Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies

The Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies was established in 2001 to promote the study of the culture, language, literature and history of the Welsh in the Americas, and in the United States, Canada and Patagonia in particular.

The Centre is located in the School of Welsh at Cardiff University, and its current director is Dr Iwan Wyn Rees.

By organising seminars, lectures and conferences, through publications, and by encouraging scholarly collaboration and discussion, it provides a focal point for an international network of scholars who have an interest in this rapidly growing field of study.

The Welsh Collections in America Group

The Welsh Collections in America Group was established in 2023 to bring together the activities of several members of the Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies. The Group is committed to studying and discovering Welsh material (whether manuscript, printed, oral or visual) in archives, libraries, and other institutions in the Americas. This can include manuscripts and rare books, the archives of authors and prominent figures with Welsh connections, as well as oral recordings, which are now housed on the American continents.

Research

Taught postgraduate

There are opportunities for studying aspects of the Welsh in North and South America as part of the taught MA in Welsh and Celtic Studies.

The North America Wales Foundation welcomes applications for scholarships from candidates from North America. Further details on these can be found on the foundation’s website.

Postgraduate research

Supervision for research degrees (MPhil/PhD) is also available on a wide range of subjects relevant to the Welsh in North and South America.

Previous PhD students associated with the Centre include:

Orwig, Sara. 2018. ‘Jysd enjoia'r geiria fel tasa nhw’n dda-da yn dy geg di’: Cyfnewid cod mewn llenyddiaeth o Gymru a Chanada. PhD thesis: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/118228
Joseph Wyn Roberts. 2017. ‘News gathered from all parts of Gwalia Wen’: The Druid and the Welsh American Relationship with home. MA dissertation.
Sulien Morgan. 2015. The Welsh of the United States and Plaid Cymru 1925-1945: A study in the response of emigrants to nationalism in the home country. PhD thesis: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/73350
Orwig, Sara 2015. Cyfnewid cod mewn llenyddiaeth nofelau Cymraeg a Ffrangeg-Canadaidd: datblygu methodoleg newydd. MPhil thesis: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/86640
Walter Ariel Brooks. 2012. Welsh Print Culture in y Wladfa: The Role of Ethnic Newspapers in Welsh Patagonia, 1868-1933. PhD thesis: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/46450
Matthew Carter. 2011. Industrial, Industrious, and Diverse: Comparative Case Studies of the Welsh in Urban and Rural America during the Late Nineteenth Century. PhD thesis.
Sally Roberts. 2011. ‘The Language Question’: Welsh immigrant attitudes towards language and identity: a comparative study of Welsh immigrant experiences in Australia and North America, 1860-1935. MA dissertation.
Gethin Matthews. 2010. ‘Addoli'r Dduwies Aur’ (Worshipping the Goddess Gold): the Patterns and Processes of nineteenth century Welsh Migration to the British Columbia Gold-fields. PhD thesis.
Geraldine Lublin. 2008. Memoirs and identity in Welsh Patagonia: constructions of Welsh Patagonian identity as reflected in memoirs written by Welsh descendants in the province of Chubut towards the end of the twentieth century. PhD thesis. See also Lublin’s more recent volume entitled Memoir and Identity in Welsh Patagonia: Voices from a Settler Community in Argentina (2017), University of Wales Press.
Ian Johnson. 2007. Subjective ethnolinguistic vitality of Welsh in the Chubut Province, Argentina. PhD thesis at ENCAP (in collaboration with Prof. Robert Owen Jones): https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/56163
Lois Dafydd. 2007. Y Cymry a Rhuthr Aur Califfornia (1849-1855). MA dissertation.
Felicity Childs. 2007. ‘... from your dear brother Jack’: Emigrant letter-writing as an historical source: An analysis of the letters of Jack Edwards, Aberystwyth. MA dissertation.
Robert Huw Griffiths. 2004. The Welsh and the American Civil War c.1840-1865. PhD thesis.

Public lectures

National Eisteddfod lectures 2013 - present

Since 2013, the Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies has held an annual lecture at the National Eisteddfod. These lectures were delivered by Professors E. Wyn James and Bill Jones.

