The Shattuck Colonial American History Symposium

A bi-annual forum for scholars who explore the colonial and revolutionary history of America. The symposium features prominent scholars in early American history as keynote speakers. The symposium also invites public historians to lead interactive discussions about multi-disciplinary ways of engaging history.

Call for Papers

Call for Papers
The Shattuck Colonial American History Symposium
California State University, Sacramento
March 18-20, 2026

As part of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Shattuck Colonial American History Symposium will take place on the campus of California State University, Sacramento from March 18-20, 2026. Hosted by the Department of History at Sac State and the Peter H. Shattuck Endowment, the aim of the conference is to encourage reflection, discourse, and critical thinking about the past, the Declaration of Independence, its meaning, its history, and its legacy by bringing together historians, scholars, and students in meaningful discussions.

We welcome traditional and non-traditional papers and panels that examine the Declaration and early American history from 1607 to 1826. The theme is Becoming Americans.

To stimulate broad participation, we also welcome papers and panels for virtual sessions.

Please submit your paper or panel proposals to Mrs. Vicenza Weeks, the Shattuck Endowment Coordinator, at moscariello@csus.edu.

The new submission deadline is February 25, 2026. Include “The Shattuck Colonial American History Symposium” in the subject line. Submissions should include:

• The title of the paper or panel.
• An abstract of no more than 500 words.
• Contact information and affiliation for each presenter.

Participants will be notified of acceptance by Monday, March 6.

We are pleased to announce that our keynote speaker will be Dr. Carter L. Hudgins, Professor Emeritus, Clemson University. Dr. Hudgins's research examines historic preservation, vernacular architecture in early America, and the early modern material culture of the Atlantic rim.

We are also pleased to announce that the organizers of the Freedom Seekers database project (https://freedom-seekers.org) will be leading a panel about how digital humanities can reveal new stories about the Black experience in early America.

For more information, please contact Dr. Antonio T. Bly, the symposium organizer and the Peter H. Shattuck Endowed Chair in Colonial American History at antonio.bly@csus.edu.

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” L.P. Hartley.

Peter H. Shattuck Research Assistantship

The Shattuck Research Assistant offers promising Sac State graduate students an opportunity to developing research skills using traditional and digital archival sources.

Peter H. Shattuck Undergraduate Scholarship

A scholarship for junior and senior history majors in good academic standing.

Elizabeth Shattuck Resource Fund

The Shattuck Resource Fund is a philanthropic fund for students majoring in History who face financial or other barriers to completing their education. The Fund, at the discretion of the department, will purchase textbooks, school supplies and other academic resources required within the History department for both research and school.

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