2025 NASOH Conference, May 15-17, Natchez, Mississippi

The North American Society for Oceanic History invites you to join us at the Grand Hotel in Natchez, Mississippi for our 2025 conference from May 15-17. 

For thousands of years, a vast complex of inland waters shaped the lives and cultures of indigenous North Americans. These same waters allowed European states to establish and maintain outposts of empire thousands of miles from the Atlantic Ocean. During the early decades of the nineteenth century, inland waters made it possible for millions of Euro-Americans to move west and establish the cities and farms that became the foundations of North America’s modern agricultural and industrial economies. 

This year NASOH is recognizing the complicated historical legacy of North America’s inland waters by meeting at Natchez, Mississippi. Located on the Mississippi River at the western terminus of the Natchez Trace, an overland trail connecting the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers, Natchez was a natural point of exchange and location of important Indigenous ceremonial mounts. The French, recognizing the area’s importance-built Fort Rosalie in 1716. The present city is named after the Natchez Indians, and its subsequent culture and history are the products of Indigenous, French, English, Spanish, African, and American influences. A natural stopping place and base for keelboats and flatboats, and later steamboats, Natchez became the first capital of the Mississippi Territory and the second-largest slave trading market in the United States. Celebrated for its surviving antebellum architecture and southern heritage, Natchez is also a testament to the enduring and pervasive influences of maritime connections and inland waters in North America.

Session and individual paper proposals are encouraged. Sessions should have no more than 4 papers. 

Proposals should include: A) title; B) 150-200 word abstract; C) a 150 word (maximum) biographical statement; D) contact information, including phone number, address, affiliation, and email. This information should be submitted as a single Word document (not Pdf), single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font. 

Please note that conference registration is required for papers. 

PowerPoint presentations are encouraged, and projectors will be provided. Please note that requests for specific audio-visual equipment, special outlets, or accommodation for disabilities should be included in the proposal. 

The deadline for proposal submission is February 28, 2025. Please submit proposal packets electronically to NASOHconference25@gmail.com

For general questions, please contact Dr. Amy Mitchell-Cook, amitchellcook@uwf.edu

Student Travel Grants

Students may apply for a Chad Smith Travel Grant to assist in travel to present a paper at the conference. Additionally, each year NASOH bestows the Clark G. Reynolds Student Paper Award to the author of the best graduate student paper delivered at the conference.  Please see the awards section of the NASOH website for details. Students wishing to be considered for either award must indicate so as part of their paper proposal.  

For more information about these grants, please go to: https://nasoh.org/student-awards