'Dau Lanc o Lŷn ac Eifionydd yn America', 2023
'O Dregaron i'r Unol Daleithiau: Caethwasiaeth, y Rhyfel Cartref a Llythyrau'r Mewnfudwyr', 2022
'Cambria, Knoxvilla - a Llanrwst!', 2019
'Morganiaid yn y Wladfa ac yn America - ac ar yr Ais', 2018
'Jonesiaid ym Môn, y Wladfa a Chile yn ail hanner y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg', 2017
'Dau Evans, Blaenau Gwent a'r Byd Newydd', 2016
'Meifod a 'Merica: Cofio Cylchoedd Ann Griffiths a Sarah Maldwyn', 2015
'Tunplat Llanelli, "Lladron" America a'r "Mugwump" o Dregaron', 2014
'Gwilym Hiraethog, "Gohebydd" y Faner, a rhyddhau caethion America', 2013

Other recent lectures

'Y Wladfa and Chubut: Rethinking the foundations of an official history', a seminar for the Network of Contemporary Studies on Welsh Patagonia (the Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies and Swansea University's Centre for the Comparative Study of Portugal, Spain and the Americas (CEPSAM)). Delivered by Guillermo Williams, National University of Patagonia, June 2023.
‘Irma Hughes de Jones: barddoniaeth “leol” mewn cyd-destun trawsgenedlaethol’ – paper at the virtual research symposium ‘Reinterpreting Y Wladfa’, Cardiff University. Delivered by Dr Rhiannon Marks, September 2021. Available to watch on YouTube.
‘Creative Tensions in the Life and Writings of Eluned Morgan (1870–1938)’ – paper at the virtual research symposium ‘Reinterpreting Y Wladfa’, Cardiff University. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, September 2021. Available to watch on YouTube.
‘Y Wladfa: un o “fethiannau godidocaf” puryddiaeth ieithyddol?’ – paper at the virtual research symposium ‘Reinterpreting Y Wladfa’, Cardiff University. Delivered by Dr Iwan Wyn Rees, September 2021. Available to watch on YouTube.
‘Môr o Gân [A Sea of Song]: Welsh choral and communal singing in the Anthracite Region in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries’ –paper at ‘Cerddoriaeth & Ceol: Welsh and Irish Anthracite Musical Traditions’ virtual conference, Anthracite Heritage Museum, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, March 2021. Available to watch on YouTube.
‘Jim Cro yng Nghymru’ – conference talk for Cymdeithas Alawon Gwerin Cymru. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, September 2020. Available to watch on YouTube.
‘Images of Slavery and Welsh Print Culture, 1790-1840’ – talk at the Virtual North American Festival of Wales. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, September 2020. Available to watch on YouTube.
‘Ar Drywydd Wncwl Sam’ – talk at Cymdeithas y Festri, Capel Tabernacl, Cardiff. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, February 2020.
‘Letter from America: Welsh Emigrants and their Correspondence in the Nineteenth Century’ – talk at Cynon Valley History Society, Aberdare. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, November 2019.
‘Ar Drywydd Wncwl Sam’ – talk at Cylch Cinio Cymraeg, Ammanford. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, October 2019.
‘The Welsh of Scranton in the 1860s and 1870s’ – Keynote Address, ‘150^th Anniversary Commemoration of The Avondale Mine Disaster of 1869’ conference’, Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, September 2019.
'"Ffroes ffein gan Nain": Datblygiad geirfa Gymraeg yn y Wladfa', The Wales-Argentina Society at the 2019 National Eisteddfod. Delivered by Dr Iwan Wyn Rees, August 2019
‘A Welshman in the Army of the Potomac: Evan Rowland Jones, Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War’ – talk at the North American Festival of Wales, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, August 2019.
‘Letter from America: Welsh Immigrants and their Correspondence in the Nineteenth Century’ – talk at North American Festival of Wales, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, August 2019.
'The Welsh in diaspora: Patagonia', 'Social Anthropologies of the Welsh: Past and Present' at Cardiff University (a joint symposium by WISERD, the Learned Society of Wales, the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion). Delivered by Dr Iwan Wyn Rees, May 2019
'Sbaeneiddio, lefelu a safoni: golwg ar amrywiadau Cymraeg Patagonia heddiw', a series of Research Seminars at the School of Welsh, Cardiff University. Delivered by Dr Iwan Wyn Rees, April 2019
‘Troed-y-rhiw & Patagonia’ – talk to the Troed-y-rhiw Local History Forum, Carmel Chapel, Troed-y-rhiw, Merthyr Tydfil. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, March 2019.
‘David Stephen Davies (1841-1898): Apostol Mawr Patagonia’ – talk at Cymdeithas Cymru Ariannin, Cangen y De, Cardiff. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, March 2019.
‘Achosion Crefyddol Cymreig yn Unol Daleithiau America, Awstralia, Patagonia a Chanada’ – talk at Cymdeithas Eglwys Annibynnol Gymraeg, Caerdydd, Capel Minny Street, Cardiff. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, February 2019.
‘Songs and Identity in Welsh Patagonia’ – paper at the International Ballad Conference of the Kommission für Volksdichtung, Prague, Czech Republic. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, September 2018; published version in Ballads and Memory (Charles University, Prague, forthcoming).
‘Ymfudo o Gymru i'r Unol Daleithiau yn y 19eg Ganrif’ – a lecture to Cynhadledd Fforwm Hanes Cymru, Llanuwchllyn. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, September 2018.
‘“Gwarth” Hattie Williams: Gweithwyr Tunplat Cymru yn America yn y 1890au’ – a lecture organised by Cardiff University, Cardiff National Eisteddfod. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, August 2018.
‘Cymru, Ymfudo a’r Cymry Tramor rhwng y Rhyfeloedd Byd’ – Y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Annual Lecture, Cardiff National Eisteddfod. Genedlaethol Caerdydd. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, August 2018.
‘Creative Tensions in the Life and Work of the Welsh-Patagonian Travel Writer, Eluned Morgan (1870–1938)’ – paper at the NAASWCH Conference, Bangor University. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, July 2018.
‘From Plasmarl to Patagonia via Pittsburgh: David Stephen Davies (1841-1898) and Y Wladfa’ – Public lecture, Swansea Libraries Local History Lecture Series. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, May 2018.
‘Exporting Faith: Welsh Emigrants take their Chapels to the New World’ – a lecture to Cardiff Adult Christian Education Centre, City United Reformed Church, Cardiff. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, May 2018.
