• Awards, Prizes & Grants
• Special Interest Groups
• International Scholars Program
• Travel Grants

• Benefits of Membership
• Member Services
• Officers, Committees, and Governance

• Guidelines for Special Interest Group Awards and Prizes (PDF)

 

Special Interest Groups

Since SHOT's inception in 1958, members have formed special interest groups (SIGs) for the purpose of bringing together scholars and professionals with interests in specific fields of the history of technology. Brief descriptions and contact information for active SIGs follows.

The Albatrosses, as the name suggests, share a common interest in the technology of flight. They were formed by merger of informal interest groups in aeronautical history and space history, and accepted as a SHOT interest group in 1985. The Albatrosses sponsor meetings and sessions at the annual SHOT meeting. Membership is open to all SHOT members with similar interests. There are no dues. A newsletter is published quarterly. For information, email Robert Ferguson.

Computers, information & Society: The Special Interest Group on Computers, Information, and Society (SIGCIS) welcomes all with scholarly interests in the historical dimensions of information technology. Membership exceeds two hundred people worldwide and is open to all without charge, including those who are not members of SHOT. The group has an email list for announcements, discussion and collaboration among those working in this field. Its Web site, hosts a partial directory of members and their research interests, as well as an extensive resource guide for the field. In recent years, activities and events have included the organization of many conference sessions for meetings of SHOT, 4S, The Business History Conference and other academic conferences. The group hosts informal dinner meetings at these conferences and an official annual lunch session each year at SHOT's annual meeting. The lunch has been attended by approximately fifty people at recent meetings. It includes an auction of donated books and opportunities for fundraising, announcements, and the introduction of new members.From 2009 onward we hope to organize one day or half day workshops in conjunction with the annual meeting of SHOT.

You may join the group online, after which you will be able to create and update your own directory entry and send email directly to the list of members. For information on the group email Thomas Haigh (chair) or Joline Zepchevski (secretary).

Envirotech focuses on the interrelationship of technology and nature. Since the early 1990s, "nature and technology" have received greater attention in conference presentations, journals, and monographs by historians of technology and environmental historians. After talking with various colleagues at SHOT, ICOHTEC, and ASEH (American Society for Environmental History) conferences, Jim Williams (De Anza College, emeritus) and Sara Pritchard (Montana State University) agreed to organize a SIG for scholars and students interested in research on "nature and technology."

Envirotech meets semiannually at the conferences of SHOT and ASEH. We also award a prize for "best article," paid for by our modest dues of $5 and a matching gift from SHOT. Dues are collected at business meetings and contributions are welcome at any time; please email Ann Greene (treasurer). Envirotech has established a listserv to facilitate communication among scholars interested in nature and technology. New subscribers are welcome; to subscribe send an email to the listserv with the message SUBSCRIBE ENVIROTECH (nothing in the subject line) or email Josh Howe, the listserv manager. Please see our Envirotech Web site for more information and back issues of the Envirotech newsletter, or email one of the co-chairs: Hugh Gorman or Ann Greene.

The Jovians, established in 1972, share a common interest in the history of electrical technology. Membership is open to all SHOT members with similar interests. The Jovians sponsor a breakfast or luncheon meeting at the SHOT annual meeting, sponsor sessions at the annual meeting, and publish an occasional newsletter. There are no dues. For more information, email Jonathan Coopersmith, the current chair.

The Lynn White, jr., Society was organized in 1992 to bring together SHOT members whose interests and research focus on the history of technology in the chronological period before the Industrial Revolution. The name honors the memory of prominent SHOT member, early president of the Society, and preeminent historian of technology and the Middle Ages. Those with interests in technology in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Early Modern period are invited to contact convener Kelly DeVries, Department of History, Loyola College, 4501 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21210-2699.

The Mercurians began meeting in 1986 for the purpose of generating networks between people who share work and interests in the history of communication technologies, defining the field broadly. We meet annually at SHOT's conferences, organize paper sessions for SHOT meetings, and pursue contacts between meetings. All interested persons are welcome at Mercurians' meetings. Antenna, the group's semi-annual newsletter serves both as a clearing house for readers and an informal forum for their ideas. We welcome contributions, including notices and queries about Mercurians' projects as well as short essays on their work. Antenna also includes book reviews and other materials about conferences, museums, publications, archives, funding, and other pertinent materials. Annual subscriptions to Antenna are $5.00 for delivery in the United States and $7.50 for delivery elsewhere. Individual issues are $3.00 each. Members pay an annual fee of $5.00 per year to support a prize, awarded for the best article by a junior scholar, and a research grant, to defray the costs of travel to archives by junior scholars. Please make your check out to SHOT, specifying Mercurians on the memo line. For additional information, or to join, email Andrew J. Butrica or contact him at Apt. 913-South, 5225 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA. You may also visit the Mercurians' Web site.

The Military Technology Interest Group: Since its founding in 1985, SMiTInG (as it usually designated) has met annually with SHOT. As its only group activity, the SMiTInG annual meeting is devoted chiefly to sharing current research interests and discussing potential SMiTInG-sponsored sessions. Membership is freely available (no dues) to anyone who asks and currently totals about 160, not all of them from SHOT. A diverse membership shares wide-ranging topical interests relating to military institutions (broadly conceived), including organizations and policies, as well as hardware. Beyond the annual meeting, the main contact between members is the SMiTInG Newsletter, first issued in January 1986. It appears once or twice a year, and is mailed to all SMiTInG members at no charge (Newsletter distribution, which has been temporarily suspended, will soon resume). For further information, email Bart Hacker (chairperson) or contact him at NMAH-4013, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0620, tel. 202-633-3904.

The Pelicans were formed in 1979 as an interest group for chemical technology and took its name from a distinctively-shaped piece of laboratory glassware. Its major purpose is to disseminate information about current projects, resources, and sources. This is accomplished through informal meetings at the annual SHOT conference and an occasional newsletter. The Pelicans also sponsor sessions at the SHOT conference. For information, contact chairperson John K. Smith, Department of History, Lehigh University, Maginnes Hall, Bethlehem, PA 18015, tel. 215/758-3365.

The Prometheans' first meeting in 2005 was heralded by the announcement that "the engineering community and its cousin the engineering-education community remain important parts of SHOT's environment and valued segments of its membership." An engineering-education working group formed by members of this SIG is currently engaged in a number of different activities to help promote a better understanding of engineering education among SHOT members, develop new humanistic curricula for engineers (by, e.g., the exchange of course syllabi), and connect with organizations such as the Liberal Education Division of the American Society of Engineering Education, in pursuit of a coordinated approach to improvements in engineering education. For questions about the Prometheans, email co-chairs Jack Brown, or Ross Bassett. For further information, go to the Prometheans' Web site.

Technology Museums Special Interest Group: TEMSIG, formed 1984 and re-launched in 2004, provides a forum for those interested in the material legacy and public presentation of the history of technology. There are no annual dues for TEMSIG, but a membership list is maintained for purposes of communication. For information, please email Maggie Dennis, or contact her at the Lemelson Center, Rm. 1016 MRC 604, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012.

Women in Technological History (WITH) is a Special Interest Group within SHOT whose membership includes both men and women interested in gender issues. WITH has a two-fold purpose: to serve as a support group to encourage and energize women working within the profession and as an activist group that seeks to foster and promote gender analysis within the history of technology. As founding member and former SHOT President Daryl Hafter has written, WITH's goal is to nurture "the subject and the people." Membership in WITH is open to all members of SHOT. To find out more about WITH, please visit their web site.