events events

University of Pittsburgh, June 13–15, 2019

“The Local and the Global: Scales of Vast Early America”

Download a PDF of the conference program HERE.

JOIN us on Twitter at #OIAnnual2019.

Thursday schedule

Friday schedule

Saturday schedule

From the Call for Proposals

The program committee, chaired by Molly Warsh (University of Pittsburgh) and including Tara Bynum (Hampshire College), Elizabeth Ellis (New York University), Niklas Frykman (University of Pittsburgh), and Fabrício Prado (William & Mary), invites papers that consider the relationship between the local and the global in shaping a vast early American history. Inspired by the role that local conflicts in the Pittsburgh area played in triggering the global Seven Years’ War, we particularly welcome proposals that consider the relevance of the global turn in early American history and that engage critically with geographically-bounded frames of reference (be they regional, continental, hemispheric, oceanic, or global). We further encourage proposals that creatively recognize the importance of typically marginalized subjects in the interplay between local and global events, including, but not limited to new research on race, ethnicity, slavery, gender, sexuality, class, Native studies, environmental studies, and free and coerced labor and migration. We are keen to receive proposals that employ new methods and techniques in exploring micro- and macro-dimensions of historical change, drawing, for example, on work in the digital humanities or scholarship on material culture and materiality.

MEETING SPACE

The conference will take place on the main campus of the University of Pittsburgh in the William Pitt Union.
Coffee service will be provided during both full conference days and receptions will follow the afternoon plenary sessions on both Friday and Saturday nights.

We also are pleased to welcome back Michael McGandy of Cornell University Press and Robert Lockhart of the University of Pennsylvania Press, as well as welcome Pennsylvania State University Press, to our book exhibit. You can see books published by these presses and more in the Lower Lounge (near the coffee station and registration table).

CONFERENCE HOTEL

The conference hotel is the Wyndham Pittsburgh University Center, 100 Lytton Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213. The date to reserve rooms at the conference rate has passed but accommodations may still be available at the hotel. Call (412) 682-6200 to speak with a reservation agent.

Single dorm rooms in 3-4 bedroom apartments with a shared living room and kitchen are available in the University of Pittsburgh’s Bouquet Gardens complex for $33 per night. The price includes linens and towels. You can book the rooms online here.

PROGRAM AND APP

All conference attendees will receive an abbreviated printed program for quick reference when they pick up their registration packets.

Download our free conference app for up-to-the-minute news on the conference. To find us, download the GUIDEBOOK app and then search for “OI 25th annual conference.” (Please make sure to use the full phrase to find the guide.) Make sure to check in once you download the guide so that other attendees can message you!

WIFI ACCESS

All attendees have access to the University of Pittsburgh’s wifi under the WIRELESS-PITTNET-FAST network. Enter username oi2019 and password #pitt2019.

PARKING

Attendees can park in the Solider at Sailors Parking Garage across the street from WPU for a fee. Handicapped parking is available in the garage.

Attendees staying at the Bouquet Gardens can park in the Sennott Square Garage.

RESTAURANT RECOMMENDATIONS

As noted in the New York TimesPittsburgh is a “vibrant cultural and artistic hub… true to its Rust Belt roots.” Here are some restaurant recommendations from Pittsburgh locals:

COST

An all-inclusive fee of $100 will be charged to all tenured and tenure-eligible faculty members (TTEs). Non-TTEs (public historians, independent scholars, instructors, and emeriti faculty) are asked to pay $40 each. Students (graduate and undergraduate) and adjunct instructors are asked to pay $35 each.

THANKS

The Omohundro Institute and the conference program committee would like to acknowledge the following groups for their support of this conference.

  • Atlantic History program, University of Pittsburgh
  • Early Modern Worlds program, University of Pittsburgh
  • World History Center, University of Pittsburgh
  • Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
  • Department of English, University of Pittsburgh
  • Department of History, University of Pittsburgh
  • Department of the History of Art & Architecture, University of Pittsburgh
  • Institute for Thomas Paine Studies, Iona College