ConSource Merges with Quill
A new home for ConSource at Pembroke College, University of Oxford
We are excited to announce that as of October 11, 2020, ConSource will merge with the Quill Project. This merger is the culmination of many years of collaboration between the teams at ConSource and Quill. This transatlantic merger will build on ConSource’s 15 years as a leader in the field of US constitutional history and civic education to bring its digital archive, constitutional index, and portfolio of civic education resources to the next level. Quill’s Director and constitutional historian, Dr Nicholas Cole, will lead the merged entity.
Of the new partnership, he said: “Having worked so long with former ConSource Executive Director Julie Silverbrook and the rest of the ConSource team, I could not be more delighted to be taking over the stewardship of this important project. We look forward to welcoming the ConSource family, including program manager Sebastian Van Bastalaer, to Oxford University. The idea of a merger has been something Julie and I have discussed for some time, along with our colleague Rod Smith of Utah Valley University, who sadly passed away after a long illness as the details of this merger were being finalized. We know that Rod would be so pleased by the combination of the Quill and ConSource projects, and the new and exciting opportunities it presents for our long-standing partnership with UVU’s Center for Constitutional Studies.”
Gene Schaerr, Interim President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ConSource, said of the merger: “We have been working hard behind the scenes for many months to effectuate this exciting transaction. We are thrilled that ConSource will have a permanent home at Oxford University with the Quill Project. ConSource has collaborated with Quill for many years, and this merger presents new and exciting opportunities for both projects moving forward. I, along with the other Board members, several donors, and other constituents look forward to continuing to support the ConSource project at Quill in making US constitutional history more accessible to and understandable by people around the world.”
Nearly two years ago, Quill and ConSource collaborated on the launch of the Oxford University State Constitutions Network, which brings together major academic projects and scholars working in the area of state constitutional law. Our two digital platforms are already closely linked. This merger will offer the opportunity for Quill to scale up its work with US law students and undergraduates from the nation’s premier academic institutions, something that ConSource has a long history of doing. It will also build on ConSource’s legacy of hosting important scholarly and public programs with leading experts on the Constitution and American history, including federal judges, scholars, journalists, and US Supreme Court Justices.
Quill looks forward to advancing ConSource’s current projects on the history of state constitutional law and the process of the ratification of the United States Constitution, to continue its partnerships with the American legal and educational communities, and to bring new approaches to the organization and presentation of legal resources to the extensive resources contained in the ConSource archive.
Julie Silverbrook, who served as Executive Director of ConSource from 2012 to March 2020 and now serves as the Senior Director of Partnerships and Constitutional Scholar in Residence at iCivics, said of the move: “I’ve had the honor of working with Nicholas and the Quill project team for many years. I cannot think of a better home or a better leader for ConSource’s work than Quill and Nicholas Cole. Indeed, this merger is an idea that Nicholas and I have shared for several years. I am thrilled to see ConSource find a permanent home at one of the world’s most storied academic institutions, and am excited to see how the combined Quill-ConSource team advances the field of digital archival research, and the study of US federal and state constitution history.”
If you have any questions about the merger, please contact Dr. Nicholas Cole at Nicholas.Cole@history.ox.ac.uk, or Gene Schaerr at gschaerr@gmail.com.
What is ConSource.org?
The Constitutional Sources Project was founded to increase understanding, facilitate research, and encourage discussion of the U.S. Constitution by connecting individuals—including students, teachers, lawyers and judges—with the documentary history of its creation, ratification, and amendment. The Constitutional Sources Project (ConSource) has democratised access to source materials of the U.S. Constitution—letters, journals, newspapers, articles, speeches, and other first-hand records—so that any citizen can research and learn from the document’s rich intellectual history. By connecting individuals to and facilitating discussion around the diverse ideas and documents that established the United States and have informed our progress, ConSource has ensured that future generations will understand the principles of liberty espoused by the Declaration of Independence and enabled by the Constitution and its Amendments.