Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 5-7, 2025

“Information and Communications in Economic History” is the theme of the 2025 meeting. The theme is inspired in part by Allan Pred’s classic work on the “Urban Growth and the Circulation of Information” and by the location of the meetings in Philadelphia, headquarters and key hub of the first postal system in the United States. “Spreading the news” helped encourage the creation and diffusion of new technologies, stimulated market integration and population flows, and fostered the dissemination of new social values and norms. But information flows and their control also re-enforced systems of oppression. Economic historians, moreover, are familiar with how the structure and content of information was generated in the past conditions and constrains what we can learn today. The surviving quantitative data and qualitative evidence are selected, with possible biases; and they are structured in ways reflecting past concerns and capabilities. Research exploring how information flows and communication systems of the past impact our current understanding also fits within the conference theme, as does work engaging with and reflecting on the ongoing information explosion in economic history.

The Program Committee, chaired by Hoyt Bleakley (University of Michigan), welcomes submissions on all subjects in economic history, though some preference will be given to papers that fit the theme of the conference. Papers should be submitted individually, but authors may suggest to the Committee that three particular papers fit well together in a panel. Papers should in all cases be works in progress rather than accepted or published work. Submitters should let the program committee know at the time of application if the paper they are proposing has already been submitted for publication. Individuals who presented or co-authored a paper given at the 2024 meeting are not eligible for inclusion in the 2025 program. To submit a paper, use the following URL: https://eh.net/2025eha-meeting-proposal-2/. Paper proposals must include a 1,000-word proposal with a 150–word abstract suitable for publication in the Journal of Economic History. Paper URLs can be provided within the form above, but no attachments will be allowed. Paper proposals should be submitted by January 31, 2025, to ensure consideration. Please note that at least one of the authors must be an active member of the EHA at the time of submission. If you have difficulty with the form, please reach out to Jeremy Land at jeremy.land@helsinki.fi.

Graduate students are encouraged to attend the meeting. A poster session welcomes work from dissertations in progress. The poster submission system will open on February 1, 2025. Applications for the poster session are due no later than April 15, 2025, online on the meetings website. The dissertation session, convened by Joshua Hausman (University of Michigan) and Leigh Gardner (London School of Economics), will honor six dissertations completed during the 2024-2025 academic year. The submission deadline is May 31, 2025. The Allan Nevins and Alexander Gerschenkron prizes will be awarded to the best dissertations on North American and non-North American topics respectively. To be eligible for the prizes, you must be a current EHA member at the time of submission. Dissertations should be submitted via the form at the following URL: https://eh.net/2025-dissertation-submission-form/. The form will also ask for 150-word abstract to be used for the program, if chosen as a finalist. For files above 10MB, the application form will include a space for a URL or link to download the full dissertation.

More details and information are in the call for papers