A look behind, a look ahead
SEASECS in 2024 and 2025
2024 in Review
2024 was a busy year for the Society! Our 50th Annual Meeting, held on the beautiful campus of Furman University in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, was our most well-attended conference in years. Despite the dreary weather, attendees were able to participate in a range of scholarly, cultural, and collegial activities, including visiting Furman’s Rare Book Collection, taking a group bike ride on the renowned Swamp Rabbit Trail, and playing a micro-session of the Reacting to the Past game “Rousseau, Burke, and Revolution in France, 1791.”
Our first silent auction, held during the reception following Carolyn Day’s inspiring plenary on Anne Beach, raised an impressive $1000 for graduate student travel! Thank you to everyone who bid in the auction and especially to all who donated their artwork, books, crafts, and other objects to be auctioned.
Thank you, too, to everyone who helped organize and support SEASECS 2024, including conference organizer Nathan Brown; Furman’s Dean of Faculty, Jeremy Cass; and the staff of Younts Conference Center.
Savannah 2025
We are very much looking forward to this year’s conference, which will be held at The Desoto in Savannah, Georgia, from February 6–8. Underwater archaeologist and historian Kurt Knoerl and architectural historian Celeste Guichard will present our plenary addresses, and Christopher Hendricks will lead a walking tour of historical Savannah on Thursday afternoon. Martha Bowden will host her annual workshop on writing and submitting pedagogy articles to NPEC (also on Thursday afternoon), and David Eick and others will lead a pedagogy workshop on “Reacting to the Past” (RTTP) from 9:00–3:00 on Thursday.
Conference & Workshop Registration
Conference registration is open, so please register soon if you haven’t already! If you are interested in attending the RTTP workshop, pre-registration is required. You can register for the workshop at the same time you complete your conference registration, or, if you’ve already registered for the conference, you can register for the workshop separately using the same form. There is a $50 fee for the workshop, which includes lunch.
John Vance Memorial
As most of you likely know, John Vance, our long-time colleague and friend, passed away in September. One of the most memorable moments from our 2024 conference was the witty, heartfelt history of SEASECS John regaled us with during the member luncheon. He will be dearly missed.
Misty Anderson and Martha Bowden are organizing a tribute to John during the Friday evening reception in Savannah. We hope everyone will be able to attend.
Business Meeting & Voting on Amendments
Along with our two evening receptions, two meals are included with your conference registration: the Friday member luncheon and the Saturday business meeting breakfast. At this year’s business meeting, we will vote on three proposed constitutional amendments, which were emailed to members on December 19, 2024. In order for these amendments to pass, two-thirds of those eligible to vote at the meeting must approve them, so please read the proposed amendments and come out to vote. (And to enjoy good food and fellowship!)
Call for Member News
Last but not least, we want to celebrate your accomplishments and share your news—personal, professional, and everything in between! If you have anything at all you’d like to share, please email your news to seasecs.gazette@gmail.com.
See you in Savannah!
After a brief consultation, Liz Kuipers, the program chair, and I have decided to move the Writing Workshop for the essay on Pedagogy to Saturday afternoon. It will be in the last session, #10, starting at 3:15. We don’t want you to have to choose between the workshop and Chris Hendricks’ walking tour!