2021 Presentations (Communicative Events)

In Service to the New Nation: The Life and Legacy of John Jay--Panel 2: Family, Slavery, and Abolition

Nuxoll, Elizabeth M.; Gellman, David N.; Wulf, Karin

The John Jay Papers Project, Columbia University Libraries, and Columbia University’s Office of the Provost presented "In Service to the New Nation: The Life & Legacy of John Jay," a two-day virtual conference (January 22-23, 2021) celebrating the near completion of the Project’s seven-volume series The Selected Papers of John Jay. Featuring a keynote address and panel sessions, the conference events highlight John Jay’s (1745-1829) notable career in public service and his numerous contributions to the new American republic as a jurist, statesman, diplomat, and politician.

The "Family, Slavery, and Abolition" panel focuses on the relationship of John Jay and his family to the practice of enslavement. The chair is Elizabeth M. Nuxoll (John Jay Papers), and the individual papers are "Mastering Paradox: John Jay, Slavery, and Nation Building" (David N. Gellman, DePauw University); and "'One of them married Colonel Stuyvesandt, another of them married my grandfather': John Jay, Genealogy, and the Shape of a New Nation" (Karin Wulf, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, College of William & Mary).