In the April 1994 issue of the American Historical Review Alan Brinkley lamented that “while historians have displayed impressive powers of imagination in creating empathetic accounts of the past, they have seldom done so in considering the character of conservative lives and ideas.” He admitted that part of the reason for this myopia was that most academics today are not conservatives; nevertheless, Brinkley challenged them to stretch their “historical imagination” in giving fair consideration to this important tradition.

Historians have in recent years risen to Brinkley’s challenge, and the result has been a new wave of scholarship on the American Right—some of the best of which, it should be added, has been written by non-conservatives. Of particular interest has been the origins of the so-called “New Right” that asserted itself in the presidential nomination of Barry Goldwater in 1964, and in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. It is the spirit of this conservative movement that continues to animate large sections of the American electorate today.

To capitalize on this development—and in recognition of the 200th anniversary of Ohio statehood and the 125th anniversary of Ashland University—the AU Department of History and Political Science will be holding a conference, in partnership with Ashland University’s John M. Ashbrook Center, dedicated to the historical evolution of modern conservatism.