Page of Reason | June 2025
Dispatches from your most humble servant
Page of Reason is the newsletter of the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies (ITPS) at Iona University in New Rochelle, New York. Learn more about the ITPS and our activities at our Research Portal. You can follow us on X @TheITPS, BlueSky @theitps.bsky.social, and Mastodon @ITPS@historians.social.
In this newsletter, you’ll find:
New ITPS series with the University of Virginia Press
Apply for the Thomas Paine Ambassadors Program by August 1, 2025
Iona Students Participate in pAIne Workshop
Register for American Revolutions in the Digital Age Virtual Event Series
New ITPS Series with the University of Virginia Press
The University of Virginia Press is pleased to announce “From Pamphlets to Podcasts: An Institute for Thomas Paine Studies Series,” a new series that takes its cue from Thomas Paine, who wrote that “America … replenished the world with more useful knowledge and sounder maxims of civil government” than any other society. Books in this series will advance a new and innovative approach to scholarship on the contests over knowledge making and the pursuit of informed, democratic citizenship in Thomas Paine’s time, and about these processes’ relevance to our own.
Drs. Nora Slonimsky and Mark Boonshoft will oversee this new publishing venture, which—in collaboration with the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies (ITPS) at Iona University and generous support made possible by the Lapidus Initiative for Early American Inquiry—will provide space for emerging and established scholars alike to produce books that historicize concepts of expertise, propaganda, and information politics in democratic societies, and as such provide a much needed historical grounding for readers to understand our contemporary world of digital communication, misinformation, and heightened political polarization.
“I am thrilled at the unique opportunity presented by this wonderful partnership between the ITPS and the University of Virginia Press, a joint effort that marks the first university press series supported by Iona. ‘From Pamphlets to Podcasts’ will contribute not only the timely and important study of history of knowledge production and communication past and present, but will also facilitate the creation of new knowledge, related to countless interdisciplinary fields and audiences, inside and outside academia,” said Tricia Mulligan, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Iona University.
Added Sid Lapidus: “‘From Pamphlets to Podcasts: An Institute for Thomas Paine Studies Series’ is an important cornerstone of our efforts with Dr. Slonimsky, Dr. Mulligan, Mr. Grant, and Iona University leadership to support and expand the ITPS, and to foster scholarship and learning about Paine and the ideas he himself studied and valued. I’m delighted by this collaboration between the University of Virginia Press and the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies, and look forward to the exciting new publications it will produce.”
The editors seek books that interrogate both the medium and the message when they consider the broader relationship between an informed citizenry and its multiple—at times contradictory—meanings to the functioning of a republican government and society.
As Mark Boonshoft put it, “‘From Pamphlets to Podcasts’ will offer a venue for scholars to explore the changing meanings of and contests over informed citizenship in American history. As the title suggests, innovations in media technology and methods of communication have long conditioned democratic citizenship. We look forward to working with scholars from a range of disciplines working on these timely issues.”
Nora Slonimsky concurred and added, “For some time, the ITPS has considered how best to take Thomas Paine’s principles, amongst which included accessible communication, thoughtful connections between the past and present, and the importance of learning and knowledge to everyone, regardless of their background, and put them into practice. Thanks to this opportunity with UVA Press, Dr. Zimmerli, and Dr. Boonshoft along with the sponsorship of Sid Lapidus, we have the chance to consider these ideas in real time, supporting tremendous scholars from multiple disciplinary and methodological vantages that help us to more fully understand the relationship between American civic life and institutions, mediums, and modes of expression.”
This new series’ first title will be Derek Kane O’Leary’s Archival Communities: Constructing the Past in the Early United States, followed by George Oberle’s Creating an Informed Citizenry: Knowledge and Democracy in the Early American Republic.
Per Eric Brandt, director of UVA Press, “Thomas Paine’s writings such as ‘The American Crisis’ inspired a revolution grounded in the highest democratic ideals. Now, more than ever, we need to be reminded of those ideals. The press of the university founded by Thomas Jefferson, another architect of American democracy, is proud to be the publishing home for this exciting new series from Iona’s Institute for Thomas Paine Studies.”
Apply for the Thomas Paine Ambassadors Program
Inspired by the legacy of Thomas Paine, the Thomas Paine Ambassadors program will help students develop skills that are essential for twenty-first century scholarly and professional paths, whether in law, policy, data science and information literacy, social and digital media, or history and advocacy.
Up to five Thomas Paine Ambassadors will receive a $1,000 stipend to participate in four (4) mandatory programs with the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies (ITPS) over the course of an academic year both on and off campus, including public lectures and field trips. Ambassadors will also enroll in a specialized course on public and digital history (DH 210 offered every spring semester). As Ambassadors, students will also have the opportunity to earn academic credit for internships in public history, digital history, and other fields that reflect Thomas Paine’s legacies.
This opportunity is open to currently enrolled Iona students in good academic standing who have at least two semesters left in their undergraduate years at Iona. Students in all academic disciplines and majors are welcome to apply.
The deadline to apply is AUGUST 1. Click here for more details.
Iona Students Participate in pAIne Workshop
Over the course of three days on campus at the end of May, five Iona undergraduate students participated in an advanced and exciting artificial intelligence (AI) project with the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies. Together with graduate students in publishing at Portland State University, students from computer science, English, history, finance, and business departments helped build a custom AI chat bot or, as they affectionately called it, “pAIne.”
Built exclusively with items from the Thomas Paine National Historical Association (TPNHA) archive here at Iona, students first selected individual items, from letters and books to images, objects, and even an empty metal box, from a new database. With the support of the Iona library team, students photographed, transcribed, and described their selected sources, then the transcriptions were uploaded to the custom AI program. Having reverse engineered the program, it was altered to only allow for information from the TPNHA collection. The result was a fascinating first step in what we hope is an ongoing collaboration and research and educational tool that highlights Paine’s contributions in the past as a way to better navigate AI and its impact on our present.
American Revolutions in the Digital Age Virtual Event Series
The editors of and contributors to American Revolutions in the Digital Age will participate in a free, four part virtual event series this summer. Join us for conversations about how historians can use emerging technologies and AI tools to explore the past, how we can learn more about the 18th and 19 centuries, and what early America can teach us about developing digital media literacy today. You can register for the next two sessions or watch the first two recordings now!
Session 1: American Revolutions in the Digital Age
Wednesday, May 14, 2025 / 3:00pm – 4:15pm ET – Recording Now Available
In this session, panelists will discuss how and why the fields of early American history and digital humanities have become increasingly interconnected. How have digital tools and methods changed research and interpretation of the era of the American Revolution and its historical memory?
Session 2: Public History at Historic Sites
Wednesday, June 4, 2025 / 3:00pm – 4:00pm ET – Recording Now Available
In this session, panelists will discuss their experiences working with historic sites that interpret histories of early America. How can we use digital humanities methods to expand interpretation and increase engagement with the public?
Session 3: Slavery, Freedom, and Resistance
Wednesday, July 9, 2025 / 3:00pm – 4:00pm ET – Register Here
In this session, panelists will discuss how digital humanities expands our understanding of freedom in the revolutionary period. How do digital archives and mapping shape our ability to tell stories of place-making and freedom-seeking?
Session 4: Information Technology and Lessons from the American Revolution
Thursday, August 7, 2025 / 3:00 – 4:00pm ET – Register here
In this session, panelists will discuss media structures and information flows during the revolutionary period. What can early America teach us about developing digital media literacy today?
Closed captioning will be provided. Please contact Eleanor Mahoney (emahoney@usaconservation.org) with questions or accessibility requests.