We are pleased to invite proposals from graduate students in all disciplines for the thirteenth annual History In the Making conference at Concordia University in Montreal. The theme of the conference is Sources of Controversy: Innovative Sources, Unconventional Methods, and the Archive Reimagined. It will be held February 29 and March 1, 2008.

Historians are increasingly turning to unconventional source work to enable a deeper understanding of the past. Attention to material culture, visual culture, personal narratives, film, radio, music, architecture, the Internet, literature, and landscape, among other sources, has been essential to the expansion of historical knowledge. Similarly, many historians are applying non-traditional methods to traditional sources, drawing out innovative new meanings. In particular, the adoption of digital tools has transformed the way that we access and share the past. The place of archives is also being reconsidered. The power of archival institutions to structure historical memory and the limitations of such institutions have led many scholars to look beyond them for evidence of the past, while reimagining the very definition of an “archive.”

This conference will showcase such imaginative scholarship with the aim of encouraging a dialogue among emerging scholars about the future of historical source work and knowledge. Proposals are invited for papers that draw on innovative sources, repositories or methods. Scholarship on all time periods, regions and subject matter is welcome. Presentations need not make source work their focus; rather, their emphasis should be the critical analysis and historical knowledge that is the result of such methods. However, methodological papers will also be considered, including those that promote a defense of traditional source work.

Proposals for fifteen-minute presentations should not exceed 250 words and should be accompanied by a brief biography. The deadline for submissions is Friday January 11, 2008. Please send email attachments to himconference[at]gmail[dot]com. For further information, feel free to contact us at the same address, or visit www.himconference.ca .