Speaking — James P. Ambuske

Speaking

Connecting with audiences and sharing my love of history is one of the best parts about being a professional historian. I’ve been fortunate to speak to scholarly and public audiences in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
I regularly deliver talks on the American Revolution and Early Republic, Scottish-American relations in the 18th century, and Digital History.
I have also appeared in documentary films and I formerly hosted and produced the podcast *Conversations at the Washington Library* as well as produced and co-hosted the Washington Library’s Digital Book Talk Series.
I am delighted to speak in person or virtually to general audiences, teacher workshops, students, and fellow academics. Please contact me if would like me to speak to your group or moderate your event. You can find my upcoming and recent appearances below.

Upcoming Events:

“Thomas Jefferson and George III: American Revolutionaries”
National Society of the Colonial Dames of America: Virginia
8 December 2023 | Featured Speaker

“To a realm without want” Scotland’s American Revolution.
City Tavern Preservation Foundation
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
13 December 2023 | Featured Speaker
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/to-a-realm-without-want-scotlands-american-revolution-tickets-726993957497?aff=oddtdtcreator

Recent Appearances and Podcast Interviews:

The Craft of Podcasts”
Humanities Podcast Network Symposium
27 October 2023 | Co-panel moderator

“Scottish Immigrants & the American Economy”
The George Washington Teacher’s Institute: George Washington’s Mount Vernon
20 July 2023 | Lecturer

“The Long Tail of Loyalism”
Loyalism and Memory: A Roundtable on the Place of Loyalist Stories in the Coming 2026 Anniversary
Annual Meeting of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic
Philadelphia: 15 July 2023 | Panelist

“Jefferson and George III” – A Life in Letters: A Celebration of Dr. Barbara Oberg
American Philosophical Society
Philadelphia: 7 June 2023 | Panelist

“Scotland, Loyalism, and the American Revolution”
2023 Tartan Day Symposium
Washington, D.C., 6 April 2023 | Featured Speaker

“I Cannot Tell a Lie: George Washington and the Cherry Tree”
Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Children of the American Revolution
Arlington, VA: 18 February 2023 |Featured Speaker

“The Pieces of Podcasting You Don’t Know but Should”
Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association
Philadelphia, PA: January 6, 2023 | Panel Chair

“Archibald McCall’s American Revolution”
Scottish Freemasons in America, 1750–1800
The George Washington National Masonic Memorial
5 November 2022 |Panelist

“Intertwined: The Enslaved Community at George Washington’s
Mount Vernon”
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
14 September 2022 | Featured Speaker with Jeanette Patrick

“The Music of the American Revolution”
Crafting Narratives of Empire
2022 Institute for Thomas Paine Studies Annual Conference
Iona University (NY)
22 September 2022 | Featured Speaker

“King-Size Disappointment, with Dr. Jim Ambuske”
Stopping to Think hosted by Will Dole
21 June 2022 | Guest

“Podcasting the Past”
Historians and the Public Symposium
Jefferson Scholars Foundation, 27 May 2022 | Panelist

“Scottish Court of Session Project: Learning from Legal Archives with Jim Ambuske”
The Quill Project Conventions Podcast hosted by Dr. Grace Mallon
13 May 2022 |Guest

Roundtable on Public History
Teaching Independence: Bridging the Communications Gap
(Online) University of Pennsylvania, 26 March 2022 | Panelist

“Jim Ambuske, Digital Historian at the George Washington Library at Mount Vernon, and Podcast Host and Producer”
Success InSight hosted by Howard A. Fox
18 March 2022 | Guest

“The Radicalization of Washington's Friends and Enemies Before the Revolution”
2022 George Washington Symposium
The George Washington National Masonic Memorial
(Washington, D.C.) 26 February 2022 | Featured Speaker

“An American Revolution with Jim Ambuske”
Beautiful Bastards Podcast hosted by Griz and Gerry
22 February 2022 | Guest

