Nearly four dozen scholars will present their media history research at the 34th Annual Sachsman Symposium on the 19th Century Press, sponsored by the Society of Nineteenth Century Historians Nov. 13-15, 2026, in Augusta, Georgia.
You can see the draft program here.
Panels will explore topics of historical and contemporary interest, including nineteenth-century media law and ethics, the Black press at 200, the Irish American press, and digital innovations that promote access and engagement with historical media.
Sessions will explore topics such as personalities and power in the nineteenth-century press; coverage of war, slavery, and prisons; and, in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, media narratives—and counter-narratives—of Independence Day in the nineteenth century.
The program also features the Hon. Erica L. Woodford, Esq., Bibb County Superior Court clerk, as the 2026 Hazel Dicken-Garcia Distinguished Lecturer. Woodford will present her work in preserving historical records in the Enslaved People Project.
Participants are invited to join the Society for networking opportunities and a tour of Camp Lawton, the site of a Confederate POW camp near Millen, Georgia.
All sessions are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Please complete your registration here.
Children sell newspapers in New York City 1909. Photo by Lewis Hine. Library of Congress