Call for Papers
60th Northern Great Plains History Conference
Brandon College students playing cards, 1936. Image courtesy of McKee Archives, Brandon University
60th Northern Great Plains History Conference
Mankato, Minnesota
September 17 - 20, 2025
The 2025 Northern Great Plains History Conference will meet in Mankato, Minnesota, as we celebrate sixty years of the conference. Proposals for individual papers and completed sessions are sought in all fields of history.
Conference organizers recognize that Mankato is a settler community in the historical home of the Dakota people, and seek papers and sessions that explore Dakota history, as well as the rich histories of Indigenous communities in Minnesota and the surrounding region. The 2025 conference organizers would also like to note a few anniversaries with the hope that sessions unpacking the complicated histories of these events will appear on the program. These include:
250 years since fighting began in the US Revolutionary War
200 years of Norwegian migration to North America
150 years since the signing of Treaty 5
100 years of women governors in the United States
80 years since the end of World War II
50 years since the election of Margaret Thatcher to lead the Conservative Party, the fall of South Vietnam, and the rise of the Khmer Rouge.
The Conference headquarters will be the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato.
E-mail proposals to NGPHC2025@gmail.com by 11:59pm CDT on April 5, 2025. Individual paper proposals must include a one-paragraph abstract and a one-page CV. Paper session proposals include a session abstract, one-paragraph abstracts for each presenter, and a one-page CV for everyone on the session. For roundtable/state-of-the-field/book discussion sessions, send a session abstract and a one-page CV for everyone. Please indicate whether AV equipment is needed. Participants must provide their own laptop.
If you would like to designate your panel as contributing to a Northern Great Plains Interest Group such as the Women’s History Interest Group (WHIG); Northern Grasslands History Interest Group; Upper Midwest Ancient History Network; Midwest Ancient Warfare Network, please indicate the interest group in your panel proposal and in the subject line of your email submission to NGPHC2025@gmail.com
People willing to chair sessions or serve as commentators or those who have questions should e-mail NGPHC2025@gmail.com. There will be three student paper prizes awarded: https://www.ngphconference.org/student-prizes.
For additional information about the Northern Great Plains History Conference, see the conference website https://www.ngphconference.org/ or contact the organizing committee.