The National WWII Museum’s Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy in New Orleans is pleased to issue this call for papers for its colloquium, “New Directions in World War II History.” This one-day colloquium will take place at the Museum on February 14, 2025.

The goals of this program are to inspire new conversations based on cutting-edge work that will foster a growing community of WWII scholars, and to provide early-career historians the opportunity to receive feedback on their developing research from Institute historians.

The Jenny Craig Institute encourages early career historians (PhD candidates, ABD, or Post-doc) to submit proposals related to WWII history including but not limited to the European theater, the Asia-Pacific theater, and Home Fronts, with one full panel specifically pertaining to victims of the Holocaust and other forms of Nazi persecution.

The selection committee will take a broad view of WWII history topics and invites applicants with interests in military, political, social, cultural, economic, technological, scientific, and gender studies.

The committee encourages those submitting papers on the Holocaust and Nazi persecution to explore their topic’s relation to the war and its conduct.

As part of the Museum’s wider African American History Month programming and in concurrence with the Museum’s special exhibition Fighting for the Right to Fight, the selection committee will take special consideration of paper proposals that focus on African American experiences during the war.

Exceptional papers presented at the 2025 Emerging Scholars Colloquium may be considered for publication on the Museum’s website if desired by the authors. Proposals should include the following in a single PDF file:

• Abstract with title (300 words max)
• Brief CV (1–2 pages)

If accepted, participants are required to give a presentation on their full paper, submitted to their panel chair prior to the colloquium. Details regarding the presentation requirements will be given after acceptance.

Applicants are to submit their proposals through the application form below.

The deadline for submission is October 29, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. (CST)

All applicants will be notified of their selection status no later than November 27, 2024.

The National WWII Museum’s mission encourages public engagement. All colloquium presentations will be recorded for institutional archive purposes and may be made available to the public in consultation with the presenter(s).

Accepted participants will be given air travel and three nights’ accommodation at The Higgins Hotel & Conference Center on the Museum’s campus, February 13–15. Colloquium participants are also invited to attend the Museum’s all-day public symposium “Fighting for the Right to Fight: African American Experiences in World War II” on February 15, 2024.

The Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy is a community of scholars forming a national center for research, higher education, publications, and public programming, dedicated to promoting the history of World War II, the relationship between the war and America’s democratic system, and the war’s continued relevance for the world.

Questions may be directed to taylor.lindner@nationalww2museum.org.