‘Finding the Forgotten Margaret Evans Roberts (1833–1921): Pioneer Welsh American writer and women’s rights campaigner’ talk at Brecon U3A. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, May 2018.
‘Llythyr o America: Ymfudwyr o Gymru a’u gohebiaeth yn y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg’ – talk to Ysgol Fore, Cymdeithas Carnhuanawc, Caerdydd. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, April 2018.
‘Wales, the World, and Emigration in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries’ – Keynote Address, ‘Migration Matters’ conference, Llafur: the Welsh People’s History Society, Cardiff. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, March 2018.
‘Mr Griffith aeth i Washington: “Y Gohebydd” ac Ailymgorffori yn America 1865-67 – a paper for Y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Annual History Conference. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, Chwefror 2018.
‘Cymry’r Unol Daleithiau a Rhyfel Cartref America’ – a lecture for Y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol American Civil War module. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, November 2017.
‘Yr Ymfudo o Gymru i America yn y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg’– talk at Hanes CwmNi, Ystrad Mynach. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, November 2017.
‘R J Berwyn (1837-1917) yn Nghymru, America a’r Wladfa’ – a lecture to Cymdeithas Cymru-Ariannin and Merched y Wawr Glyn Ceiriog, Glyn Ceiriog. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, October 2017.
‘Ar Drywydd Wncwl Sam’ – talk at Clwb Cinio Caerdydd. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, October 2017.
'Golwg ar waith Irma Hughes de Jones', The Wales-Argentina Society. Delivered by Dr Rhiannon Marks, May 2017
'Contemporary Varieties of Welsh in Chubut Province, Argentina: Some Preliminary Findings', a colloquium on 'Hispanization' at Bremen University, Germany. Delivered by Dr Iwan Wyn Rees, May 2017
‘In Search of Uncle Sam: Welsh Emigration to the USA in the 19th century’ – talk at Brecon U3A. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, May 2017.
‘“Gwarth” Hattie Williams: Dosbarth, Rhywedd ac Ymfudo ymhlith Gweithwyr Tunplat Cymru ar ddiwedd y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg’ – paper for Y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Annual History Conference, Carmarthen. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, February 2017.
‘Letter from America: Glamorgan Emigrants and their Correspondence in the 19th century’ – talk at Llantwit Major Historical Society. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, February 2017.
'O Lysau Cochion Ardudwy i Garets y Wladfa: Ar Drywydd y Tafodieithoedd Cymraeg', Cymdeithas Cwm Nantcol. Delivered by Dr Iwan Wyn Rees, January 2017
‘“Llais y Meini”: Welsh Memorial Inscriptions in America, Australia and South America’ – papur at ESRC seminar, ‘Scottish Diaspora in International Perspective’, Edinburgh. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, November 2016.
‘A Welsh Mining Disaster in America: Avondale, Pennsylvania, 1869’ – conference paper at ‘Welsh Mining Disasters’ conference, Gwent Archives, Ebbw Vale. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, November 2016.
‘Letter from America: Glamorgan Emigrants and their Correspondence in the 19th century’ – talk at Llantrisant and District Local History Society. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, October 2016.
‘Y Wladfa: The Welsh in Patagonia’ – talk at Brecon U3A. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, May 2016.
‘Jim Crow and the Whip-poor-will: Welsh Ballads and American Minstrelsy’ – paper at ‘Broadside Day 2016’, Chetham’s Library, Manchester. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, February 2016.
‘Cymry, Caethwasiaeth a Rhyfel Cartref America’ – a lecture for the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, February 2016. Available to watch on YouTube.
'Ar drywydd barddoniaeth y Wladfa', Cylch Llenyddol Llŷn. Delivered by Dr Rhiannon Marks, November 2015
‘A Welsh Mining Disaster in America: Avondale, Pennsylvania, 1869’ – talk at Dic Penderyn Society, Merthyr Tydfil. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, November 2015.
‘Llythyr o America: Ymfudwyr o Gymru a’u gohebiaeth yn y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg’ – talk at Cymdeithas Hanes Bro Morgannwg, Tondu. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, November 2015.
‘“Garibaldi”, “Dyn y Bala” ac Apostol Mawr Patagonia: Y Wladfa a’r Wasg Gymreig yn y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg’ – Bangor University Archives Annual Lecture. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, November 2015.
‘Identity, Immigration and Assimilation: The Case of the Welsh Settlement in Patagonia’–lecture to the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, London. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, November 2015. Audio available for download. Published version in Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 24 (2018), 76-87, and also available electronically.
‘From Plasmarl to Patagonia via Pittsburgh: David Stephen Davies (1841-1898) and Y Wladfa’ – talk at ‘Glamorgan and Patagonia’ conference, Glamorgan History Society, Bridgend. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, October 2015.
‘Wales, Patagonia and emigration’ – talk at ‘Merthyr and Patagonia’, a Merthyr Tydfil Heritage Forum event, Canolfan Soar, Merthyr Tydfil. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, October 2015.
‘Martyr and Musician: Two Patagonian Pioneers, Aaron Jenkins and Dalar Evans, and Their Merthyr Connections’ – talk at ‘Merthyr and Patagonia’, a Merthyr Tydfil Heritage Forum event, Canolfan Soar, Merthyr Tydfil. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, October 2015.
‘Identity, Immigration and Assimilation: The Case of the Welsh Settlement in Patagonia’ – lecture to the Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar on Celtic Literature and Culture, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, September 2015.
'Golwg ar farddoniaeth y Wladfa', the Cardiff University pavilion at the 2015 National Eisteddfod. Delivered by Dr Rhiannon Marks, August 2015
‘Cymru, Patagonia ac Ymfudo’ – conference paper for ‘Y Wladfa Gymreig ym Mhatagonia, 1865–2015’ at Cardiff University. Delivered by Prof. Bill Jones, July 2015. Available to watch on YouTube.
‘Eluned Morgan a Diwygiad 1905’ – conference paper for ‘Y Wladfa Gymreig ym Mhatagonia, 1865–2015’ at Cardiff University. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, July 2015. Available to watch on YouTube.

