Call for Papers SHEAR Annual Meeting 2024

The Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) issued a call for papers for their 45thannual meeting that will convene in Philadelphia from July 18 – 21, 2024.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the meeting of the First Continental Congress at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia. The Program Committee would like to mark this moment as an opportunity to analyze the contingency of 1774 and other turning points in early American history.

The Program Committee invites proposals for sessions and papers that explore all aspects of the history and culture of an expansive early American republic, its transnational connections, and Native nations.

Encouraged submissions from SHEAR:

  • Analyze unrest, protest, and forms of dissent
  • Explore competing notions of sovereignty
  • Examine meanings of rights and representation
  • Investigate multiple American republics
  • Feature interdisciplinary methods and wide-ranging sources
  • Speak to the importance of archives
  • Address key historiographical questions and/or pressing contemporary issues
    • Reflect the diversity of the past and expand narratives of the early American republic to highlight Indigenous, Black, queer, and global histories
    • Focus on pedagogy, the historical profession, or public history, including digital humanities and other alternative methodologies
  • Take nontraditional forms, such as centering audience participation, sharing pre-circulated papers, or assessing the state of a given field.

The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2023. For more information on proposals and submissions, please click here.