SSHA News


October 23, 2023

Final Conference Program

The final program for the 2023 SSHA Conference is now available online at:
ssha2023.ssha.org/hps/SSHA2023_FinalProgram.pdf.

You can browse the final program by Day/Time, Network, and/or Participant at https://ssha2023.ssha.org (please see “Navigating the Website” section).

SSHA Pilot Mentoring Program

If you are like us, you are eagerly looking forward to the upcoming Social Science History Association annual meeting from Nov 16th to 19th in Washington, DC! This year, to help newcomers and junior scholars feel welcome at the meeting, we are offering a pilot mentoring scheme.

This is a volunteer program, so we need mentors! Prospective mentors and mentees should fill out this Mentoring Program Form, and about a week before the conference, we will pair you with someone sharing your intellectual interests (pending availability).

Any queries can be directed to Nicholas Wilson (nicholas.wilson@stonybrook.edu), the volunteer administrator of the program.

Washington DC Library of Congress Tour

The Library of Congress tour for SSHA conference participans is free and on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no need to book tickets for this tour, but the group will be capped at 44 participants; so arrive early!

When: 4:00 PM on Friday, November 17th.
Location: Thomas Jefferson Building directly across from the US Capitol on 1st Street SE, between Independence Avenue and East Capitol Street.
Transportation: The Jefferson Building is a reasonable walking distance from the conference hotel. You can also take a Uber or Lyft to the location.
Tour Guide: Frederick Augustyn will be your tour guide (docent). At the Jefferson Building entrance, pass through the carriage entrance, through security, and Fred will meet the group inside. When you arrive, please let Fred know that you are part of the SSHA conference group.


October 8, 2023

Thursday Evening Plenary Address

The Thursday evening Welcome Reception will feature a Plenary Address offered by Dr. Corianne Scally of the Urban Institute. Her talk is titled: Pursuing research for impact: How to promote well-being through our work.

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Corianne Scally
Plenary Address: “Pursuing research for impact: How to promote well-being through our work."
Date & Time: Thursday, Novemebr 16th, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM.


August 31, 2023

SSHA Presidential Message 2023


Dear Colleagues and Friends,

I am delighted to serve as your President this year and to provide you with the latest updates regarding the upcoming SSHA Annual Conference, “Pursuits of Wellbeing” to be held November 16-19 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, Washington DC. The information below can also be found at: https://ssha.org/conference/

Participation & Preliminary Program Information
The preliminary program is now available online at https://ssha2023.ssha.org/. You can browse the preliminary program by Day/Time, Network, and/or Participant.

Acceptances for the program went out by email in June 2023. If you submitted a panel or paper and did not receive an email about its status, please check your “Spam” folder. If you still cannot find it, please log into the submission portal (https://ssha2023.ssha.org/) and you can check the status of your submission there or contact the Representative of the Network where you submitted your paper. Network and Representatives can be found at: https://ssha.org/networks/.

New Program Initiatives
As many of you know SSHA has hosted several virtual Town Hall meetings since our last annual meeting in Chicago, ranging in topic from strategic planning in regard to virtual/hybrid/in-person meeting decisions, to issues of Governance and Sustainability, to the long-term goals of the Association. One additional Town Hall meeting will be hosted on Monday, October 2nd at 11:00 AM Eastern (8:00 AM Pacific, 4:00 PM London) by the Committee on Governance and Sustainability. All are welcome to attend, and please use the following Zoom link to participate: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83697964119?pwd=MVNIb0E5TEJnTzRRVzk2ajFBNHJsdz09.

All the officers and committee heads are deeply appreciative of the time members have devoted to joining these meetings to voice their hopes and concerns for the future of SSHA. In response to suggestions raised in these forums several exciting new features of the program will be available this year.

  • The Thursday evening Welcome Reception will feature a Plenary Address offered by Dr. Corianne Scally of the Urban Institute. Her talk is titled: Pursuing research for impact: How to promote well-being through our work.
  • Participants will be able to sign up in advance for group tours being offered by colleagues associated with the Library of Congress (scheduled for Friday afternoon), the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (TBD), and the Indigenous DC project (TBD). Detailed information about scheduling and sign-up procedures will be available soon at the conference information webpage.
  • The Plenary Address, annual Business Meeting, and Presidential Address will be recorded and made available for member viewing at the SSHA webpage, either in real time or shortly after the conference. This will give access to these key events for anyone who was unable to attend the meeting in person.
  • A session slot at 8am on Sunday morning has been reserved for the winners of the various SSHA prizes (books and articles) to speak briefly about the development of their prize-winning projects. This session will be included in the program description, although of course the participants will only be known following the awarding of prizes at the annual business meeting the afternoon before.

