Tuesday, January 6, 4:30pm
AMERICA’S 250TH: UNRAVELING THE REVOLUTIONARY JOURNEY OF WILLIAM ROTCH SR.
Dr. Sarah Crabtree
Join us in the RJD parlors as Dr. Sarah Crabtree gives an illustrated talk addressing themes in her book: Quaker, Whaler, Traitor, Spy! The Trials of William Rotch. Sarah Crabtree is a Professor of History at San Francisco State University. Quaker, Whaler, Traitor, Spy! (PSUP, March 2026) is her second book. She is also the author of several journal articles and the recipient of several fellowships, including the National Endowment of the Humanities grant that supported the development of this exhibit.

About Quaker, Whaler, Traitor, Spy! The Trials of William Rotch:
Accused of treason four times by three governments in two revolutionary decades (1775 – 1795), William Rotch suffered from the “with-us-or-against-us” political landscape of the late eighteenth century. A Quaker, he opposed wars for independence and empire. Yet he downplayed and even withheld key details from his story, a second narrative that began with the Boston Tea Party, stretched across the world, and made him one of the wealthiest men in America.