‘Breuddwyd Patagonaidd Michael D. Jones a’i Ymweliad â’r Wladfa yn 1882’ – conference paper for ‘Cymru a Phatagonia: 150 o Flynyddoedd o Etifeddiaeth’, Aberystwyth University. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, June 2015. Available to watch on YouTube.

‘Emynau a Christnogaeth yn y Wladfa’ – talk for Cymdeithas Emynau Cymru, Aberystwyth. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, May 2015.

'Tafodieithoedd Cymraeg y Wladfa heddiw', The Wales-Argentina Society. Delivered by Dr Iwan Wyn Rees, May 2015
'Blas ar amrywiadau Cymraeg y Wladfa', Cymrodorion Caerdydd. Delivered by Dr Iwan Wyn Rees, Feburary 2015
‘From Old Country to New World: Emigration in Welsh Ballads’ – paper at ‘Broadside Day 2015’, Cecil Sharp House, London. Delivered by Prof. E. Wyn James, February 2015. Audio available for download.
'Irma Ariannin a'r "wlad lle cyferfydd cyfandiroedd"', Gŵyl Farddoniaeth Tŷ Newydd 2014. Delivered by Dr Rhiannon Marks, November 2014

Annual lectures 2003 - 2011

Between 2003 and 2011 a series of 8 annual lectures were held by the Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies.

Eighth Annual Public Lecture: 'The Office of Language Commissioner: The Welsh Model from a Canadian Perspective'. Delivered by Professor Colin H. Williams (Research Professor, School of Welsh, Cardiff University), 31 March 2011
Seventh Annual Public Lecture: 'The Sociology of Welsh in Chubut - Resilience, Integration, Rediscovery'. Delivered by Professor Robert Owen Jones (Emeritus Professor, School of Welsh, Cardiff University), 18 February 2010
Sixth Annual Public Lecture: 'Welsh Coal Miners in America'. Delivered by Professor Ron Lewis (Department of History, West Virginia University, USA), 22 May 2008
Fifth Annual Public Lecture: 'Welsh Patagonians: The Australian Dimension'. Delivered by Professor Michele Langfield (Deakin University, Victoria, Australia), 20 July 2007
Fourth Annual Public Lecture: 'Black Skins, Blue Books: Slavery, Translation and Victorian Wales'. Delivered by Dr Daniel Williams (English Department, Swansea University), 24 November 2006
Third Annual Public Lecture: 'The Great and Good Work Committed to His Hands: Robert Everett and the Abolition of American Slavery'. Delivered by Dr Jerry Hunter (Department of Welsh, University of Wales, Bangor), 6 May 2005
Second Annual Public Lecture: 'Welsh Labor in American Iron'. Delivered by Dr Anne Knowles (Middlebury College, Vermont, USA), 1 June 2004
First Annual Public Lecture: '"Raising the Wind": Emigrating frmo Wales to the USA in the late nineteeth and early twentieth centuries'. Delivered by Dr Bill Jones (School of History and Archaeology, Cardiff University), 20 May 2003

'Reinterpreting Y Wladfa’, September 2021

This event was a joint trilingual multidisciplinary symposium organized by the Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies in collaboration with the University of Bremen’s Department of Linguistics and Literature. The aim was to bring together academics from a variety of disciplines and different countries (in Europe and South America) to discuss new interpretations of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia including some debating points. The event was held on Zoom Webinar with around 50 attendees joining from parts of Wales, Argentina, and the United States to listen to the panellists.

The symposium’s details and aim are available trilingually. Read further details about the symposium's aims.

An item about the symposium, including the organizer’s response to the event, can be found on the university website. Read the news item about the event.

A selection of recordings from the symposium is also available. View the recordings on the university’s YouTube channel.

'The Welsh Settlement in Patagonia, 1865 - 2015', July 2015

This was an International Conference organised by the Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies (School of Welsh, Cardiff University), in cooperation with the Wales-Argentina Society, the Culture of the 18th and 19th Centuries Section, and the Ethnology and Folk Studies Section of the University of Wales Alumni Association.

View the full details of this event.

Read BBC Cymru Fyw's item on the conference.

You can view videos of the conference on Cardiff University's YouTube channel.

Further details of the speakers and the papers delivered are also available.

'The Welsh in Patagonia: A Symposium', February 2010

Through the generosity of Banco Santander, a symposium was organised to enable members of staff of the National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco and the Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies to disseminate aspects fo their research into the life, history and culture of the Welsh settlement which was established in Patagonia in 1865.

Conferences 2001 - 2011

Over the ten years between 2001 and 2011, the Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies held a series of annual conferences.

Tenth Annual Conference: 'Welsh Travel Writing in the Americas', 11 November 2011
Ninth Annual Conference, 'The Welsh and American Wars', 6 February 2010
Eighth Annual Conference: 'The Welsh and Latin America', 29 November 2008
Seventh Annual Conference: 'The Welsh and Native Americans', 24 November 2007
Sixth Annual Conference: 'Welsh Women in the Americas', 25 November 2006
Fifth Annual Conference: 'The Welsh in Patagonia: Past, Present and Future', 24 September 2005
Fourth Annual Conference: 'Wales and the Caribbean', 27 November 2004
Third Annual Conference: 'Letter from America: Welsh Immigrants and their Correspondence', 29 November 2003
Second Annual Conference: 'The Welsh and American Slavery', 30 November 2002
Official Launch and Innaugural One-Day Conference, 19 and 20 October 2001