
A Tale of Two Toms: On the Uses and Abuses of History

Nature’s Metropolis at 30

“We left all on the ground but the head”: J. J. Audubon’s Human Skulls

Seneca Falls in Santa Cruz

An Uncertain Founding: Santa Fe

Oregon Abroad: Staying Home to Investigate the Cultural and Natural History of Our Own Backyard

There is No There There: Women and Intermarriage in the Southwestern Borderlands

“Like standing on the edge of the world and looking away into heaven”

Outlet Fire

The Huntington Library’s “Early California Population Project”

Bloody Engagements

The French Connection

Yellow Bird and the Thunder

The Competing Legacies of Junípero Serra: Pioneer, saint, villain

‘We Are All Savages’: Scalping and Survival in The Revenant

Shall We Forget What They Did Here?

The California Gold Discoveries

Picturesque California

Hayden’s Gaze

Why We Need a New History of Exploration: Lewis and Clark, Alexander von Humboldt, and the explorer in American culture

The German Love Affair with American Indians: Rudolf Cronau’s Epiphany

Arizona’s Secret History: When Powerful Mormons Went Separate Ways

Reappraising Western History through Empire

The Tropical Turn

Go West, Sensitive New-Age Guy

9/11 and Acoma Pueblo: Homeland security in Indian Country

Their Stories Are Our Story

Traveling to Eldorado

A Story So Immense

How (and Why) to Read Francis Parkman

Cabin Fever in Frontier House

Remembering–and Inventing–the Alamo
Creative Writing
Reviews
ABOUT
Welcome to Commonplace, a destination for exploring and exchanging ideas about early American history and culture. A bit less formal than a scholarly journal, a bit more scholarly than a popular magazine, Commonplace speaks—and listens—to scholars, museum curators, teachers, hobbyists, and just about anyone interested in American history before 1900. It is for all sorts of people to read about all sorts of things relating to early American life—from architecture to literature, from politics to parlor manners. It’s a place to find insightful analysis of early American history as it is discussed in scholarly literature, as it manifests on the evening news, as it is curated in museums, big and small; as it is performed in documentary and dramatic films and as it shows up in everyday life.
In addition to critical evaluations of books and websites (Reviews) and poetic research and fiction (Creative Writing), our articles explore material and visual culture (Objects); pedagogy, the writing of literary scholarship, and the historian’s craft (Teach); and diverse aspects of America’s past and its many peoples (Learn). For more great content, check out our other projects, (Just Teach One) and (Just Teach One African American Print).
How to cite Commonplace articles:
Author, “Title of Article,” Commonplace: the journal of early American life, date accessed, URL.
Sophie White, “Trading Looks Race, Religion and Dress in French America,” Commonplace: the journal of early American life, accessed September 30, 2019, https://commonplace.online/article/trading-looks-race-religion-dress-french-america/
Joshua R. Greenberg, editor
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If you are looking for a specific Commonplace article from the back catalog and do not see it, or if have any other questions, please contact us directly. Please follow us on Twitter @Commonplacejrnl or Facebook @commonplacejournal and thank you for your support.