Smita Ghosh’s recent post on a one-off conference at Columbia University and Karen’s recent tweet inviting posts on legal history panels at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians prompt me to second Karen and also to invite submissions of comments delivered on such occasions, revised so that non-attendees can catch your drift. Of course, many comments really should not escape the airless confines of a conference room because they were delivered in a disciplinary setting to help colleagues improve not-ready-for-prime-time works in progress. Some comments, though, include quick reviews or characterizations of the field that can help new entrants acquire a sense of the lay of the land. I’m thinking especially of a few of the comments delivered on Thursday and Friday at a small, state-of-the-field conference on the history of the federal judiciary at the Federal Judicial Center, where Clara Altman (formerly an LHB blogger!) directs the History Office.
Having issued the invitation, though, I should also acknowledge that some comments ought to be worked up not as blog posts but full-blown review essays. I wouldn’t want LHB, by providing a tempting way to publish the good, to become the enemy of publishing the best somewhere else. Still, if, when attending, say, the upcoming Policy History Conference or annual meeting of the Law and Society Association (with its Law and History Collaborative Research Network), you see (or say) something of general interest to legal historians, feel free to see whether we would like you to say something about it on LHB.
