery at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery Reopens
Now back on view at Bristol:
Elisa Ricci, “Refreshing the Glass Gallery,” Bristol Museum & Art Gallery News
(17 July 2026).
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery holds a world-class collection of glass, spanning from ancient times to the present day. The gallery has just reopened, having been refurbished using the existing display cases wherever possible, alongside the addition of a new case showcasing Roman, Persian, and Egyptian glass from the Bomford Collection. This three-year project has given new life to a gallery that had been affected by leaks and other structural issues. The redisplay features over 510 objects from the museum’s glass collection, including exciting new acquisitions such as works by Chris Day. The gallery also offers new interactive experiences, with digital displays, tactile objects, and opportunities to explore a range of topics connected to Bristol’s history. These include the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved African people, the working conditions of Bristol’s glassworkers in the 18th century, and the environmental impact of glass production.
We are deeply grateful for the support of the Friends of Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives, Giles Woodward, Bristol Museums Development Trust, the generous bequest of Sylvia Coppen-Gardner through the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society and Linda Wilson and Graham Mullan, all of whom helped make this project possible.
Elisa Ricci is Curator of Applied Art at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.
Exhibition | Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier: Rococo Goldsmith
Covered Tureen on Stand (Pot-à-oille), 1735–38, designed by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier and made by Pierre-François Bonnestrenne and Henry Adnet, silver (The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1977.182).
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Opening in October at The Cleveland Museum of Art:
Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier: Rococo Goldsmith in Focus
The Cleveland Museum of Art, 25 October 2026 — 14 March 2027
Curated by Ada de Wit
Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695–1750) was the most revolutionary forerunner of the Rococo style in the decorative arts. Multitalented with entrepreneurial skills, he worked for the French court and European nobility. Considered a genius goldsmith by his contemporaries, he was also a prolific designer and aspiring architect, seamlessly maneuvering between media and disciplines.
Born and trained in Turin, Italy, Meissonnier moved to Paris around 1715 to advance his career, although the conservative guild of Parisian goldsmiths made it practically impossible for newcomers to register as masters and open their own workshops. Meissonnier’s ambition, creativity, and determination in pursuing his desired career path are apparent from his work and limited biographical information and continue to resonate today.
Few of Meissonnier’s works survived political upheavals; the most celebrated is a silver tureen in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, made for the Duke of Kingston. A striking sculpture rather than a functional object, the tureen epitomizes the Rococo style with its movement, asymmetrical design, fluid unity of form and ornament, and elements inspired by nature. The tureen has recently undergone scientific analysis, which has provided new insights into its sophisticated creation process.
The catalogue is distributed by Yale UP:
Ada de Wit, ed., with additional contributions by Michèle Bimbenet-Privat, Beth Edelstein, Peter Fuhring, Alexandre Gady, and Colleen Snyder, Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier: Goldsmith, Designer, and Architect (Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2026), 160 pages, ISBN: 978-0300282306, $50.
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From the press release for the recent acquisition of a snuffbox (7 May 2026) . . .
Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, Gold Box, 1728–29, gold and lapis lazuli, 3 × 8.3 × 5.2 cm (The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2026.12).
The Cleveland Museum of Art has acquired an extraordinarily rare gold snuffbox made in Paris in 1728–29 by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier. Of exceptional art historical importance, the box is one of only five known objects in precious metals firmly associated with Meissonnier to have survived the political upheavals of subsequent centuries, during which works in gold and silver were frequently melted down. For many years, it was the only known work bearing the maker’s mark of Meissonnier, until the 2019 discovery of his mark on a gold mount for a rock crystal ewer belonging to Marie Antoinette, now in the Louvre. The snuffbox is distinguished as a work executed by Meissonnier himself, without the involvement of other master goldsmiths.
This acquisition significantly strengthens the museum’s Meissonnier collection and will play a central role in Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier: Rococo Goldsmith in Focus, an exhibition of the artist’s work, which opens at the CMA in October 2026. Notably, the object has never before been displayed in a museum.
“This important acquisition reinforces the museum’s standing as one of the world’s leading collections of 18th-century French decorative arts,” said the CMA’s Sarah S. and Alexander M. Cutler Director William M. Griswold. “It also strengthens our position as a preeminent center for the study and appreciation of Meissonnier’s work.”
“Meissonnier’s box is one of the most sophisticated works of art in our collection, whose extraordinary qualities can be fully appreciated only through close, in-person looking,” said Ada de Wit, the Ellen S. and Bruce V. Mavec Curator of Decorative Arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art. “This remarkable acquisition further enhances the CMA as a destination for both scholars and the broader public.”