“Enslavement at Mount Vernon: A Conversation with Dr. Jim Ambuske”
Inclusive History hosted by Erica Kennedy
20 February 2022 | Guest

“Podcasting as Publicity, Pedagogy, and Publishing”
Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians
Boston, MA. 1 April 2022 | Panelist

An Overview of George Washington’s Life
Tandem Friends School
Charlottesville, VA. 14 January 2022 | Featured Speaker

“Digitizing the Hidden Voices of Scotland’s Legal Past”
History Scotland
(Online) 12 January 2022 | Featured Speaker

Narrative Podcasting as Scholarship
Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association
New Orleans, LA. 7 January 2022 | Panelist

The Strange Genius of Mr. O.: A Conversation with Carolyn Eastman
Washington Library Ford Evening Book Talk
(Online) 27 October 2021 | Moderator

“History of Pandemics with Ph.D. holder Jim Ambuske”
TAO Podcast: The Pandemic Press hosted by Rashni Hewawasam
21 September 2021 | Guest

The Howe Dynasty: A Conversation with Julie Flavell
Washington Library Digital Talk Series
(Online) 7 September 2021 | Moderator

“Washington Library’s Dr. Jim Ambuske and Jeanette Patrick: The Whiskey Rebellion”
Whiskey Lore: The Interviews hosted by Drew Hannush
25 August 2021 | Guest

Religion and the American Revolution: A Conversation with Katherine Carté
Washington Library Digital Talk Series
(Online) 22 July 2021 | Moderator

“Scotch and Foreign Mercenaries”:
Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence…and John Witherspoon’s
Thomas Jefferson Chapter | Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution
(Charlottesville, VA) 5 June 2021 | Featured Speaker

The Trials of James Graham in the Revolutionary Atlantic World
Benjamin Franklin House of London
(Online) 17 May 2021 | Featured Speaker

EDITOR: To Catalogue Where No One Has Catalogued Before
Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh
and University of Virginia Law Library
(Online) 10-12 March 2021 | Panelist

“Episode 1: Podcasts”
Public History in a Virtual Age hosted by Dr. Lindsey Chervinsky
28 September 2020 |Guest

“American Loyalists before the Court of Session:
Litigating the American Revolution in Scotland’s Supreme Civil Court”
Foundations of Independence: 2020 Institute for Thomas Paine Studies Annual Conference
(Online) 25 September 2020 |Panelist

“Begin The World Again A Newe”
Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant hosted by Kathryn Gehred
13 October 2020 | Guest

Mapping the Backcountry before the American Revolution
Washington’s Trail, 1753 Annual Symposium
(Online) 8 October 2020 | Featured Speaker

Scotland and America in an Age of War and Revolution
Westlake Village, California Rotary Club
(Online) 11 November 2020 | Featured Speaker

“The Scottish Court of Session Digital Archive Project and the Legacies of the American Revolution”
American Philosophical Society Virtual Brown Bag Series, 21 July 2020 | Featured Speaker

“Washington’s Era”
With Sadie Troy, a discussion with students of the ASPIRE Congressional Academy (Clark County, KY)
via Zoom, 11 May 2020 | Co-presenter

“George III and the Loyalist’s American Revolution”
Dr. David Arnold’s National War College students via Zoom, 25 March 2020 | Lecturer

“Mapping the American Revolution at the Washington Library”
Virginia Consortium of Early Americanists (Richmond, VA.), 23 January 2020 | Panelist

“Digitizing the Enlightenment and the Law: Reconstructing Enlightenment Identities in the
British Atlantic World through the Records of Scotland’s Court of Session”
International Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Congress (Edinburgh, Scotland), 18 July 2019
Panelist

“A Family Divided: The Transnational Legal History of the Duguid Family in the Era of the
American Revolution”
Family and Justice in the Archives (Montreal, Canada), 5 May 2019 | Panelist

“A Loyal Island in a Sea of Rebellion: Prince William Henry’s New York City
in the American Revolution”
British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Annual Conference (Oxford, England), 5 January 2019
Panelist