Call for Papers: 66th Annual Conference of the Society for the History of Discoveries

66th Annual Conference 

The Society for the History of Discoveries

Call for Papers

Mountains as Sites of Myth, Barriers, and Exploration

Mountains have long fascinated people, acting as sites of exploration, conflict, and discovery.  From the famed Mount Olympus of the Greek gods to the Rocky Mountains of the western United States frontier, and to the fantastical mountains found in cartography, they have mystified and captivated, both halting and encouraging progress. In honor of our location at the foot of the Rockies in beautiful Downtown Denver, Colorado, our theme for the 66th Annual Meeting encourages scholars to consider mountains as sites of human encounter with each other and nature alike. 

The Society for the History of Discoveries invites papers, 20 minutes in length, on all aspects of the relationship between mountains and exploration broadly conceived --  exploration, discovery, maps and mapmaking, scientific explorations, landscape, conflict, and all aspects of cultural encounters and mythmaking.  SHD welcomes proposals from scholars and independent researchers and is particularly interested in submissions from graduate students and emerging scholars. While papers aligned with the conference theme are preferred, the selection committee will consider all paper proposals of high quality related to the themes of geographic explorations and discoveries from a variety of perspectives, as well as on the teaching of the history of exploration and encounter, broadly defined.

The audience at SHD meetings is diverse and includes academics and members of various professions who are interested in the processes and consequences of geographical exploration and discovery. Presenters are encouraged to use images (maps, paintings, photographs, etc.). For the benefit of the audience, any visuals presentations will be PowerPoint-compatible projections.

Please provide a proposal that includes the following components:

• The title of the presentation

• The author’s name and address, including email address and affiliation

•. An abstract summarizing the paper’s scope and conclusions (maximum of 500 words)

•  A statement about the originality of the contents of the paper:  How much is new, unpublished material, based on research in primary sources

•  A brief biographical sketch of the author(s)

Paper proposals are due April 15, 2025,  and should be submitted via the SHD website (discoveryhistory.org) by clicking PAPER SUBMITTAL FORM below: 

PAPER SUBMITTAL FORM

Inquiries should be sent to Cortney Berg, SHD Secretary: cberg@gradcenter.cuny.edu.