Participant Info
- First Name
- Kaila Knight
- Last Name
- Schwartz
- Country
- United States
- State
- VA Virginia
- kkschwartz@wm.edu
- Affiliation
- College of William & Mary
- Website URL
- https://www.wm.edu/as/history/gradprogram/graduate-student-bios/schwartz_k.php
- Keywords
- Early America, colonial America, early American Republic, 19th century America, children and family, New England, Massachusetts, naming patterns
- Availability
- Media Contact
- Additional Contact Information
- PhD
- other credentials
Personal Info
- Photo
- About Me
I am a PhD candidate in the Harrison Ruffin Tyler Department of History at William & Mary. I also have a dual MA/MLS in history and archives management from Simmons University, and a BA in history (summa cum laude) from Brandeis University.
My dissertation, “Naming New Englanders: Family, Legacy, and Identity, 1620- 1850,” investigates how people framed their perceptions of names, family, memorialization, and identity in New England across generations. I argue that names are key to understanding how early New Englanders viewed themselves, their families, and their place in society. Names signal where those who bestowed them hoped their recipients would fit, and how they would use the name to build and perpetuate a legacy and a sense of self. As each generation negotiated this process, a name could gather additional–or changed–significance. This project reanimates the study of New England naming by building on the extensive work of previous scholars of the region and its people. Rather than focusing on towns or communities, my work emphasizes the branching networks of kin that traversed the landscape. I also address cases of name change, both voluntary and coerced. These exceptions to the usual process of naming a person once, shortly after birth, show how people could use names to “remake” themselves and how naming was an act of power.
- Recent Publications
- Media Coverage
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=0IU_et2Yq0T6CcvZ&v=C9UKqVB68FQ&feature=youtu.be
- Social Media
- Country Focus
- United States
- Expertise by Geography
- United States
- Expertise by Chronology
- 17th century, 18th century, 19th century, Early Modern
- Expertise by Topic
- American Founding Era, Colonialism, Family, Libraries & Archives, Local & Regional