Registration
Many of you have already registered for the conference taking advantage of our new ‘early bird’ registration discount. This has been tremendously helpful to the team finalizing the program. If you have not yet registered, however, it is by no means too late. You can find the link directly at the conference registration page.

As has long been SSHA practice, the Association requires that all session participants register for the annual meeting and be (or become) members of the SSHA. If your membership is not current, you will not be able to register for the conference as a member. Please sign up for membership or renew your membership prior to filling out the conference registration form. To sign up for an SSHA membership, please visit the SSHA membership registration website.

Hotel
The SSHA has made a major commitment to the Hyatt Regency Washington in order to secure a large block of quality hotel rooms at competitive prices in a convenient location. SSHA is legally bound to fill these rooms. Not to do so has severe financial implications for SSHA, both in 2023 and in years to come, making it more difficult to host future annual meetings. If you require a hotel in Washington DC, we would very much appreciate it if you would reserve your room at the Hyatt. SSHA has a special group rate for both single and double occupancy per night plus tax. Group rates cannot be guaranteed after October 19, 2023.

The hotel has set up a special reservation site for the Social Science History Association. To access the hotel reservation site to make your reservation, please click the following link: SSHA membership registration website.

Format
After much discussion, and a majority preference given the technical and financial difficulties associated with the hybrid format of our past two annual meetings, the format for this year’s annual meeting will be fully in-person (with the exception of the public addresses/meetings that will hopefully be livestreamed, or at least recorded for later viewing).

Finally, a special thanks goes out to our conference co-chairs who have put together a truly exciting program:

  • Joyce Burnette, Wabash College
  • Sakari Saaritsa, University of Helsinki
  • Richard Zijdeman, International Institute of Social History

Thanks also to Cristian Rodriguez for handling the program software. Likewise, I offer my appreciation to the Network Representatives, VP Lisa Dillon, Treasurer Damon Maryl, Executive Director Jeffrey Beemer, and the IU Conferences team for helping with all of the conference preparations.

I look forward to seeing you all in November!


Sincerely,

Anne McCants
President, SSHA 2023



19 July, 2023

First Annual Engerman Lecture


On September 20th, Claudia Goldin will give the first annual Engerman Lecture. It is titled “Why Women Won.” The Economics Department at the University of Rochester is hosting this lecture. It will be held in the Hawkins-Carlson Room of Rush Rhees Library beginning at 3:30 pm. It will be followed by a reception for colleagues, students, and friends to remember and honor Stan.

The Economics Department would welcome you at the events. The events will also be available remotely with respective links for Claudia’s lecture and the reception below.

Lecture:https://rochester.zoom.us/s/99061080088

Reception:https://rochester.zoom.us/s/93550599683


15 March 2023

Conference Update from SSHA President Anne McCants


Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to serve as your President this year and to alert you to some important information about the upcoming SSHA Annual Conference, “Pursuits of Wellbeing,” to be held in Washington DC, November 16-19, 2023.

Submission Deadline
The deadline for submission to the Annual Conference has been extended to March 17, 2023, so there is still more time in which to submit your proposals. More information on the conference, submissions and the submission portal can be found at: https://ssha2023.ssha.org/.

Format
The 2022 meeting replicated the hybrid format adopted in the previous year, although in-person participation became the dominant mode again. While there remain some much-appreciated advantages to facilitating remote participation, the full hybrid modality proved both less effective once the balance of participation had shifted to in-person, and very expensive in terms of the vendor labor required to ensure its smooth functioning. That it worked as well as it did in Chicago is thanks to the prodigious efforts of the team at Indiana University Conferences, and a burdensome budget outlay.

Many members who participated in the January survey sent to all members of the Association expressed a strong desire to maintain the focus and value of an in-person meeting as that provides important social and networking opportunities. The survey was followed up by an open zoom Town Hall meeting (the recording of which can be found here: https://vimeo.com/791032292) where the consensus view was also to prioritize in-person participation, with limited options for remote connection. Therefore, we are planning for our 2023 meeting to be in-person, yet with freely-available virtual access to the Business Meeting and the Presidential Address. We also are working toward accommodating the occasional remote presentation for those in unusual circumstances, similar to pre-COVID conference AV arrangements.

