The 2020 Call For Papers, “Stories at the Heart of Government: Politics and Oral History,†is currently out for submissions. OHMAR is excited to be holding this year’s conference jointly with the Society for History of the Federal Government at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education in Shepherdstown, WV from March 13-14, 2020.

OHMAR encourages presenters to interpret the conference theme creatively in the context of their own work and community projects. This year, we will, as usual, run concurrent panel sessions; however we plan to dedicate one track to papers related to the theme “Politics and Oral History.†The second concurrent track will accept papers related to any oral history work being done by practitioners located in the Mid-Atlantic Region, or the subject of which is the Mid-Atlantic Region. Proposals for this track are not beholden to the overall conference theme.

We hope this year’s theme will inspire conversations on the practice of oral history within, outside and about the government at every level. Submissions can address how subjects have shaped the government from within whether they were leaders working in the political arena or historians conducting oral histories within their organizations. This year’s theme also addresses those outside of the government such as activists who have worked to change the government or worked to alter how the government impacts individuals or organizations.

The program committee invites proposals for panels, roundtables, individual papers, and posters. OHMAR also invites proposals for the 2020 conference program cover design. To find out more about submission requirements: https://ohmar.org/2020-annual-conference-call-for-papers-and-designs/. 

Mattea Sanders is a historian at the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program and an OHMAR board member.