Here in the United States, today is Memorial Day, a holiday originally created in the late 1860s to honor the Union Civil War dead, and now a time to commemorate all of America’s war dead.  Because it’s also observed as a three-day weekend, we’re bringing you a special Monday holiday edition of The Week in Early American History. On to your morning reading…

We start this week with some sad news. The history world this week mourned the passing of Harvard historian Mark Kishlansky. A scholar primarily of seventeenth-century England, he had a strong influence on a number of early Americanists (not least those who worked with him in Cambridge). Scott Sowerby, one of his students, offers a remembrance.

Was New England the first New England? Historian Caitlin Green suggests there is evidence that it may not have been.

On the 20th of May, the City of Portsmouth, NH, kicked off a three-day celebration of the opening of the African Burying Ground Memorial Park. The celebration concluded with a reburial on May 23rd of Portsmouth Africans, found during utility work in the city in 2003.

Early American syllabus-makers, take note of this handy graphic about witchcraft accusations for your slide shows.

In Magna Carta news, brace yourselves for the trial of the, uh, thirteenth century.

This week, Megan Kate Nelson introduced her tongue-in-cheek ” Bancroft Prize Title Generator.” She will give your work-in-progress a snazzy new title that is calculated to improve your Bancroft chances and promises only to take 5% of your winnings.

Maryland unearths lead coffins.

Does the past have a price?

Take a sneak peek before the Smithsonian opens the doors to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Sage advice on applying for fellowships and grants.

In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. Now Spain may enact a law inviting their Sephardic descendants to return.

In a Kammen-esque essay, historian David Sehat describes the anachronistic ways the founding fathers are co-opted and misapplied in politics.

Rebecca Hill takes a look at popular understandings of microhistory and considers the potential payoffs for scholars “participating in social media spaces like Goodreads, and BookRiot.”

Rediscovering Crispus Attucks’ teapot…or is it? J.L. Bell reflects.

Colonial Williamsburg plans to open a petting farm & a live-fire musket range with George III targets.

What would an American Revolution syllabus look like if you only assigned historians who were women? I started a bibliography at my personal blog.

At Uncommon Sense, Zachary Dorner explores a question behind his April 2015 WMQ article: “how does trade work?”

British historian Steve Pincus argues that the American Revolution was a “revolt against austerity.”

Do you remember the Aaron Burr “Got Milk?” commercial? The cast of Hamilton has recreated the ad nearly shot for shot.

Historians recently have debated whether to use the term “slave” or “enslaved person.” Katy Waldman explores the discussion at Slate.

At The American Historian, Claire Potter (Tenured Radical) reflects on blogging and the writing and practice of history.

And finally this week, enjoy a nineteenth-century card game with some of the staff at the American Antiquarian Society.