19th Century Historians

” Unexplained” Call for Papers

Conferences

Conferences

Announcement of 2025 Elections for the Board of the Society of Nineteenth Century Historians

Please follow the link below to learn more!

CLICK HERE

Registration for the 2025 Sachsman Symposium Now Open

 

The Society of Nineteenth Century Historians invites you to register for the 33rd Annual Sachsman Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press set for the campus of Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia, November 13-15, 2025.

The conference schedule includes three days of outstanding scholarly presentations and panel discussions covering a wide variety of topics. In addition, Dr. Angela M. Zombek, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Civil War Era at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington will present the Hazel Dicken-Garcia Lecture further enhancing the Symposium experience.

REGISTER TODAY

Society Announces Sachsman Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press

The Thirty-Second Annual Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression recently concluded on the Augusta University campus highlighted by the Society of Nineteenth Century Historians dedicating the conference in honor of its founder and tireless advocate, the late Dr. David Sachsman. Henceforth, the conference shall be known as the Sachsman Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press, a fitting tribute to an outstanding scholar and mentor.

Here are some other highlights!

Special Call for Conference Papers/Book Chapters

Call for Conference Papers/Book Chapters

Unexplained! Negotiating the Supernatural in the 19th Century Press

The Symposium Steering Committee invites papers exploring how newspapers spread news about the unexplained. The press created a forum for ideas concerning reality, and, therein, a stage for imagining the outcomes of relying on either science or the supernatural solely for answers. No doubt both served a purpose in building a society where a sense of belonging empowered citizens to develop their potential. Editors published supernatural news items, comments, poems, fictional narratives, illustrations, ads, reviews, and other things often without judging the material. They empowered readers to think freely about forbidden or perverse subjects.

Papers and panel presentations will be considered, with author permission, for inclusion in Unexplained! Negotiating the Supernatural in the 19th Century Press.

Topics include but are not limited to Spiritualism (a popular religious movement suggesting that the dead could communicate with the living), stories about the occult, sightings of fairies and other preternatural beings, and paranormal themes as they appeared in the 19th century press. Because the “supernatural” refers to things visible outside of the physical world or occurring beyond the laws of nature, papers may highlight its many facets (witchcraft, tarot card reading, omens and premonitions, dreams, nightmares, or bizarre weather phenomenon, like crickets pouring from the sky). Writers may pursue earthly manifestations (vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, gods, goddesses, and monsters of all sorts as well as gothic elements that reveal “the macabre, mysterious, or violent.”

We welcome papers dealing with press coverage of celebrities or journalists involved in uncanny pursuits and also seek papers that reflect paranormal beliefs from around the world. Authors may analyze newspapers, magazines, ads, and cartoons, using any methodology or theoretical approach to study supernatural topics in the 19th century press. Research may also analyze aspects of popular culture (e.g., songs and plays, stereopticon slides, magic lantern shows, or dime novels) covered in the press.

For more information please contact:

PAULETTE KILMER

University of Toledo

pkilmer@rockets.utoledo.edu

DEBBIE VAN TYULL

Augusta University

DVANTYULL@augusta.edu

BRIAN GABRIAL

Northwestern State University of Louisiana

gabrialb@nsula.edu

Announcement of 2025 Elections for the Board of the Society of Nineteenth Century Historians

Please follow the link below to learn more!

CLICK HERE

Registration for the 2025 Sachsman Symposium Now Open

 

The Society of Nineteenth Century Historians invites you to register for the 33rd Annual Sachsman Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press set for the campus of Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia, November 13-15, 2025.

The conference schedule includes three days of outstanding scholarly presentations and panel discussions covering a wide variety of topics. In addition, Dr. Angela M. Zombek, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Civil War Era at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington will present the Hazel Dicken-Garcia Lecture further enhancing the Symposium experience.

REGISTER TODAY

Society Announces Sachsman Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press

The Thirty-Second Annual Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression recently concluded on the Augusta University campus highlighted by the Society of Nineteenth Century Historians dedicating the conference in honor of its founder and tireless advocate, the late Dr. David Sachsman. Henceforth, the conference shall be known as the Sachsman Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press, a fitting tribute to an outstanding scholar and mentor.

Here are some other highlights!