Since the founding of the Annales journal in 1929, the French Annales School has profoundly shaped, and in many ways led, the historical discipline through a variety of innovative approaches to studying and writing history. Across several generations, its scholars have introduced influential concepts and produced numerous works that have become classics admired and emulated by historians around the world. As the Annales approaches its centennial, we plan to assemble a scholarly essay collection that reviews the School’s hundred-year history, reflects on the vital contributions of its historians, and commemorates the lasting legacy of their historical thought, paying particular attention to their impact on U.S. and Canadian academia.
The volume thus aims to present new and creative interpretations of the Annales heritage from a North American perspective. Chapters may focus on one or more Annales figures, approaches, or works, on their encounters and conflicts with existing methodologies or with one another, and on their erudition, imagination, revolution, dissemination, and reception against the backdrop of twentieth-century historiographical development. Using the history of the Annales School as its point of departure, the volume also seeks to explore the current state of historiography and its potential future directions. Finally, the volume hopes to rekindle scholarly interest in the Annales School, an important intellectual tradition that is rarely discussed or taught today.
Chapters will be between 7,000 and 9,000 words, including notes. The essay deadline will be January 2028, with an anticipated publication date in late 2029.
We welcome submissions from modern intellectual historians, premodern cultural historians, historians of historiography, and theorists of history, especially those based or trained in North America. We encourage contributors with diverse geographical and temporal focuses and with the ability to draw on observations from their own fields. We also encourage submissions on understudied topics, original aspects, and relatively recent figures. Commitment to attend the AHA meetings in 2028, 2029, and/or 2030 is a plus.
Please send your proposed chapter title, abstract (300-400 words), and a short bio, as well as inquiries to vaclav.zheng@jhu.edu and Patrick.Hutton@uvm.edu.
Submission Deadline: August 20, 2026