Anglicanism in Colonial Connecticut: Conversion, Revivalism, and Loyalism

We invite CMCH members and visitors to join us for a brown bag lunch talk with Dr. Peter Walker of Providence College, a New England Regional Fellowship Consortium (NERFC) fellow who will be conducting research here this spring.

The subject of his talk is  the Anglican Church in colonial Connecticut. The Anglican clergy in Connecticut supplied some of the best-known American loyalists. Why did this small minority play such an important role in the American Revolution? The answer to this question lies in the Puritan history of the colony, which fostered an influential Anglican revival in the mid-eighteenth century. Dr. Walker will share the results of his research at CMCH with you in this informal presentation.

Peter Walker received his PhD from Columbia University in 2016. He is working on a book titled The Church Militant: Anglicanism, Loyalism, and Counterrevolution in the British Empire, 1720-1800. He teaches history at Providence College.

We will provide coffee and dessert; bring your lunch to enjoy during the talk. Please RSVP by Thursday, June 7 by calling (860) 236-5621 x238 or emailing rsvp@chs.org. Questions? Contact Natalie Belanger, Adult Programs Manager, at natalie_belanger@chs.org. Free for members, free with admission for non-members.

Image: “John Eardley Wilmot” by Benjamin West, 1812, courtesy of Yale Center for British Art