Karin Wulf

 

Karin Wulf is the director of the John Carter Brown Library and a historian at Brown University. She was previously the executive director of the Omohundro Institute of American History & Culture and a professor of history at William & Mary.

Indigenous people brought to Spain by Hernán Cortés play the game patolli.

The Indigenous Americans Who Visited Europe

A new book reverses the narrative of the Age of Discovery, which has long evoked the ambitions of Europeans looking to the Americas rather than vice versa

A 19th-century illustration of two yellow fever victims in New Orleans

How Yellow Fever Intensified Racial Inequality in 19th-Century New Orleans

A new book explores how immunity to the disease created opportunities for white, but not Black, people

Last Call at the Hotel Imperial centers on journalists Dorothy Thompson, John Gunther, H.R. Knickerbocker and Jimmy Vincent Sheean.

A Century Ago, American Reporters Foresaw the Rise of Authoritarianism in Europe

A new book tells the stories of four interwar writers who laid the groundwork for modern journalism

In this late 17th-century comb, created by a craftsperson from either the Seneca or Susquehannock peoples, two animated figures wearing frock coats—likely a Native American and a Euro-American—face one another.

A 1722 Murder Spurred Native Americans' Pleas for Justice in Early America

In a new book, historian Nicole Eustace reveals Indigenous calls for meaningful restitution and reconciliation rather than retribution.

Harriet Tubman (left) and Elizabeth Keckley (right) are two of the many inspiring figures featured in historian Tamika Nunley's new book.

How Black Women Brought Liberty to Washington in the 1800s

A new book shows us the capital region's earliest years through the eyes and the experiences of leaders like Harriet Tubman and Elizabeth Keckley

A group of freed African American men along a wharf during the Civil War.

How to Tell 400 Years of Black History in One Book

From 1619 to 2019, this collection of essays, edited by two of the nation's preeminent scholars, shows the depth and breadth of African American history

This popular painting of "The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth" by Jennie A. Brownscombe is an example of how the myths of the holiday became engrained in Americana.

Why the Myths of Plymouth Dominate the American Imagination

A new book shows us a different picture of the English settlers who arrived at the lands of the Wampanoag

Patricia Roberts Harris, Vivian Malone and Zephyr Wright were among those in attendance at the March 1965 signing of the Voting Rights Act.

For Generations, Black Women Have Envisioned a Better, Fairer American Politics

A new book details the 200-plus years of trenchant activism, from anti-slavery in the earliest days of the U.S. to 21st-century voting rights

A broadsheet campaigned to save the house once owned by John Hancock.

How Historic Preservation Shaped the Early United States

A new book details how the young nation regarded its recent and more ancient pasts

"Washington and His Cabinet" lithograph by Currier & Ives

The President's Cabinet Was an Invention of America's First President

A new book explores how George Washington shaped the group of advisors as an institution to meet his own needs

The Landsdowne portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart

A New Book About George Washington Breaks All the Rules on How to Write About George Washington

Alexis Coe's cheeky biography of the first president pulls no punches

In the corner of one side of the document, Washington wrote "Genealogy of the Washington Family in Virginia"

This Long-Ignored Document, Written by George Washington, Lays Bare the Legal Power of Genealogy

In Washington’s Virginia, family was a crucial determinant of social and economic status, and freedom

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