"Is there no way my Love in which a Second Marriage founded in the Principles of true Love, vertuous Tenderness & pious Friendship can consist with the Good & Happiness of the dear Pledges of a First Love & Marriage?" - Gold Selleck Silliman, 1775

• Colonial British North America
• Comparative gender studies

Lisa Wilson sees herself as a colonial historian with an interest in gender. Most of the courses she teaches are about colonial North America. She is also very involved in the Gender and Women's Studies program at Connecticut College. Her research reflects this mix.

Professor Wilson was featured as a commentator in the History Channel's original documentary, "Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower," presented for the first time on the History Channel on Nov. 19, 2006.

Her book, Ye Heart of a Man: The Domestic Life of Men in Colonial New England, (Yale University Press, 1999) grew from her interest in comparative gender studies. The book has won two awards: the 2000 Homer D. Babbidge, Jr. Award from the Association for the Study of Connecticut History for the best work on a significant aspect of Connecticut history; the Phi Alpha Theta (History Honor Society) book award for the best "subsequent" book published by a member of the organization.

Professor Wilson received a year-long fellowship from the Massachusetts Historical Society-National Endowment of the Humanities to live in Boston and work on her most recent book project, "Cinderella´s Family: Stepfamily Tradition in Eighteenth-century New England."

Family history is central to her interests. Her first book, Life After Death: Widows in Pennsylvania, 1750-1850 (Temple University Press, 1992), focused on women's history. As she states, men and women lived and worked together in the 17th and 18th century. They spent most of their time in a domestic world, both private and public, both female and male. Professor Wilson is interested in how men and women interacted within this context and defined their roles based on this interaction.

Her present project focuses on stepfamilies of early New England. She is particularly intrigued with the modern notion that such families are the unique burden of the present. They were, in fact, quite common in the historical past. The stories of early American stepfamilies might give us some insights about our own time.

Professor Wilson teaches: Introduction to the History of the U.S., 105; The Colonial History of North America, 203; The Whaling City: Early America, the View from New London, Connecticut, 493/4a; The American Revolutionary Era, 204; Puritan New England, 493/4b; and Gender in a Multi-Cultural America, 493/4w.

She was the Class of 1964 Associate Professor from 1994-95 and 1995-1996, Director of the Gender and Women's Studies Program from 1993-1994, and chair of her department from 1998-2001. Professor Wilson has received various awards including the Richard L. Morton Award for her article, "A 'Man of Business': The Widow of Means in Southeastern Pennsylvania, 1750-1850" in the William and Mary Quarterly(1987). She also has received two major grants: the Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellowship in the Humanities, and a Charles Warren Center Fellowship, both at Harvard University.

View the history department site.