Spencer Drake

Research Topic

Transatlantic Theology & the Reimagining of New England, 1830-1880

Supervisors: Adam Smith, Stephen Tuffnell

I’m a DPhil candidate in History at Harris Manchester College, having previously earned an MPhil in Modern British History at Gonville & Caius College Cambridge, under Professor Peter Mandler, and a BA in History at King’s College London, under Dr. Chris Manias. I study nineteenth-century Atlantic history, specialising in America’s relationship with the British world and New England’s cultural, economic, and intellectual ties to the British empire. My current research examines this history through a religious lens, seeking to understand what ministers drew from British intellectuals in preaching what it means to be American.

In addition to my primary research, I have written extensively on American history of science, particularly as regards the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. I have presented my research in papers at Britain and the World, the European Association of Archaeologists, and the Cambridge Cultural History Workshop.