If You’re Planning to Attend the January 9th Meeting of the Jamestowne Society’s First California Company,…

… you’re in for a real treat. You’ll be hearing from (in my opinion) the world’s most informed early American colonial and Jamestown scholar, Dr. Karen Ordahl Kupperman.

Her 2007 book, The Jamestown Project, is the most illuminating and comprehensive chronicle of the first seventeen years of the first permanent English colony in America; probably the best of the spate of early Jamestown accounts that came out of its Quatercentenary. She cogently and compellingly presents the many factors and reasons for England’s determination to set it as a foothold for its New World presence. She tells you how it became the model for all English colonial efforts that commenced with the 1620 landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth and the foundation for the legendary British Empire that came about in the following century and a half.

She relates the many archeological and archival findings of the past decade that dismiss with authority the myths of the so-called failure of Jamestown. She goes on to catalog the valiant efforts and determination of its settlers in the face of the mismanagement, overwrought optimism and unrealistic expectations of its aristocratic backers, who failed the many common person “adventurers” who, as either small investors or Ancient Planters who ventured their lives and persons, received little to no support in furthering the dangerous and exasperating venture.

Two major features of The Jamestown Project are the underlying threads of the intercultural clashes of Native Americans with the first wave of what became one of history’s major mass human migrations, and the context for those clashes in the extraordinary environmental stresses of the worst droughts in seven centuries of North American history and the Little Ice Age, when the James River froze over (as did the Thames in London). Both contributed the inability of the settlers and natives alike to provide themselves with adequate food supplies.

Finally, she relates John Smith’s role in shaping not only Jamestown’s survival for the short time he was there, but prescribing the formula for the success of all future British colonies that began with New England (the name that he “…coined…[as] one of the great propaganda strokes of American history.”)

While the order period to get copies of The Jamestown Project at the event has expired, there are a few days to make reservations for this once-in-a-lifetime program (First California Company is accepting reservations until 12/29); go to http://www.jamestownecalifornia.org/jan2010.php

Dr. Karen Ordahl Kupperman will present at Jamestowne Society’s First California Company Annual Meeting and Luncheon on January 9

For its annual meeting on Saturday, January 9, the First California Company of the Jamestowne Society will feature one of the most esteemed scholars on Jamestown and early English settlement in North America, Dr. Karen Ordahl Kupperman, the Silver Professor of History, New York University. She will be joined by honored guest, the Governor of the Jamestowne Society, Carter Branham Snow Furr, Esq., of Norfolk, Virginia.

The meeting and luncheon will be held at Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, 15150 San Dieguito Road, Rancho Santa Fe, CA. Reservations are requested by December 15, and more information can be found at http://www.jamestownecalifornia.org/jan2010.php

According to First California Company’s website, “Several First California Company members heard her speak at the Huntington Library’s conference honoring Jamestown’s 400th anniversary. They agreed that she was a very stimulating, accessible speaker who left her audience with new information and a broader perspective. One said she is the best ever heard on Jamestown. Dr. Kupperman has won many prestigious fellowships, memberships, and awards, including the American Historical Association Prize in Atlantic History in 2000 and the AHA’s award for the best book in American history in 1995.”

From her NYU web page, we see that her research interests include the early modern Atlantic world; colonization; Native American history.

It goes on to say, “Karen Ordahl Kupperman's scholarship focuses on the Atlantic world in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, particularly contacts and ventures between Europe and North America and the Caribbean. One part of her work deals with the ways English promoters and settlers wrote about the American Indians, and the ways that both Indians and English tried to interpret the other and to incorporate unprecedented opportunities and challenges. All parties to new relationships tried to fit the others into their own understanding of human nature and society, and to manipulate unprecedented situations in terms of that understanding.

“Another major theme in her work is the difficulties colonial leaders faced in trying to create orderly, functioning societies in America. Colonial founders discovered that none of their assumptions about how to create societies was realistic in the absence of the kinds of sanctions that shaped behavior in Europe. These difficulties forced them to think deeply about how society actually works, and about what might be distinctive about English society. Innovative solutions emerged and distinctive forms were created as a result.

“A third thread of her research deals with the American environment and its impact on early European migrants. The climate in America was far different from their expectations and this posed intellectual and physical problems. For one thing, America's east coast was much colder than comparable latitudes in western Europe's maritime climate and reporters therefore had to explain why New York, for example, is so cold despite being so far south of London. This problem was exacerbated by the severe Little Ice Age conditions that prevailed in the colonial period, and these conditions transformed life for Indians as well as newcomers. Early theories about the human relationship to the environment began to emerge.

“Kupperman's present research is an attempt to reconstruct the climate of the Little Ice Age in America and to analyze Europeans' attempts to make sense of the climatic phenomena they encountered, especially as they competed with Indian leaders for control of the natural world.”

Her recent books include the following:
The Jamestown Project (Cambridge, MA, 2007)
Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony, 2nd edition (Lanham, MD, 2007)
Indians and English: Facing Off in Early America (Ithaca, 2000)
Consulting Editor, CD-ROM of Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: North America and the West Indies, 1574-1739 (Routledge, 2000)
Major Problems in American Colonial History, 2nd ed. (Boston, 2000, 1st ed. 1992)
America in European Consciousness (Chapel Hill, 1995)
Providence Island, 1630-1641: The Other Puritan Colony (Cambridge, 1993)
Captain John Smith: A Select Edition of His Writings (Chapel Hill, 1988)

For answers to questions and other information, contact the First California Company at
http://www.jamestownecalifornia.org/contact.php

Jamestown Rediscovery Fall Update

If you haven’t kept up with them, Jamestown Rediscovery has published its Fall update on the James Fort Dig. Go to

http://www.historicjamestowne.org/the_dig/

According to the web site, “Digging deeper and deeper into a well near the center of James Fort, the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological team continues to find hundreds of artifacts each day as their excavations give shape to what was probably the fort's first well, built under the direction of Captain John Smith in early 1609.”

