The salon started in 1980 as part of the McNeil Center for Early America History and Culture at the University of Pennsylvania. Unlike normal seminars, it takes place in a stately Philadelphia area home and features a single speaker talking about his or her current research project in medias res for over an hour. Its audience includes Philadelphia area history and American culture faculty and especially the nine or ten McNeil fellows, dissertation year and post-doctoral, essentially the future of academic leadership in early American studies. Guests are carefully selected established scholars and have included John Demos, Richard Bushman, Alan Taylor, and Christine Heyrman.
This month’s speaker (October 20) was Barry Levy of this History Department. He spoke about his project on military, political, and social change in Massachusetts and the nation 1675 to 1840, focusing chiefly on the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Bunker Hill monument, and the story behind their relationship. Levy says the talk and discussion went well and he is looking forward to presenting more from this project at the Organization of American Historians meeting in New Orleans in April.