We are currently seeking writers, editors, and contributors of all kinds to The Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature, an Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook under development with the Rebus Community. Rebus is a non-profit organization that works with faculty, librarians, students, and staff to build tools and resources in support of free and open textbook publishing.

Expanding on Robin DeRosa’s pioneering work at Plymouth State University, where the anthology began as a collaborative project to save her American literature students some money, several instructors have since worked with their own students to collect and edit public domain texts and to create accompanying introductions and other materials. This model of a shared and open pedagogy formed the beginnings of what we hope will become the definitive OER anthology of Early American Literature.

Our ultimate aim is to create a genuine alternative to costly traditional anthologies and a resource that will allow faculty and students the freedom to engage with Early American literature in new and dynamic ways. Now that we have generated a prospective table of contents for the anthology, we need more contributors to help curate texts, write introductions, and, finally, get the “book” looking good and ready to meet the needs of Early Americanist students and instructors.

To all of you working or teaching in the field, we welcome your energy and expertise! If interested, feel free to peruse the following spreadsheet, which lays out our needs in terms of authors and texts, and digitally pencil in your name along with any thoughts or suggestions. All contributions are accredited. If you have questions or comments about the project, please email me at timothy.robbins@graceland.edu or reply to the project post in the Rebus Community forum. I am eager to talk and work with you to get this exciting project off of the ground!

Sincerely, 

Timothy D. Robbins, Assistant Professor of English

Graceland University, 1 University Place, Lamoni, IA 50140
timothy.robbins@graceland.eduhttps://timothydrobbins.net/