Hilary E. Wyss comes to Trinity’s English Department after nearly twenty years at Auburn University, where she taught courses on early American women writers, transatlantic eighteenth-century writing, Native American literature, and early American life-writing. She is the author of over a dozen articles and book chapters as well as three books on Native American literacy practices in early America. She has served on the editorial board of the journals Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture and Early American Literature, and as President of the Society of Early Americanists. She has won teaching awards at Auburn University as well as national research grants to support her work.  

Hilary’s teaching is guided by the idea that bringing forward materials by underrepresented figures complicates and enriches our understanding of American literature. From court petitions to oral testimonies, letters, and even artifacts of material culture, Hilary encourages her students to explore the ways writing shapes our understanding of American identity both in the past and today.

curriculum vitae