Course Length: three-day
Course Week: 20–22 May 2026
Format: in person, Library Company of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA
Fee: $900

The political, social, and cultural upheavals beginning in the mid-eighteenth and lasting well into the nineteenth centuries have often been labeled an “age of Atlantic Revolutions.” How does book history intersect with these revolutionary histories? How can we understand and assess print and written culture as key elements in these revolutions? And how might attention to book histories refine our historical accounts of that era?

This short, three-day course will introduce participants to these and related questions with a series of focused investigations centered within the collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. We will concentrate upon the revolutionary world of North America but also consider the Haitian and South American revolutions, and of course the French Revolution and its aftermath.

The course will meet in Philadelphia, where two of the most impactful revolutionary documents were printed: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence. 2026, the 250th anniversary of these imprints and of United States independence, offers a unique opportunity to address our topic. The city will host several major exhibitions, and participants will have the opportunity to visit some of these and to reflect critically upon them.