Registration Fees
The newly instituted sliding-scale registration fee structure for our 2022 meeting was a source of much discussion and concern. Many members of the Association have long desired that we adopt a sliding-scale fee, and our first attempt at identifying the categories, and associated fees, did not yet find a balance that served the Association well. Much effort has gone into rethinking the fee structure for the 2023 meeting, but with a continued commitment to supporting a lower fee for junior or adjunct scholars with a higher fee for established and senior scholars. The conference registration fees for 2023 can be found at: https://ssha.org/conference/.

The gap between the highest and lowest fees has been narrowed for this year, by lowering the highest fee from that required last year and raising very modestly the lower fees. Moreover, we are cutting costs as much as we can by dropping the AV services required to run a full-hybrid meeting.

We are also introducing an Early Bird Registration discount for every category for those who register prior to July 1, 2023. This will be a boon to all of you, as well as offer the program committee valuable information earlier in the conference planning process about the stability of planned sessions.

Conference Program Committee
Finally, I hope you will join me in thanking the Association’s officers: Vice President Lisa Dillon, Executive Director Jeffrey Beemer, and Treasurer Damon Mayrl. And a special thanks to this year’s Network Representatives--who comprise the heart of the Program Committee--for their hard work of planning and providing input to the several financial/modality issues we had to resolve before they could enjoin their work. Our annual meetings would not be possible without their immense labor (all done on a volunteer basis), so they are deserving of all our gratitude. The program co-chairs are:

  • Joyce Burnette, Wabash College
  • Sakari Saaritsa, University of Helsinki
  • Richard Zijdeman, International Institute of Social History

Sincerely,

Anne McCants
SSHA President, 2023




2022 SSHA Post-Conference in Chicago Survey Results

For the full set of survey questions and results, please download the survey summary PDF (linked below), which includes the open-ended questions and responses from the survey participants.

2022 SSHA Post-Conference in Chicago Survey


SSHA Virtual Town Hall




Anthology in honor of the life and work of American economist John E. Murray


This anthology honors the life and work of American economist John E. Murray, whose work on the evolution of the standard of living spanned multiple disciplines. Publishing extensively in the areas of the history of healthcare and health insurance, labor markets, religion, and family-related issues from education to orphanages, fertility, and marriage, Murray was much more than an economic historian and his influence can be felt across the wider scholarly community. Written by Murray’s academic collaborators, mentors, and mentees, this collection of essays covers topics such as the effect of the 1918 influenza pandemic on U.S. life insurance holdings, the relationship between rapid economic growth and type 2 diabetes, and the economics of the early church. This volume will be of use to scholars and students interested in economic history, cliometrics, labor economics, and American and European history, as well as the history of religion.

Standard of Living
Essays on Economics, History, and Religion
in Honor of John E. Murray

Murray


27 Ocotber 2022, Chicago

Conference Update from SSHA President Julian Go


Dear Friends,

I am so looking forward to welcoming all of you back to Chicago’s historic Palmer House for the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association. This email is to provide you with some information that may help with your planning.

1. The preliminary program has been available online (ssha.org) but I’m pleased to say that the final program will soon be available. We will also make available an app for your smart devices that will have the program information and schedule.

2. Beyond the regular sessions, there will plenty of other exciting events to attend: I will be giving the Presidential Address, “The Presence of Imperial Pasts,” on Saturday 19th in the Monroe Room at 6:30 pm that will be followed by food and drink at the President’s Reception. Prior to the Address, the Business Meeting will be hold at 6:00 pm in the Monroe Room. On Thursday evening at 6 pm, the Opening Reception will offer an opportunity for us to see old friends and make new ones over nibbles and beverages. On Friday, the Networks will hold their organizational meetings and all in-person attendees are welcome (12 and 12:45 pm).

3. For non-member students who are not presenting at the meetings but want to attend, either in-person or virtually, there is a special registration rate of $25. Do encourage your students and friends. See https://ssha.org/conference/ for more.

I look forward to seeing you all,


Julian Go
University of Chicago
2022 President of the Social Science History Association



24 August 2022, Chicago

2022 Conference Updates from SSHA President Julian Go


Dear Friends,

I am delighted to serve as your President this year and to provide you with the latest updates regarding the upcoming SSHA Annual Conference, “Reverberations of Empire: Histories, Legacies & Lineages,” to be held in Chicago in November 17-20, 2022, at the Palmer House Hilton. The information below can also be found at: https://ssha.org/conference/.

