Call For Papers, Nominations, Applications For 2019

With less than a month left to go before this year’s annual PHA Conference (to be held in Lancaster, PA October 12-14), we are already beginning preparations for next year! October 17-19, 2019 in Indiana, PA will be here before we know it, so please take note of the following deadlines for papers, nominations, applications for next year.

Call for Papers: Constructing Citizenship and Community

The conference theme will be “Constructing Citizenship and Community,” but the program committee welcomes proposals on all aspects of Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic history. In addition to sessions focused on traditional scholarship, the program committee encourages panels that feature pedagogy, public history, or material culture. Roundtable discussions that foster audience involvement are welcome as well. Full session proposals are strongly preferred, but the committee will consider individual papers. Graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals. The PHA also supports student research with a poster session showcasing work focused on all aspects of Mid-Atlantic history.

All program participants must be PHA members at the time of the annual meeting.

Proposals must be submitted electronically by March 15, 2019.

For further information, please contact David Witwer, Professor of History and American Studies, Penn State Harrisburg at dxw44@psu.edu.

Call for Nominations: 2019 Pencak Award for Undergraduate Research

The award, named for Bill Pencak (1951–2013), a former editor of Pennsylvania History and a prolific scholar and much-loved Penn State University history professor, is designed to honor the year’s best written undergraduate paper in history.*

The Pencak Award includes a certificate from the Pennsylvania Historical Association for high achievement in Pennsylvania and mid-Atlantic history, a cash award of $150, and an opportunity for publication consideration on the Pennsylvania Historical Association’s website or in its journal, Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. Award recipients are encouraged to attend the Association’s annual conference in the fall to speak about their scholarship; however, the winner is not required to attend the conference in order to receive the award.

Submission Guidelines

1. Formal, original, completed scholarly research papers (with endnotes) on any subject in the history of Pennsylvania and/or the Mid-Atlantic are welcome. Papers must be a minimum of 5,000 words of text (about 15 pages) and a maximum of 10,000 words (about 25-30 pages), double spaced, using Times New Roman, 12-point font. Notes should be Endnotes (not Footnotes). Entries should conform to the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition. A review panel of historians will evaluate the overall quality of the scholarship, including historiography, methodology, argumentation, and readability.
2. Papers must have been written by undergraduate students attending colleges or universities during the 2018–2019 academic year.
3. Students whose papers were presented in the poster session at the annual fall conference are eligible to have their work submitted; however, student poster session winners may not also submit the formal research paper for this award.
4. For submission, papers must be nominated by and submitted by the professor(s) for whose courses students wrote them or professors who mentored the research or served as readers. Students may not nominate their own papers. Nominated papers should be grounded in primary sources and be truly outstanding in their contributions to historical knowledge.
5. Submission deadline, June 30, 2019. Professors should submit papers for nomination by email only to Dr. Carla J. Mulford at Pennsylvania State University, cjm5@psu.edu. The nomination packet should include: 1) a letter of nomination by the faculty member, and 2) a copy of the paper being nominated.

* The Pencak Award is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Historical Association. Donations to the award fund can be made online or be sent to Dr. Karen Guenther, PHA Business Secretary / P.O. Box 45 / Mansfield, PA 16933.

Call for Applicants: 2019 State Archives/PHA Scholars in Residence Program

The Pennsylvania State Archives and the Pennsylvania Historical Association invite applications for the 2019 Scholars in Residence Program. The Scholars in Residence Program provides support for up to four weeks of full-time research and study in manuscript and state record collections maintained by the Pennsylvania State Archives. Residency programs are open to all who are conducting research on Pennsylvania history, including academic scholars, public sector professionals, independent scholars, graduate students, educators, writers, filmmakers, and others. Residencies may be scheduled for up to four weeks at any time during the period June 17, 2019–August 16, 2019; stipends are awarded at the rate of up to $800 per week.

Applicants are encouraged to conceive of research topics related to Pennsylvania history. They are further encouraged to identify relevant archival collections, assess their availability and accessibility, and discuss their research agenda with appropriate staff prior to submitting a proposal. Because the State Archives is interested in making history meaningful and accessible to diverse audiences, research that is likely to result in widespread dissemination through nonspecialized publications, films, exhibitions, or other means is particularly welcome. Research topics that may have an impact on public policy are also most welcomed.

Applications will be evaluated by the following criteria: the significance of the research proposed; the clarity of the proposal; the quality of the work anticipated and the likelihood that the proposed project will be successfully completed; the relevance of the research topic to State Archives programs; the value of State Archives resources to the proposed topic, including the imaginative use of nontraditional sources; and plans for dissemination of the results of the research.

For a full description of the residency program and application materials, as well as information about State Archives research collections, go to the PHMC website. You may also email RA-PHMCScholars@state.pa.us or call: (717) 705-5785, or write:

Scholars in Residence Program
Pennsylvania State Archives
350 North Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0090

Deadline for application is February 15, 2019. Notification of awards will be made in early April. Please post or pass on to a colleague!

The Pennsylvania State Archives Scholars in Residence Program is made possible by the generous financial support of The Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation and the Pennsylvania Historical Association. The State Archives does not discriminate based on sex, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, or disability. Individuals with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation to participate in this program should contact the Archives at (717) 705-5785 or the Pennsylvania TDD relay service at (800) 654-5984 to discuss their needs.