Revolutionary Orbits, Revolutionary Arcs

The 29th Omohundro Institute annual conference will take place at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, from Thursday, June 11, through Saturday, June 13, 2026.

The program committee, co-chaired by Christian Ayne Crouch (Bard College) and Jessica Choppin Roney (Temple University and the Library Company of Philadelphia), invites papers on all topics in vast early American history. The committee is particularly eager to lean into the possibilities of 2026 as a unique time and Nashville as a unique vantage point from which to think about the multiple revolving arcs of revolutionary events. As the homeland of several sovereign Native polities, a space of intersecting imperial interests, and a core region of the US settler colonial project, Nashville offers an excellent venue to investigate diverse understandings of political genesis and the many ways in which revolutions link, connect, rupture, and alter.  We hope to center work on revolutions, plural, and on processes generated by their orbits in North America, the Americas, and even globally.

We encourage proposals that examine the ways in which historical transits intersect and consider how people create, adjust, adapt, resist, and exist in moments of transformative change – in politics, in economy, in philosophies, in religions, in social life. There are many different ways to consider these interventions, and so we invite multiple modalities for the presentation of work.

Session format options

Members of accepted panels should be prepared to commit either to holding a preliminary meeting with their fellow panelists a few weeks prior to the conference to discuss the themes and points of conversation (in the case of roundtables) or to have read one another’s papers (in the case of research panels) prior to the session.  Doing so creates fertile ground for more engaged discussion and conversation. 

We also expect that proposals for panels will include a confirmed chair/commentator.

• Mini-workshops of precirculated papers — registration required; attendance limit of 15 people per session. Papers (no more than 10-12 pages) are shared 24 hours in advance.  Registered participants and authors commit to attending a two-hour ‘library’ period on the day before the roundtable.  The OI will provide the ‘library’ space, along with tea, coffee, and cookies.  We encourage proposals that experiment with formats, but one possibility would be to start the session itself with a brief (no more than 10 minutes) comment on the papers and the issues that they put on the table; the rest of the session could feature a free-flowing conversation–moderated by the session chair–involving both authors and the registered audience members.  Workshops could center on primary-source research, the praxis of history writing including forms of scholarly writing other than conference papers (e.g., book reviews, curatorial pitches and exhibition wall copy, public history/historically informed op-eds, digital history interfaces), and teaching materials.
• Research Panels comprised of four participants, preferably three presenters of research and one person in the dual role of chair/commentator. To encourage group discussion, each presenter in a three-presenter panel should take no more than 15 minutes; in panels with four presenters, we expect those people will take no more than 10 minutes apiece. Each presenter should concisely introduce the argument and key evidence, with a minimum of quotations. And the comment should also take no more than 10 minutes. This will leave around thirty minutes for a more free-flowing discussion of questions and comments from all attending. Individual paper proposals are also welcome.
• We also welcome Roundtables that consider broad matters of interest to the field. In these round tables, the four participants should include one moderator to pose questions and facilitate conversation. That moderator should reserve 30 minutes for questions and comments from everyone attending.

The program committee may modify proposed panels to fit one of the formats.

How to submit your proposal

Proposals must be received electronically no later than Monday, December 15.

Paper proposals should include the following information: (1) a one-page summary of the paper, including a title (2) a one-page CV which states the applicant’s preferred email address. The submission format is Last name.First name_Paper_Title.

Panel proposals should be submitted by the organizer (who can be any of the panel participants) and include the following information: (1) a cover sheet that gives the panel title, a one-paragraph description of the panel, and a list of participants with each person’s role clearly stated (2) one-page summaries of each paper (3) one-page CVs for each participant. Each CV should include the participant’s preferred email address. The submission format is Last name.First name_Panel_Title of Session.

Roundtable and Mini-Workshop proposals should be submitted by the organizer (who can be any of the roundtable participants) and include the following information: (1) a cover sheet that gives the roundtable or workshop title, a one-paragraph description of the session, and a list of participants with each person’s role clearly stated (2) one-page CVs for each participant. Each CV should include the participant’s preferred email address. The submission format is Last name.First name_Roundtable_Title of Session or Last name.First name_MiniWorkshop_Title of Session. Please use the Roundtable upload option for either type of session when submitting your application.

APPLY HERE

 All submissions will be acknowledged by email. If you do not receive an acknowledgement or have questions about the submission process, please contact the Omohundro Institute at oieach [at] wm.edu.