Participation & Preliminary Program Information
The preliminary program is now available online at https://ssha2022.ssha.org/. You can browse the preliminary program by Day/Time, Network, and/or Participant.

Acceptances for the program went out by email in June 2022. If you submitted a panel or paper and did not receive an email about its status, please check your “Spam” folder. If you still cannot find it, please log into the submission portal and you can check the status of your submission there (https://ssha2022.ssha.org/) or contact the Representative of the Network where you submitted your paper. Network and Representatives can be found at: https://ssha.org/networks/.

Registration
We are pleased to announce that this year we have instituted a gradated registration system to account for differences among the SSHA membership. For more information please see https://ssha.org/conference/. You can also register directly at the conference registration page.

SSHA requires that all session participants register for the annual meeting and be (or become) members of the SSHA. If your membership is not current, you will not be able to register for the conference as a member. Please sign up for membership or renew your membership prior to filling out the conference registration form. To sign up for an SSHA membership, please visit the SSHA membership registration website.

Hotel
The SSHA has made a major commitment to the Palmer House Hilton in order to secure a large block of quality hotel rooms at competitive prices in a convenient location. SSHA is legally bound to fill these rooms. Not to do so has severe financial implications for SSHA, both in 2022 and in years to come and will almost certainly raise your costs of attending future annual meetings. If you require a hotel in Chicago, we would very much appreciate it if you would reserve your room at the Palmer House Hilton. SSHA has a special group rate for both single and double occupancy per night plus tax. Group rates cannot be guaranteed after October 15, 2022.

The hotel has set up a special reservation site for the Social Science History Association. To access the hotel reservation site to make your reservation, please click the following link: Hilton Reservations.

Format
The SSHA will have fully hybrid capabilities (just as with the 2021 meetings). We hope this will permit those who cannot travel for health reasons or other concerns, students, and foreign members who cannot come to Chicago to participate. It also means that anyone around the world can see all of the sessions at the SSHA should they choose to.

Please note that registration fee for virtual participants is the same as for in-person attendance. We hope participants will understand that a fully hybrid conference is incredibly expensive. It is more costly than having an in-person conference. This is because of the added technical and labor costs, as well as the potential loss of hotel room revenue (the SSHA had made agreements years ago with the Palmer House Hilton to meet a quota of reserved rooms and if that quota is not met the Association has to pay for the losses). I understand this will be disappointing to some but we hope that the savings virtual participants will get on travel, hotel and related expenses will compensate for having to pay the regular registration fee.

Finally, a special thanks goes out to our conference co-chairs who have done an incredible job so far:

  • Cristina Groeger
  • Ricarda Hammer
  • Ho-Fung Hung
  • George Lawson
  • Alexandre White

Thanks also to Cristian Rodriguez for handling the program software and Jeffrey Beemer for keeping the website updated. And thanks also to the Network Represenatives, Damon Maryl, William Block, the IU Conferences team and VP Anne McCants for helping with all of the conference preparations.

I look forward to seeing you all in November!


Best wishes,
Julian Go
SSHA President 2022



February 16, 2022

Conference & Submission Updates from SSHA President Julian Go


Dear Friends,

I am delighted to serve as your President this year and to alert you to some important information about the upcoming SSHA Annual Conference, “Reverberations of Empire: Histories, Legacies & Lineages,” to be held in Chicago, November 17-20, 2022.

Submission Deadline
The deadline for submission to the Annual Conference has been extended from February 16, 2022 to March 4, 2022. More information on the conference, submission and the submission portal can be found at http://ssha2022.ssha.org/

Format
Our 2021 meetings were hybrid and were, comparatively speaking, a success. While there were sporadic technical glitches, as might be expected, the technology was of the highest standard, thanks to the team at Indiana University Conferences. But we recognize the value of in-person meetings which provide important social and networking opportunities that we all prize. Therefore, we are planning for our 2022 meeting to be in-person (COVID restrictions permitting). We are currently exploring options for virtual capabilities to allow participation from members who might not attend otherwise. But at this point we are not exactly sure what that configuration will look like, or if and how it might occur at all. Holding a fully equipped hybrid meeting is very expensive, with significant added costs to the Association. This, alongside the typical expectation that the registration cost for virtual attendance be less than the cost of in-person attendance, makes hybrid meetings all the more complicated to support financially. We hope to have some clarification on this before registration begins. For now, I invite those of you who wish to participate contingent upon virtual capabilities to nonetheless get the process rolling by submitting your papers and panels. There is no financial cost to submission.