The snuffbox was acquired through a private sale facilitated by the auction house Christie’s. The deputy chairman of Christie’s Department of European Furniture and Works of Art, Will Strafford, said: “We have a long and proud history of private sales to storied institutions such as the Cleveland Museum of Art and we are thrilled that this sublime masterpiece of the decorative arts has gone to such a worthy home; I have no doubt that this work amazes and delights visitors to the museum for generations to come.”
This Meissonnier box has long been regarded as among the finest of its kind and described as “an object in a class of its own.” It stands out from others due to its superior design and execution, the strong sense of movement achieved by its dynamic contour, its extraordinary level of detail, and the dramatic contrast of its gold and lapis lazuli materials. Together, these qualities position the box at the pinnacle of Meissonnier’s artistic achievement.
Small, ornate boxes such as this were used to hold snuff tobacco and functioned as highly personal luxury objects that conveyed the owner’s wealth, refinement, and social standing. Often exchanged as prestigious gifts, they were among the most sophisticated expressions of craftsmanship and design in 18th-century Europe.
The snuffbox also carries an important royal and modern history. It was made for the dowager Queen of Spain, Maria Anna of Neuburg, and bears her coat of arms alongside that of her late husband, Charles II. During World War II, it was looted by the Nazis from the collection of Parisian collector David David-Weill. The object was restituted to him in 1946 after passing through the Munich Central Collecting Point, administered by the Allied Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program.
Exhibition | These Truths: The Declarations of Independence
Now on view:
These Truths: The Declarations of Independence
American Philosophical Society Museum, Philadelphia, 10 April 2026 — 3 January 2027
These Truths: The Declarations of Independence explores how Americans used and reproduced the document during the first fifty years of its history.
At first it served as a pronouncement of news, later a political tool, and then transformed into a national symbol. The creation of the Declaration was a process, not an event, and its story is more complex than assumed. The many copies of the Declaration in the exhibition offer a reminder that the Declaration’s ‘truths’ were never static and each era reevaluated their meaning.
These Truths draws on the APS’s extensive Library and Museum holdings. Highlights of the exhibition include a first printing of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the chair Thomas Jefferson sat in while writing the Declaration of Independence, John Binns’ 1819 printing of the Declaration, and William James Stone’s 1823 printing of the Declaration.
Distributed by Penn Press:
David Gary, Emily Sneff, and Patrick Spero, These Truths: The Declarations of Independence (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society Press, 2026), 100 pages, ISBN: 9781606181744, $30.
Call for Submissions | Metropolitan Museum Journal
Metropolitan Museum Journal 62 (2027)
Submissions due by 15 September 2026
The Metropolitan Museum Journal publishes articles and research notes that contain original research on works of art in The Met’s collection. Works from The Met collection should be central to the discussion. Articles contribute extensive and thoroughly argued scholarship—art historical, technical, and scientific—whereas research notes are narrower in scope, focusing on a specific aspect of new research or presenting a significant finding from technical analysis, for example. The maximum length for articles is 8,000 words (including endnotes) and 10–12 images, and for research notes 4,000 words (including endnotes) and 4–6 images.
The process of peer review is double-anonymous. Manuscripts are reviewed by the Journal Editorial Board, composed of members of the curatorial, conservation, and scientific departments, as well as scholars from the broader academic community.
Articles and research notes in the Journal appear in print and online, and are accessible in JStor on the University of Chicago Press website. The deadline for submissions for Volume 62 (published in December 2027) is 15 September 2026. Submission guidelines are available here. Please send materials, as well as questions, to journalsubmissions@metmuseum.org.
New Book | The A–Z of Georgian London and Its Environs, 1746–47
From The London Topographical Society:
Sheila O’Connell and Laurence Worms, eds., with an introduction by John Montague, a checklist of Rocque’s London maps by Ashley Baynton-Williams, and an index by Roger Cline, The A–Z of Georgian London and Its Environs: John Rocque’s Maps, 1746–1747 (London: The London Topographical Society, 2026), 207 pages, £23.
This publication reproduces at about fifty per cent actual size John Rocque’s two great maps of London in the 1740s: the 24-sheet Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster and Borough of Southwark and the 16-sheet Exact Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, the Borough of Southwark with the Country near ten Miles round.
John Montague’s introduction tells the complex story of the development of the maps, incorporating new information on Rocque’s early life courtesy of Sandra Robinson. Roger Cline has produced an index of 6000 place names, over 250 places of worship, and sixty-four estates outside the urban centre.
