HS11: The Central New York Early Americas Consortium
About
The Central New York Early Americas Consortium is a regional collaboration of faculty and graduate students of early North American, Caribbean, and Latin American history. We foster a transnational approach to the history of the early Americas.
Open to New People
Active since: 2020
- Syracuse University
- Cornell University
Collaborative Goals
This consortium fosters collaboration and exchange among History faculty and graduate students who study the early Americas, broadly defined to span from c.1400 to c.1800. By adopting an expansive geographic perspective that includes North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean, we promote scholarly discussion across present-day national boundaries. As scholars whose work draws on documents in Spanish, French, Portuguese, English, and a number of Native American and African languages, we are also committed to using linguistic diversity to incorporate a range of historical actors.
Creating a forum for regular interactions and exchanges between faculty and graduate students from institutions across Central New York serves several goals. First, the consortium will give historians from the region an opportunity to interact without having to travel to larger national or international conferences. Although all participating Corridor institutions have at least one early American historian on faculty, many of these individuals have not yet had the chance to meet. The consortium will allow them to develop working relationships with colleagues, laying the groundwork for future collaborations such as conference panels, talks, and colloquia.
Graduate students will also benefit from interacting with faculty and fellow students throughout the region, allowing them to widen their scholarly and professional networks. As cohorts of History graduate students continue to shrink, the consortium will offer a built-in regional peer group for MA and PhD students, while consortium-sponsored events will be critical to students’ professional development. By providing historians at various stages of their careers with opportunities to receive feedback on work in progress, the consortium will serve as a forum for peer review, an essential element of producing good scholarship.
Our working group will continue to meet, circulate, and offer feedback on work in progress each semester.
Group Organizers


Group Members
- Lydia Biggs, PhD Student, Syracuse University
- Jeff Baron, PhD Student, University of Rochester
- Ernesto Bassi, Associate Professor, Cornell University
- Claire Becker, PhD Student, University of Rochester
- Marcos Pérez Cañizares, Graduate Student, Cornell University
- Daniel Dawson, Graduate Student, Cornell University
- Marcos Perez Canizares, PhD Student, Cornell University
- Ryan Hall, Assistant Professor, Colgate University
- Holly Kuhl, Graduate Student, Syracuse University
- Richard Newman, Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology
- Jon Parmenter, Associate Professor, Cornell University
- James Rankine, Graduate Student, University of Rochester
- Daniela Samur, Graduate Student, Cornell University
- Pablo Sierra Silva, Associate Professor, University of Rochester
- Amber Shoopman, Graduate Student, Syracuse University
- Alice Wynd, Graduate Student, University of Rochester
- Aaron Luedtke, Assistant Professor, Syracuse University
Non Corridor Members
- Deborah Hamer, Director, New Netherlands Institute
- Nicholas Meyers, Postdoc, Harvard University (formerly a graduate student at Cornell University)
- Ernesto Mercado Montero, Dartmouth University
Activities
A Den of Thieves: ‘Indian Rings’ and the Reservation Plunder System, 1851-1887
April 13, 2023, 5 p.m.
Group Outcomes
Because both of our activities this year focused on Native American history, we were able to build connections between faculty and graduate students working in this field. Dr. Aaron Luedtke, an Assistant Professor of Native American History, joined SU's department this year, and he was able to meet (virtually) Dr. Liz Ellis as well as Dr. Ryan Hall as a result of our group activities. Graduate students working in this area in History, Geography, and Anthropology also benefited from making new connections with faculty I this field.
Student Engagement- Virtual Book Club
In addition to HS11 members, students enrolled in HST 804: Graduate Research Seminar at Syracuse University attended this virtual book club in Spring 2022. The result was a robust exchange with the invited author that allowed these first-year graduate students to engage in a wide-ranging conversation about research, publishing, and how a project can effectively transition from a dissertation to a book.
Student Engagement- Virtual Book Club
In addition to HS11 members, students enrolled in HST 600: Readings in Atlantic History at Syracuse University attended this virtual book club in Fall 2021. The result was a robust exchange with the invited author that allowed these undergraduate and graduate students to engage in a wide-ranging conversation about research, publishing, and how a project can effectively transition from a dissertation to a book.
Student Engagement- Virtual Book Club
This virtual book club with Dr. Liz Ellis (Peoria Nation of Indians of Oklahoma), Assistant Professor, Princeton University, gave faculty and graduate students from a range of departments an opportunity to discuss research methods, Native American and Indigenous Studies methodologies, and publication processes. Graduate students participants included members of Anthropology, History, and Geography departments from several Corridor institutions.
Expansion of collaboration networks- In-person workshop
Dr. Ryan Hall, Assistant Professor, Colgate University, traveled to Syracuse University to present a chapter from his second book in progress. Dr. Hall's presence in Syracuse allowed graduate students to make contact with a professor in their area of interest, and allowed Dr. Hall to meet and connect with Dr. Aaron Luedtke, a new member of SU's history department.