Registration Fees
Given the uncertainty of the conference format, as well as the financial burden of hosting a hybrid meeting, we cannot at this point predict whether the registration fees will align with past fees. The Association, however, is committed to making the conference fees affordable for all who wish to participate, and, in particular, to finding ways to limit the financial burden on students as well as postdoctoral researchers and contingent, non-tenure track faculty. We plan also to consider the feasibility of a sliding fee scale (perhaps based upon rank or salary). We are currently trying to work through the many complexities and hope to reach an amenable solution before registration opens for the 2022 meeting.

Conference Program Committee
Finally, I’d like you to join me in thanking the Association’s officers: Vice President Anne McCants, Executive Director William Block, and Treasurer Damon Mayrl. And a special thanks to this year’s Network Representatives--who comprise the heart of the Program Committee--for their hard work in such uncertain times. Our annual meetings would not be possible without their immense labor (which, by the way, is done on a volunteer basis), so they are deserving of all our gratitude. The program co-chairs are:

Looking forward to seeing you in Chicago in November 2022.

Sincerely,
Julian



November 14, 2021

2022 SSHA Call for Papers

SSHA Call for Papers PDF



November 02, 2021

How will SSHA 2021 work?


Dear SSHA Community,

We are looking forward to seeing many of you, either in-person or virtually, at next week's SSHA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia! The following message contains information about how our hybrid conference will work.

COVID-19 Attestation
Everyone attending SSHA 2021 in person will be required to attest to either being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 OR having had a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of the start of the conference. Conference attendees will be able to attest to their vaccination status prior to arrival, or on-site during conference check-in. Please watch your email for information about advance, online COVID-19 attestation from Indiana University Conferences (IUC), but if you don’t complete this step prior to arrival be assured we will have attestation available at the conference registration booth.

Mask up
We will be requiring that everyone wear masks while inside of the hotel, whether it be the hallways or in session rooms. Presenters, who may prefer or need to remove their masks while speaking, will be placed at least six feet away in session rooms. For receptions, you will be allowed, of course, to remove your mask to eat and drink.

Social Distancing
We will be doing our best to accommodate social distancing in both seating and in the areas around the conference venue. Attendees are asked to keep social distancing in mind at all times, and to recognize that individuals have various degrees of comfort with levels of physical proximity and contact during normal times, and more so during a pandemic. Let’s be respectful of differences and socially distance from each other, to help make the conference as good as it can be for every in-person attendee!

Sanitization Protocols
The DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Center City has increased their sanitization protocols in response to the pandemic to provide guests with a clean and safe environment to gather. We will also be having hand sanitizer stations placed throughout the space for easy access.

Logistics for In-person Attendees
For in-person attendees, the SSHA 2021 conference will look very familiar and follow SSHA’s long-held Thursday-Sunday format. One difference, and this is important for everyone to note: all scheduled session times are 105 minutes (one hour 45 minutes) in length. This scheduling was required to make the logistics of the conference work within the various constraints we faced this year. The other main difference that in-person attendees will see is the presence of virtual attendees in each session room, network meeting, committee meeting, etc.

Logistics for Virtual Attendees
For virtual attendees, each session room will equipped to be fully hybrid, so that everyone can participate, regardless of whether they are in-person or remote. Our goal is to make physical proximity as irrelevant as possible to joining, and participating in, an SSHA conference session. Indiana University Conferences will be using the virtual conference platform Whova to make all of this possible, and you can think of Whova as a shell or interface that wraps around Zoom. If you have used Zoom in the last 18 or so months, you’ll be able to use Whova. Whova can be accessed via the web or through a mobile app available for Apple and Android devices, so it will be useful to both in-person and remote attendees. And in order to access Whova at SSHA 2021, you must be registered for the SSHA conference, so IUC knows to give you access.

