Prize Papers Lunch Talks

Register on Eventbrite to participate in the Lunchtalks

The Prize Papers Project is dedicated to the study of the Prize Papers Collection, a vast and unique trove of records and objects confiscated by British privateers and naval vessels between 1652 and 1815, a period of time in which the seizure of ships was still a legitimate form of tactical warfare. The records are now held by The National Archives of the United Kingdom.

The aim of the German–UK Prize Papers Project (www.prizepapers.de) is the complete digitization and sorting of the Prize Papers, including preservation of the collection’s material, initial and in-depth cataloguing, creation of research-oriented metadata and finally presentation of digital copies and metadata in an open access research database. We also pursue various research projects and cooperate with numerous international researchers and research institutions working on the Prize Papers and in other project-related areas.

The Prize Papers offer researchers a unique collection of sources. Since its discovery, the collection has already inspired numerous groundbreaking projects in various fields of study and many countries around the world.

In this online lecture series of the Prize Papers LUNCH TALKS, we will hear nine short lectures from some of the leading experts on and pioneers of working with the collection and discuss their most recent work with them.

The Lunch Talks bring together renowned scholars, international early career researchers, master’s students and the interested public to discuss with us in a relaxed lunchtime setting.

The Prize Papers LUNCH TALKS will take place between November 27, 2023, and February 26, 2024, every other Monday, at 3–4 pm (CET). The Lunch Talks by Sebouh D. Aslanian and Sona Tajiryan will take place at 7–8 pm (CET) due to the time difference.

The event is open to the public, with advance registration requested.

Links to the meeting rooms via the user-friendly platform Webex will be provided after registration. Please contact lucas.haasis@uni-oldenburg.de if you have any questions.

The Prize Papers Lunch Talks are organized by Lucas Haasis, Dagmar Freist and Amanda Bevan.

 

Programme

 

 

4 December, 3 pm:
 

Guillaume Calafat (Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne): Rashōmon in the Mediterranean: prize and mutiny at the beginning of the 18th century
 

18 December, 3 pm:

 

Arjen Buikstra (Independent Researcher, Zuidland, Netherlands): Prize Papers from Mars
 

15 January, 3 pm: 

 

Hilde Neus (Universiteit van Suriname): Playing in White or Black. Performing Games in 18th Century Suriname
 

22 January, 3 pm:

 

 

Annabelle Lafuente (Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour UPPA): The CORBAN project: Letters between the Basque Country, its surroundings and the colonies during the wars of the 18th century
 

29 January, 3 pm: 
 

 

Marion Huibrechts (University of Leuven): How the port of Ostend in the neutral Austrian Netherlands experienced a “Golden Age” during the American Revolution (1775-1784). Evidence from the Prize Papers
 

5 February, 7pm: 

 

 

 

Sebouh D. Aslanian (University of California) and Sona Tajiryan (Gemological Institute of America, PhD, UCLA): The Santa Catharina as a Vessel of Indian Ocean history: Some Thoughts on the Uses of the Prize Papers for a Global Microhistory
(This event is organized in cooperation with the British Library, UK. Co-Hosts for the event: Kurosh Meshkat and Sâqib Bâburî)
 

12 February, 3 pm:

 

Gabrielle Robilliard-Witt (Prize Papers Project, University of Oldenburg): Sailors and the things: Material culture of ship life in the eighteenth century
 

19 February, 3 pm: 
 

 

Amanda Bevan (Prize Papers Project, National Archives, UK) and Lucas Haasis (Prize Papers Project, University of Oldenburg): Sources from the American War of Independence
 

26 February, 3 pm: 

 

Margaret Schotte (York University Toronto, Ontario, Canada): Sailing with the Prince de Conti: Recovering individual stories in the Prize Papers
 

4 March, 3 pm: Nick Radburn (Lancaster University): Traders in Men. Merchants and the Transformation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade