Military Historians and Bibliographers

March 26, 2014

Military Historians and Bibliographers: Opportunities for Insight and Collaboration

A Panel Discussion Jointly Sponsored by the Bibliographical Society of America and the Society for Military History, held at the 2014 Society for Military History Annual Meeting

Friday, April 4, 10:15–11:45 am

Westin Kansas City at Crown Center, Kansas City, Missouri

The scholarly work of many military historians touches on the history of books and reading in some fashion, whether through the study of the history of military thought or through simply using early printed texts as primary sources. Yet upon hearing the word “bibliography” many historians may think only perhaps of the list of sources in the back of a monograph. Few of them recognize that the term “bibliography” also signifies an entire academic subject field, consisting of the study of books as physical objects. Conversely, although the secondary literature on the history of books and bibliographical pursuits is quite extensive, both standard survey texts and even the most exhaustive synthetic studies of bibliography often give only brief consideration to the relationship between armed conflict and the authorship, production, distribution and use of printed books. Military historians and bibliographers need each other and in fact have much to learn from each other.

Participants include Ira D. Gruber (Rice University), Russell L. Martin, III (DeGolyer Library SMU), Thomas B. Ward (West Point), and Mark H. Danley (University of Memphis).

For information about the 2014 SMH Annual Meeting, including full program, registration, travel and hotel arrangements, please visit http://www.smh-hq.org/2014/2014annualmeeting.html