On-line proposal submissions can be entered at
http://ssha.org/ssha2005/index.html. (Select Panel or Individual Paper proposal links from the menu on the left.)

The deadlines for proposals are February 2, 2005 for individual papers and for complete sessions, February 16, 2005.

If you have questions, please contact Philip Brown at
(SSHA-Rural@columbus.rr.com) or Peter Coclanis at coclanis@unc.edu.

The full description of this year's theme follows for your information, but panels and papers need not be limited to this theme.

While traditional sessions and roundtables will form the bulk of the program, the 2005 theme on “Big Social Science History,” initiated by incoming President Richard Steckel of the Economics, Anthropology and History Departments at Ohio State University, explores the practice, prospects and results of large collaborative research projects within and across disciplines active within SSHA. At its inception in 1974, the Social Science History Association declared a goal of “Fostering the retrieval and archiving of quantitative historical data for general scholarly use and its processing in data series of wide applicability.” After three decades of practice, it is time to place this declaration in perspective. How does social science history compare with other branches of academia in its embrace of large interdisciplinary projects? What do large projects provide that cannot be achieved by isolated individual efforts? How have the costs and benefits of collaborative work changed in recent decades? What have social science historians accomplished, and how were their successful projects organized and conducted? What leadership qualities are important for success? What are the trends in funding large projects by research agencies? What are the obstacles and challenges for large projects with regard to logistics and coordination; departmental recognition; publication; graduate student participation; and placement? What promising research opportunities of big social science history can be identified within and across networks? What projects are in the planning stages or underway? What are the important achievements of large interdisciplinary projects? Networks are encouraged to imagine the research program they would conduct with a multi-million dollar grant.

The SSHA program is developed through networks of people interested in particular topics or approaches to interdisciplinary history. Paper and session proposals should be submitted to the appropriate SSHA network(s). Current networks, their representatives, and contact information are listed below

If you are not certain about which network to send your proposal to, ask the representatives of the network closest to your interests, or ask the program co-chairs. *As in the past, all proposals will be handled electronically, at the SSHA website: http://www.ssha.org/. *

Contributors should take note of the following SSHA rules and traditions:

• Panels should represent more than one discipline and institution.
• Panels that include material from more than one place or time are particularly welcome.
• To maximize the number of participants, individuals may present no more than one paper and participate in no more than two sessions.
• Panels co-sponsored by two or more networks are encouraged.

Also, please remember that all panel submissions must include *complete *information on all participants (such as names, department, institution, address, phone, and email). In addition, to organize a session, you will need the following information: session title, type of session (papers or roundtable), network affiliation, audio-visual needs, paper titles and brief abstract for each paper. Missing information will make it impossible to complete the online submission process.

Proposals for individual papers are due on February 2, 2005 and for complete sessions on February 16, 2005. Prior discussion with network representatives is encouraged. Notification of acceptance or rejection of proposals may be expected by *April 29, 2005*. All participants on the 2005 SSHA Program will be required to pre-register http://www.ssha.org/ssha2003/reg.html> for the conference *and* to join the SSHA (if not already members.)

*SSHA-Rockefeller Graduate Student Travel Awards* will be offered to thirty graduate students to subsidize their participation in the 2005 program. Applications are due by *Monday March 7, 2005**.* Papers with non-student co-authors are not eligible. Students should apply for the awards online at http://www.ssha.org/ssha2005/travelgrants.html and also submit conference paper or session proposals to the program committee as usual. The application for the travel award must include the following information for all authors:* *name of all authors, institution and department, postal address, email address, and abstract of paper (250 word maximum).* * A committee appointed by the President of SSHA will judge applications.