There have been some dramatic discoveries earlier this summer. Professor Seth Mallios, former Jamestown Rediscovery archeologist and now chair of San Diego State University’s Anthropology Department, says that he “was just out there on the island …on July 4th.  The dig is still producing amazing stuff.”

The Jamestowne Society’s First California Company

There is nascent interest in Jamestowne in Southern California.

The Jamestowne Society’s First California Company is celebrating its tenth anniversary. It was organized in 1999 and has offered two to three programs each year on Jamestowne and related topics. They have included: Exchange and Violence at Jamestown: Recent Archaeological Insights from the 1607 James Fort Site, by Dr. Seth M. Mallios, Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, at San Diego State University; A New World - England's First View of America, by Dr. Peter Mancall, Professor of History and Anthropology at the University of Southern California and the Director of the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute; Native Americans that the Jamestowne Settlers Met in 1607; and, Pride, Prejudice, and the Politics of History.

First California Company is one of 36 Companies of the Jamestowne Society (see the link at the bottom of this page). It is composed of members of the Society who are interested in associating with other members in California and participating in events and other activities that it sponsors. Its meetings have alternated between the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.

For more information about First California Company and its programs, go to http://www.jamestownecalifornia.org/. For specific queries, go to the “Contact Us” tab at the web site.

Hobson Woodward Lectures On His Book, "Brave Vessel"

Our post of August 21, 2009 recommended Hobson Woodward’s book on the shipwreck of the Sea Venture, the saving of Jamestown after the Starving Times, and how Shakespeare used William Strachey's account of the shipwreck in writing the Tempest.

Woodward delivered a 55-minute lecture on the book on Cpan2 Books on 9/27 and 28.  In case you missed it, you can view it from CSpan2’s archives at 

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/includes/templates/library/flash_popup.php?pID=288623-1&clipStart=&clipStop=

That archival site also allows you read the transcript of his talk.

Fort Algernoune, 1609: Colonial Virginia's Maritime Rim

From October 16 to 18, a celebration and conference commemorating the 400th anniversary of Anglo-America's first coastal fortification -- "Fort Algernoune, 1609: Colonial Virginia's Maritime Rim" -- will take place at Old Point Comfort, the national historic landmark site of present-day Fort Monroe.

"Algernoune Fort" was constructed at what's now called Old Point Comfort to guard approaches to Jamestown colony and the Chesapeake Bay.

The October event is said to be planned "to consider how the maritime rim of colonial Virginia developed an egalitarian and culturally diverse society different from its Jamestown neighbor."

Participants include James Whittenburg, William R. Pullen Chair, Department of History, College of William & Mary; William M. Kelso, Director of Archaeology, Historic Jamestowne Rediscovery Archaeological Project, Preservation Virginia; Ivor Noël Hume, OBE , Research Associate (hon.) Smithsonian Institution; Camilla Townsend, Professor of History, Rutgers University; David Harris Sacks, Richard F. Scholz Professor of History, Reed College; James Horn, Vice President of Research and Historical Interpretation, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; and Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Silver Professor of History, New York University.

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW:
The Fort Algernoune, 1609 celebration and conference commemorates the 400th anniversary of Anglo-America’s first coastal fortification. It honors the US Army’s outstanding military legacy, embodied in Fort Monroe, and recognizes the enduring significance of Old Point Comfort’s strategic location in defending American freedom. The celebrations will begin on Friday,October 16, 2009, with an Army Retreat Ceremony on Fort Monroe’s parade ground, home to the ancient Algernoune Live Oak. The event will include a US Citizen Naturalization ceremony.

Immediately thereafter, the Casemate Museum will host a reception to open a new historical exhibit on Fort Algernoune.

On Saturday,October 17, the symposium will consider how the maritime rim of colonial Virginia developed. Fort Algernoune introduced English maritime law to the New World, imposed the nascent customs system, regulated commerce, and enforced allegiance to the British crown.

Most importantly, it created a visible symbol of England’s bid for sovereignty over vast stretches of the Atlantic shoreline.On Sunday,October 18, conference attendees have several options,which include an elegant Sunday brunch at the restored 1928 Chamberlin dining room overlooking the entrance to the Hampton Roads Harbor, or one of two tours: a boat excursion to Fort Wool or a land tour of Fort Boykin and other historic sites along the James River.

FEES:
$50, includes lunch.Optional tours, $25 per person

FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
www.fmfada.com• Joan Baker, jbaker@fmfada.com
Phone: 757-637-7778
151 Bernard Road • FortMonroe,VA 23651

For more information, please see the links on the left side of the home page at the Web site of the Fort Monroe Authority (officially, that's the "Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority"), http://www.fmfada.com/.

New Archeological Discoveries Near Jamestowne

According to an article by Rusty Carter in the Virginia Gazette on September 16, Alain Outlaw of Williamsburg-based Archaeological & Cultural Solutions has uncovered another settlement or village near Jamestowne for which he has been searching since 1975.

“It’s been a slow process,” said Outlaw, who is also an adjunct professor at Christopher Newport University. For two years, since he got access to the land, his students and volunteers have researched the site.

Carter goes on to report, “The village was started in 1617 by Capt. Samuel Argall, then a colorful lieutenant governor of the colony. It thrived for three years, but his impetuous behavior led many of the settlers to move away to Martin’s Hundred near Carter’s Grove Plantation”.

For the complete article, go to

http://www.vagazette.com/articles/2009/09/16/news/doc4ab0384a03385778594361.txt