Friday, September 16, 2016

CFP: A Return to the Archives

[Whoever left?  But, seriously, we have the following CFP.  H/t: Jay Stewart.]

The Society for History in the Federal Government (SHFG) will hold its annual meeting on April 13, 2017, at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Building in Washington D.C.

Throughout its 37-year history, the SHFG has enjoyed a unique & fruitful relationship with the National Archives (NARA). As the primary steward of the nation’s records, NARA’s holdings are indispensable to federal historians and public history professionals across the nation. In turn, SHFG members have used NARA’s resources for official work duties and personal projects. Thus, the Society’s annual meeting will highlight the interplay among archivists, historical researchers, and public history professionals that enables a greater understanding of our collective past.

The program committee invites participants to broadly interpret the conference theme, “A Return to the Archives.” Topics might include: the impact of technology and archival resources on the sharing of public history; the challenges of managing and preserving data in a digital age; recent projects from local and state archives, special collections, and non-government archival collections; how archival repositories use the web for outreach and to promote their collections; the use of archival resources  in oral history programs; and research into the history of the federal government using archival sources.

The program committee invites entire panels and roundtables, as well as individual papers. We welcome proposals from graduate students, federal historians, public historians, archivists from varied institutions, oral historians, digital archivists, and scholars from other disciplines. We also welcome panels composed of practitioners from a variety of backgrounds and experiences in these topics.

Paper proposals should include a brief abstract of 250-300 words, a brief biographical paragraph for the presenter, and contact information. Panel proposals should include brief abstracts of each paper as well as biographical paragraphs and contact information for each presenter.  Deadline for proposals is November 15, 2016.

Please visit SHFG’s website for further information. Please send all correspondence, including questions and proposals, to shfgannualmeeting@gmail.com.