Using Whova, virtual attendees will be able to join any session they wish to livestream – no need to mess around with any zoom links. When entering a conference session, virtual attendees will see a camera feed of the in-person presenter(s). And—because this is Zoom embedded within Whova, remote attendee video and audio will be part of the virtual meeting and projected on screen and via speakers into the session room.* Microphones in the room will allow you to hear presenters speaking as well as any in-person audience member who asks questions into the Q&A microphone at the front of the room, and as long as remote participants have their camera and microphone turned on, we hope it will be almost as good as being present in person!

*If remote participants so choose. Generally it is recommended that remote participants join with their camera on and their microphone muted (unless speaking), unless circumstances or personal preference dictate otherwise.


Some Questions and Answers
Q: Will you be recording SSHA conference sessions?
A: Yes, we plan on recording all sessions so that you won’t have to worry about missing out on any other concurrent paper session. All recordings will be available for 6 months following the conference.

Q: When and how will I receive my Whova link?
A: Indiana University Conferences will be sending out Whova credentials via email on or about November 5th. If you haven’t received your Whova details by November 7th, contact IU Conferences at iucvrtl@iu.edu.

Q: How long are SSHA 2021 sessions?
A: All sessions are 105 minutes in length, or one hour 45 minutes.

Q: Some or all of my session’s participants are going to be remote. Do we need to alert anyone in advance?
A: No, because we are setting up each room with video and audio in both directions, a conference session can take place whether all, some, or none of the presenters are physically present (and the same goes for the audience, etc.).*

*At least that is the theory! Please bear with us as we “go live” with this brave new approach to conferencing on November 11. Undoubtedly there will be some glitches, but we will have staff in place to work through them and hope to offer a great conference experience for all.

It is not too late to register for the conference. Please help spread the word. Thank you!


Sincerely,

William Block
SSHA Executive Director


October 04, 2021

SSHA 2021 Registration and Program now available


Dear SSHA Community,


Thank you for your patience while we worked on plans for our upcoming hybrid conference! Links to conference registration, a PDF of the program, and hotel details have now been posted at https://ssha.org.

Meanwhile, I'd like to highlight an exciting opportunity made possible by the hybrid nature of our 2021 conference environment: SSHA is extending its long-standing (usually local) graduate student $10 "non-program participant rate" to graduate students everywhere to remotely join the conference and see what our Association is all about. Any student that is not already part of the program is eligible for this greatly reduced rate and will be able to join the conference from afar. Please pass this news along to interested graduate students.

Finally, many thanks to our 2021 Program Committee Co-Chairs, Timothy Thurber, Steven Sprick Schuster, Sadia Saeed, and Ho-fung Hung, for their efforts putting the final touches on the engaging content for next month's meeting.

We look forward to seeing many of you next month, either in-person (vaccinated, masked) or remotely!


Sincerely,

William Block
SSHA Executive Director


September 16, 2021

Conference update from SSHA Executive Director Bill Block


Dear SSHA Community,


I am writing with exciting news about SSHA's upcoming conference in Philadelphia!

The SSHA 2021 Program Committee Co-Chairs are hard at work finalizing the program schedule, and once they are done we will be sending out a link to conference registration in the next few days.

...and everyone wants to know what modalities we will be supporting! I'm pleased to confirm that SSHA 2021 will be providing Zoom-style connectivity in every conference session, in an attempt to facilitate the broadest possible access for all conference registrants, physically present or remote.

Based on the results of our two recent surveys, we do expect to see many of you in person. Please be assured we will be following the latest scientific advice regarding masks and social distancing during the conference, and we encourage everyone to be fully vaccinated.

Please watch your inboxes for the next SSHA communication that will contain information about the conference schedule and registration. Meanwhile, if you are really anxious to "take action" on something SSHA-related, you can always renew your annual membership!


Sincerely,

William Block
SSHA Executive Director


July 19, 2021

Conference update from SSHA President Manali Desai


Dear SSHA Community,


I’d like to thank you for your patience during what has been an uncertain year with several recent developments on the pandemic front. The good news is that many of us are working behind the scenes to put together an exciting conference, and are planning for both virtual and in-person attendance options.

Despite many advances on the vaccine front the situation with COVID remains fluid, and the recent rise in circulation of the Delta variant has once again created new uncertainties. With this in mind we understand that while people may WANT to attend in person, we expect a certain number to attend virtually, with some making their decision at the last minute, and we hope to accommodate everyone as much as possible. We are also aware that our international members and participants will face additional challenges with travel to the United States.