New Books Network Podcast | City of the Gallows
Many of you will already know about the New Books Network, but if not, this conversation between Meredith Gamer and Kelsey Brosnan is a fine introduction! As described by the Wikipedia entry for the network:
The New Books Network (NBN) is a podcast network featuring interviews with scholars, researchers, and writers about their new books. Most of the books the NBN covers are non-fiction and published by university or independent scholarly presses. The mission of the NBN is public education. The NBN is the largest book-focused podcast enterprise in the world. It features over 130 ‘organic’ author-interview podcasts (“New Books in…”) produced in-house and over 100 ‘hosted’ podcasts produced by university presses, academic institutes, and scholars. The NBN publishes 70 episodes per week and has published over 30,000 episodes to date, all of which are permanently accessible for free on the NBN website. The NBN reaches 200,000 listeners monthly; those listeners download approximately one million episodes each month. . . .
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From the NBN website:
Podcast | Meredith Gamer, City of the Gallows, hosted by Kelsey Brosnan on the art channel of the New Books Network (27 July 2026), 62 minutes.
Meredith Gamer, City of the Gallows: Art and Execution in Eighteenth-Century London (London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2026) uncovers the complex and often unexpected connections between eighteenth-century London’s sites of punishment and its spaces of art-making, instruction, and display. Drawing together a wide range of images, objects, and texts—from popular woodcuts and anatomical sculptures to moral tracts and dictionaries of slang—it offers new readings of works by major artists, such as William Hogarth, Johan Zoffany, and Joseph Wright of Derby, and shines a light on others that traditional accounts of the period have overlooked or ignored. In doing so, this book shows how state violence shaped the art and visual culture of this era, whose legacies persist to this day.
Kelsey Brosnan is an art historian specializing in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French art. Her book on the still-life painter Anne Vallayer-Coster was published by Lund Humphries and Getty Publications in 2026.
The Chodowiecki 300 Project
Born on 16 October 1726, Chodowiecki turns 300 this year, as marked by various exhibitions, publications, and events, coordinated under The Chodowiecki 300 project:
Das Projekt Chodowiecki 300
The Chodowiecki 300 project brings together museums, libraries, and universities in Germany and Poland for a commemorative program. It offers a fresh experience of Chodowiecki’s work through exhibitions, research, and digital formats, opening up diverse ways to engage with one of the most significant artistic figures of the European Enlightenment.
Works by Daniel Chodowiecki (1726–1801) can be found in print collections across Poland, Germany, and many other countries. His renown endures, and his art continues to inspire. Many institutions are marking the artist’s 300th anniversary year by commemorating him in a wide variety of ways. The anniversary program is as diverse as the locations themselves: alongside ambitious retrospectives, thematic shows, and cabinet exhibitions, there are conferences, special tours, activities for children, and more. The non-profit Chodowiecki 300 project grew out of the conviction that these various initiatives complement one another beautifully, uniting offerings from the 22 project partners under one virtual roof.
Exhibition | Chodowiecki 300: Between Art and Faith
Now on view at the Huguenot Museum:
Chodowiecki 300: Zwischen Kunst und Konfession
Hugenottenmuseum, Berlin, 19 June — 25 October 2026
To mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of Daniel Chodowiecki (1726–1801), the Huguenot Museum Berlin presents the special exhibition Chodowiecki 300: Between Art and Congregation, highlighting the dynamic interplay between the celebrated artist’s acclaimed body of work and his deep roots in Berlin’s Huguenot community. The exhibition showcases a selection of drawings, prints, historical books, medals, and decorative arts from the archives and collections of the French Church of Friedrichstadt. The works Chodowiecki created for the church navigate in a virtuoso manner between Reformed faith, enlightenment ideals, civic engagement, and creative freedom. His iconic images and works have left a lasting mark on the Französischer Dom and the neighboring Friedrichstadtkirche and have profoundly shaped the commemorative culture of the Huguenot community in Berlin and Brandenburg.
A special highlight of the exhibition are Chodowiecki’s original handdrawn designs for the architectural sculptures on the Französischer Dom from the arts collection of the Academy of Arts, which have returned to their original historical context for the first time. Although best known as a master of miniatures, Chodowiecki designed large-scale statues and reliefs featuring allegorical and biblical themes, forming a complex theological visual program and reflecting the identity of the Huguenot community at the time.
Valuable documents from the French Church archives complement the exhibition. Chodowiecki’s unpublished, handwritten autobiography (ca. 1782) and the minutes of the board meeting reveal tense negotiations between the artist, the church, and the Prussian state. The historical documents offer not only direct insight into the artist’s creative process but also possess a dynamic that feels strikingly contemporary, echoing today’s debates regarding art in public spaces.
Part of the international anniversary year Chodowiecki300, the exhibition is funded and supported by the Berlin State Office for the Preservation of Monuments, the Academy of Arts Berlin, and the French Church of Berlin.
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