Call for Papers: The 2020 Society for History in the
Federal Government Annual Meeting,
“Stories from the Heart of Government: Politics and History”

Deadline: November 29, 2019

The Society for History in the Federal Government (SHFG) will hold a joint annual meeting with  the Oral History in the MidAtlantic Region (OHMAR) on March 13-14, 2020, at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education at Shepherdstown, WV. The 2020 Annual Meeting continues the Society’s 40th Anniversary commemoration. 

The program committee encourages a broad interpretation of the conference theme “Stories from the Heart of Government: Politics and History,” and welcomes submissions that deal with any aspect of federal government history. 

Questions to consider include:

• How do historians research and explore the stories of federal history and federal history offices?
• What specific research challenges do we face in telling the stories of the federal government?
• How can federal historians and practitioners who study federal history better promote and explain the importance of federal history to the general public? 
• How do federal historians use oral histories to capture and tell stories that supplement or contradict the official record? 
• How do federal history offices develop oral history collection policies to tell new and underrepresented stories in their agency’s histories?

The SHFG Annual Meeting is open to all scholars interested in federal history, including those working outside of the federal government and Washington, D.C. area. We encourage proposals from federal historians, graduate students, 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. 

Submission Process: 

The Program Committee invites proposals for complete panels and roundtables, as well as for individual papers. The Program Committee will consider proposals for entire panels and roundtables before reviewing individual papers. 

Panel and roundtable proposals should include a panel title and session abstract (200-300 words), brief abstracts of each presentation (200-300 words), and biographical paragraphs and contact information for each presenter. Individual paper proposals should include a brief abstract (200-300 words), a brief biographical paragraph for the presenter, and contact information. All proposals should be submitted by using this google form. 

Please direct any questions to the conference planning committee at shfg.primary@gmail.com