The 2025 edition of the Wigwam, the annual gathering of the William Gilmore Simms Society, was held on the late afternoon and evening of 18 July 2025, in the South Caroliniana Library on the campus of the University of South Carolina.
Dr. Jeff Rogers of Gordon State University presided over the first part of the meeting, which saw four presentations. Our theme this year was research, and all four presentations reflected on that central idea.
First, Mr. Nathan Saunders, director of the South Caroliniana Library, walked us through how to do research in the Caroliniana. He then presented on the materials housed in the SCL, many of which are pertinent to the study of Simms. These include:
- Various digital editions of papers and manuscripts related to Simms’s time and place, including the Ada Clare Papers, the Angelica Singleton van Buren Papers, and the Bratton Family Papers.
- The digital edition of materials related to the American Revolution, the era of history which so fascinated and inspired Simms.
- Mr. Saunders pointed us to SC250 website and encouraged Simmsians to apply for grants to study and present on Simms and his work on the Revolution in celebration of the 250th next year.
- Mr. Saunders also talked about the extensive newspaper holdings of the SCL–and all in the room agreed that Simms’s work in newspapers and journalism is a still-fruitful arena for further study of Simms.
- Finally, Mr. Saunders noted that Caroliniana Library staff are still working on processing and protecting fragile manuscript materials in the Salley-Simms, Mary C. Simms Oliphant, and other Simms-related collections, ensuring these priceless materials are preserved for future generations of researchers and scholars to engage with Simms’s work.
We then moved to three short presentations from Simms scholars:
Dr. Kevin Collins of Southwestern Oklahoma State University gave a paper on what he called the “Vasconselos Enigma.” Picking up on the scholarship of Peter Murphy, who published a seminal essay on this lesser-known Simms novel in 2003, Collins argued that Vasconselos shows Simms exploring the possibilities and limits of multiculturalism; Collins further claimed that this novel gives us a way to understand our own era, marked by an often-confusing interplay of identity politics and their legal and social ramifications.
Dr. David Newton of the University of West Georgia spoke about an ongoing research project into a collection of nursery rhymes Simms began to assemble in the years leading up to his death. These rhymes, which Simms began to work on after the Civil War, were a way for the author to explore education and training young people to be both Americans and Southerners. The rhymes show a concern with child-friendly entertainment, counting and numeracy, literacy, and the presentation of cultural norms. Newton noted that most American authors were content with simply repackaging English and translated French rhymes; Simms is unique in that he is trying to make an entirely American, and decidedly Southern, set of rhymes for American and Southern children. While Simms sought and failed to recruit collaboration with other authors and never found a publisher for this project, Newton argued that the rhymes themselves illustrate Simms’s editorial and creative process, his career-long concern with education and American identity, and finally a window into his tragic, and deeply interesting, post-War literary career.
Dr. Carey Roberts of Liberty University asked us to consider what Simms has to say about our current political moment. Dr. Roberts argued that Simms is an intriguing thinker to examine in light of a perhaps necessary question: what do free societies do when they have “gone too far” and when corruption has become endemic? Roberts suggested that Simms himself struggled with this question that is always at the heart of the balance between republicanism and liberalism, noting that Simms does not accept the Lockean answer of revolt and beginning again; rather, works like “The Social Principle,” Norman Maurice, and Richard Hurdis show Simms contending with these questions and putting forth localism and decentralization as possible solutions. Ultimately, if we are (as some suggest) entering into the late twilight of liberalism, how can Simms, who both celebrated and recognized the limits of the liberal, advise and counsel us on a way forward?
Conversation and questions about these presentations followed. We then moved to our business meeting (detailed in another post), where Dr. Rogers formally became the past-president and Mr. Kevin Kerr of the University of South Carolina at Aiken became the president of the Society. At the conclusion of the business meeting, we moved down the McCutcheon House, where we enjoyed a good meal and better fellowship.
We look forward to seeing everyone at next year’s Wigwam!