Second Call for Papers
2005 OAH Annual Meeting
San Francisco, California
31 March - 3 April 2005

An Amended Call to Participate in the 2005 OAH Conference in San Francisco

2005 Program Committee Members

Call for Papers: Focus on Teaching Sessions

Call for Proposals: Chat Rooms

In August we issued a Call for Papers that recognizes the exciting variety of ways and places in which historians practice their craft. We now urge historians to also consider submitting individual paper or full panel proposals in one of the three special topic clusters we have identified, which draw on the conference theme and the host city: California and the West; Trans-Pacific history; and the Practice of History. Proposals that explore other parts of the theme, "Telling America's Stories: Historians and their Publics," or other issues and themes in American history are, of course, welcome.

The conference promises to be unusual in several ways. First, we hope to bring together the diverse historians and viewpoints engendered by the theme. We also expect the session clusters or threads to help provide an additional sense of cohesion and synthesis for participants during the meeting. Third, we plan to have an expanded range of session formats that are dynamic, innovative, and interactive, and presenters will be encouraged to not simply read but to present or teach their material. Additionally, session lengths may vary from one to three hours. Fourth, San Francisco's rich cultural heritage should offer an opportunity for an unusually high number of offsite sessions, tours, and behind-the-scenes activities at area institutions.

We hope you will consider submitting a proposal by January 15, 2004.

Call for Papers
2005 OAH Annual Meeting
San Francisco, California
31 March - 3 April 2005

Telling America's Stories: Historians and their Publics

Historians work in a variety of ways and in a variety of places. The 2005 Organization of American Historians convention program will celebrate this diversity, while at the same time exploring its implications for the study of the American past.

The Program Committee seeks proposals that bring diverse methodologies to bear on large questions. We envision a conference that features a series of conversations among scholars working across fields as diverse as political, social, cultural, intellectual, economic, diplomatic, military, technological, and environmental history.

Similarly, the meeting will also bring together historians who work in different venues, representing the spectrum of the OAH membership, and underscoring the variety of ways in which historians reach/engage the public. The Program Committee seeks to involve historians whose work is disseminated in a wide variety of places including (but not limited to) classrooms, parks, print publications, the World Wide Web, government documents, film, television, radio, and exhibits in libraries and museums.

The OAH strategic plan calls for a greater variety of session formats at the annual meeting. The Program Committee thus welcomes proposals for innovative modes of presentation. These proposals might include panel discussions, innovative use of audio-visual materials, inter-related sequential sessions, presentations involving pre-circulated materials, shorter sessions, and presentations that do not involve the formal reading of papers.

In addition to proposals that explore the conference theme, we welcome submissions that explore other issues and themes in American history. We encourage proposals for entire sessions, but the Program Committee will accept proposals for individual papers and make every effort to place those papers on the program. Full panel proposals lacking commentators are welcome; the committee can recruit scholars who would be appropriate commentators.

By OAH policy, the Program Committee actively seeks to avoid gender-segregated sessions; the committee urges proposers to include members of both sexes whenever possible. Including scholars who are at different stages of their careers can often invigorate a session. We also urge proposers to consider including members of ethnic and racial minorities, independent scholars, public historians, American historians from outside the U.S., historians teaching at a different types of institutions, and graduate students.

Complete session proposals must include a chair, participants, and, if applicable, one or two commentators. All proposals must include five collated copies of the following information: (1) a cover sheet, including a complete mailing address, email, phone number, and affiliation for each participant; (2) an abstract of no more than 500 words for the session as a whole; (3) a prospectus of no more than 250 words for each paper or presentation; and (4) a single-page vita for each participant. Proposals sent with fewer than five collated copies will be returned. No e-mail or faxed proposals will be accepted.

All proposals must be postmarked no later than 15 January 2004 and sent to:

2005 Program Committee
Organization of American Historians
112 North Bryan Ave
P.O. Box 5457
Bloomington, IN 47408-5457

Participation in Consecutive Annual Meetings: The Program Committee discourages participation as a paper presenter in consecutive annual meetings. The Program Committee will try to avoid placing a presenter from the 2004 Annual Meeting program as a presenter on the 2005 program. A person may serve as a chair or commentator in one year and a presenter in the other.

Membership requirements: All participants must register for the meeting. Participants who specialize in American history and support themselves as American historians are also required to be members of the OAH. Participants representing other disciplines do not have to be members.