IUC, our long-time conference organizer, has gained a lot of experience with virtual meetings in the last year, and we are confident that we can create an excellent conference experience that is simultaneously in-person and virtual. Please note that registration will open later than usual, as we work to sort out the meeting details.

To help IUC with planning and logistics, it would be helpful to know how many members are currently leaning toward in-person, virtual, or are unsure about their preferred method of conference attendance. You can indicate your preference by filling out a simple, one question, no obligation poll:


https://iu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_879KNROQBIAhZUa

Again, thank you for your patience while he navigate these unchartered waters. We hope to update you again soon.

Sincerely,

Manali Desai
SSHA President, 2020-21


April 14, 2021

Reminder:  SSHA 2021 Submission Deadline


March 16, 2021

2021 SSHA Call for Papers (extended deadline)

SSHA Call for Papers PDF




December 09, 2020

SSHA Zoom Meeting Registration


Dear Members of the Social Science History Association,

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Dec 10, 2020 at 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: SSHA Annual Business Meeting & Presidential Address

Please register through the following link:
https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ub_GgCsURJqjzgWvgmWfdQ

NOTE: After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.



November 27, 2020

Social Science History Association, 2020-2021 Election of Officers


SSHA is conducting an electronic election for officers. All current members are eligible to participate. The election closes December 8, 2020 at 11:59 PM (EST).

An email -- from: elections@vote-now.com -- was sent to all current SSHA members. Please refer to the links provided in that email for further information on your ballot, registration code, candidate biographies, and alternative ways to vote, i.e., by paper ballot or telephone.

It is not too late to renew your membership and receive a ballot to vote in the election! If you haven’t done so already, please renew your SSHA membership: SSHA membership registration website.



November 19, 2020

SSHA Annual Business Meeting and Presidential Address

PDF with active links



July 15, 2020

2020 SSHA Conference in Washington DC has been canceled


Dear SSHA Colleagues,

I’m writing with the unfortunate news that, based on the worsening COVID-19 environment in the United States, the SSHA Executive Committee has voted to cancel our 2020 annual conference. I want to thank the 2020 Program Committee Co-Chairs (Linda Reeder, Jonas Helgertz, Timothy Thurber, and Steven Sprick Schuster) and every SSHA Network Representative, for the hard work that went into preparing what was shaping up to be an excellent conference program. Your efforts are very much appreciated!

While I am sorry that we won’t be able to meet in person this fall, I want to especially note the Association’s regret to early career scholars and graduate students who were planning to present their work at the 2020 conference. We are already thinking ahead to 2021, and our plan is to make it easy to re-submit (or update) conference proposals from this year to next, to ease the process of participating in our 2021 annual meeting. Note that with annual SSHA conferences already scheduled in Philadelphia (2021) and Chicago (2022), we hope to reschedule our Washington location for our annual conference in 2023.

Please stay tuned for our plans for a virtual 2020 SSHA Presidential Address and Business Meeting. The work of the Association must go on and I look forward to interacting with many of you virtually in that setting! And if you haven’t yet renewed your annual membership in SSHA, now would be a good time.

Meanwhile, I hope each of you take steps to be well, and please accept my best wishes for the coming months.

Sincerely,

Phil Hoffman
SSHA President 2019-2020


June 15, 2020

SSHA Executive Committee Statement on Racism and History


Throughout the world, people have been outraged by George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police. They have protested and demanded action, for his death was simply the latest chapter in a long and painful history of injustice, discrimination, and violent oppression visited upon African Americans. Floyd’s death and the demonstrations that followed force us all to confront that history and to call for lasting change, change both in government policy and in our own behavior.

As officers and members of the executive committee of the Social Science History Association, we support the protestors who call for action and condemnation of acts of racism. We urge all members to reflect on the harm that our history causes African Americans, from deaths at the hands of the police to higher pandemic mortality rates and systemic inequality that keeps children from realizing their potential. And we ask members to consider too how their own silence may aggravate that harm.

Most of us will conclude that we have to do something. Some may redirect their research toward analyzing the sad consequences of our history. Others may choose to protest and to work for lasting reform.

Other academic organizations have issued statements about the tragic events in our country, their historical roots, and the need for change. We endorse the spirit of their suggestions, which may help us decide what course of action to take. Here are examples from associations of anthropologists, economists, historians, political scientists, and sociologists:

Whatever you decide to do, please do not simply stand on the sidelines.

SSHA Executive Committee



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