The conference’s theme is “A Great Community of Labor and Production: The Synthesis of Southern Industrialization from the Antebellum Period to the 21st Century and Beyond.”

The keynote speaker for the conference is Stanley L. Engerman, the John H. Munro Professor of Economics and Professor of History at the University of Rochester. He is coauthor, with Robert William Fogel, of Time on the Cross, winner of the Bancroft Prize in 1974. He is also coauthor, with Lance E. Davis, of Naval Blockades in Peace and War: An Economic History since 1750 and has written or coedited numerous works on slavery and American and British history.

SIP is interested in receiving proposals on topics from all periods of Southern history including the more recent technologically advanced industries of the 21st century.

Papers may address the following or related topics:

1) Case studies that reflect a new synthesis of labor and industrialization in Southern economic history.
2) The impact of industrialization on rural-urban dynamics in the Southern United States.
3) The incorporation of new historiography into general descriptions of southern history.
4) The interpretation of Southern industrialization in a public history environment.
5) In-migration and out-migration as a result of industrialization.
6) The role of the military-industrial complex in the Southern economic development
7) Branch plants, such as in automobile manufacturing, in the American South.
8) The role of state or local governmental agencies, or of non-governmental organizations, in attracting and keeping Southern industries.
9) Studies of new forms of industrialization for the South.
10) The role of the transportation industry in changing the spatial patterns of the region.
11) The role of Southern industrial entrepreneurship in shaping the South’s economy.

Organized in 1996, the Southern Industrial History Project (SIP) seeks to foster a greater understanding of the history and culture of industrialization in the American South. SIP operates the H-Southern-Industry discussion list on H-Net, with more than 200 academic and public historians with research interests that encompass many industries, eras, and geographic locations. SIP also sponsors a book series, "New Currents in the History of Southern Economy and Society," published by the University of Missouri Press. While we meet at the SHA as an affiliated organization each year to hear scholarly papers and to propose methods for promoting research in Southern industrial history, we also occasionally sponsor a stand alone conference such as this one.

To apply, please send a single page CV and single page paper abstract to the address below.

Submission Deadline is April 15, 2008