The Society of Nineteenth Century Historians pursues scholarship in 19th century media history. Join us Nov. 13-15, 2025, for our signature event, the Sachsman Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press, now in its 33rd year.
2025 Call For Papers now available
Papers and panel proposals are invited for the 33rd Annual Sachsman Symposium on the 19th Century Press, to be held Nov. 13-15 at Augusta University. Deadline for submissions is Aug. 25, 2025.
For more information, please visit the 2025 Call for Papers: https://19thcenturyhistorians.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-CFP-.pdf
Symposium to be renamed in honor of Dr. David Sachsman
The Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression will be renamed in honor of its founder and tireless advocate, the late Dr. David Sachsman, the Society of Nineteenth Century Historians announced Nov. 8, 2024.
Beginning in 2025, the conference shall be known as the Sachsman Symposium on the 19th Century Press, a fitting tribute to an outstanding scholar and mentor.
2024 Symposium Highlights
Papers and Panels
The conference attracted contributions from coast to coast and as far away as Canada. Presenters and panelists joined in the hybrid format for a full three-day schedule that featured more than a dozen papers and six panels from scholars contributing in person and via Zoom.
Recognition for Excellence
One of the highlights of every conference is the opportunity to recognize excellence in scholarship and research brought to the conference by journalism historians and those qualifying for the Sachsman Family Award for Student Achievement.
Inaugural Hazel Dicken-Garcia Distinguished Lecture
This year’s program was fortunate to include renowned historians Vernon Burton and Harold Holzer presenting their unique and insightful perspectives on topics ranging from Reconstruction to Civil War Reputation.
Tour of Historic Augusta University Campus
Conference attendees were treated to a tour of the many points of interest including the Guard House Museum led by Museum Director, Stacey Thompson.
The Society of Nineteenth Century Historians is proud to announce the program for its 32nd Annual Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression, held Nov. 7-9, 2024, at Augusta University’s Jaguar Student Activities Center on the Summerville Campus. The conference featured paper and panel presentations covering a wide variety of topics and signature lectures by two renowned historians.
To learn more about this outstanding event, please visit the program schedule for details.
Free registration for the 2024 Symposium is now open
The Society of Nineteenth Century Historians invites you to register for the 32nd Annual Symposium to be held at Augusta University Nov. 7-9, 2024.
The conference schedule includes three days of outstanding scholarly presentations and panel discussions covering a wide variety of topics. In addition, this year two renowned historians will deliver signature lectures further enhancing the Symposium experience. To learn more, please visit our registration page located on our website.
The deadline for paper submissions is August 26. For more information, please refer to the Call for Papers on our website.
Esteemed historians Orville Vernon Burton and Harold Holzer will give signature lectures at the 32nd Annual Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press, the Civil War, and Freedom of Expression at Augusta University.
2024 Call for Papers
Learn more
Call for Papers: Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press, Civil War, and Free Expression
Nov. 7-9, 2024, in-person with a Zoom option upon request
Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia
The Society of Nineteenth Century Historians, in partnership with the Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Augusta University, presents the 32nd Annual Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression.
The Society invites panel and paper submissions dealing with media, broadly defined in the Nineteenth Century. Recent topics have included the Civil War of fiction and history, slavery and abolition, coverage of presidents and legislatures, the minority and foreign language press, the illustrated press, sensationalism, reporting on the arts, and spiritualism and the supernatural.
Podcast Episodes
Want to learn more about the Sachsman Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press and its scholarship and activities? Listen to a series of informative and interesting podcasts featured in Augusta University’s Research Report.
On this edition of the Research Report, Jim Ogden, the historian at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Parks, talks about doing history for the National Park Service. He discusses his own education and work at these two key Civil War battle sites with host David Bulla. Ogden participated in the 32nd Annual Sachsman Symposium on the 19th Century Press. The comments and opinions of the guest and host are purely their own, and not necessarily the views of Augusta University. This podcast is produced by Jaxon Garner, and Jasmine Garcia is the director of the TVC Lab on the Summerville Campus of AU.
On this edition of The Research Report, Lincoln scholars Orville Vernon Burton of Clemson University and Greg Borchard of UNLV talk about research on Abraham Lincoln. Burton is the author of The Age of Lincoln, and Borchard is the author of Lincoln Mediated and Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley. They discuss with host David Bulla what upcoming Lincoln research they are working on–and what is still needed in Lincoln studies. Burton and Borchard were in Augusta as participants in the 32nd annual Sachsman Symposium on the 19th Century Press. The comments and opinions of the guests and host are purely their own, and not necessarily the views of Augusta University. This podcast is produced by Jaxon Garner, and Jasmine Garcia is the director of the TVC Lab on the Summerville Campus of AU. The Research Report will soon have another episode with researchers at the Sachsman Symposium on the 19th Century Press:
On this edition of The Research Report, Katrina Quinn, professor at Slippery Rock University, talks with David Bulla about her book The Civil War Soldier and the Press. Quinn wrote the book with the late David Sachsman and Dea Lisica. It is the latest in a series of books from the Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression. It is published by Routledge:
Dianne Bragg, Hub Burton, and Jennifer Moore join David Bulla for a discussion about the history of the Symposium on the 19th Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression, which was started in the early 1990s by Dr. David Sachsman at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Sachsman was the West Chair of Excellence in the Department of Communication at UTC, and he ran the conference for three decades. A generation of mass communication historians cut their teeth at the conference, and the panelists discuss its impact on their careers. Bragg is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Alabama; Burton is a retired administrator from the University of Maine, and Moore is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Minnesota at Duluth. The Research Report is produced by Jasmine Garcia and Ethan Balducci. It is recorded in the TVC Lab at Augusta
University. It is a production of the AU Department of Communication, for which Bulla serves as chair: