Today is the first day of the American Historical Association’s 126th annual meeting, being held this year in Chicago.

Whether you are attending the meeting, or following along from home, welcome to this special series of posts from the meeting.

Everyone can stay up-to-date on annual meeting sessions and events and get recaps today through Sunday, January 8, here on AHA Today.

Here are a few things going on today at the annual meeting:

Locations and Hours
Below are the Thursday hours for various annual meeting areas. A complete overview of locations and hours for registration, the Job Center, and the Exhibit Hall can also be found online in the Supplement to the 126th Annual Meeting, which contains quite a few other helpful articles. Figure out where you’re going with these hotel floorplans.

• Registration
  Location: Sheraton, River Exhibition Hall B
  Thursday Hours: 12:00–7:00 p.m.
  Resources: Registration rates, Registration Resource Center (messaging system and more)
• Job Center
  Location: Marriott, Grand Ballroom, Salon I
  Thursday Hours: 12:30–6:00 p.m.
  Resources: Job Center Handout, interview locations, Top Ten Job Center Tips for Candidates and Search Committees
• Exhibit Hall
  Location: Sheraton, River Exhibition Hall
  Thursday Hours: 3:00–7:00 p.m.
  Resources: Exhibit Hall floorplan, list of exhibitors
• Shuttle
  A complimentary shuttle service will operate among the four meeting hotels.

  Thursday Hours:

  • 1:00–6:30 p.m., buses every 10 to 15 minutes
  • 6:30–8:00 p.m., buses more frequent to get attendees to plenary session
  • 8:00–10:00 p.m., buses every 20 minutes
  • 10:30 p.m.–1:00 a.m., buses every 7 to 10 minutes
• Free Internet
  • Messaging and Internet Center: Marriott, Grand Ballroom, Salon 1, open 12:30–6:00 p.m.
  • Quiet Rooms: Sheraton, Ohio Room and the Marriott, Great America Room, open 12:30–6:00 p.m.
  • More Free Wi-Fi: See the free wi-fi map for availability in hotels and nearby coffee shops and cafes.

Sessions
The meeting’s theme is “Communities and Networks,” focusing on the formation of groups and the links between them. Some sessions, like the digital history sessions in “The Future is Here” series, seem clearly linked to the theme, while others in the Program reach out to cover wider topics in history. Read on for just a few of the sessions being held today:

• From the Ancient Law to Gibbonian Histories: Sixty Years of J.G.A. Pocock
  3:00–5:00 p.m.
  Sheraton, Chicago Ballroom VI
• U.S. State Archives and Government Information Secrecy: Access and Historical Research
  3:00–5:00 p.m.
  Marriott, Clark Room
• Getting the Most Out of the Annual Meeting
  4:00–5:00 p.m.
  Sheraton, Mississippi Room

Reception

• Graduate Student Reception
  5:00–6:30 p.m.
  Sheraton, Mayfair Room
  The AHA Graduate and Early Career Committee invites graduate students attending the 2012 annual meeting to a reception in the Sheraton’s Mayfair Room.

Opening of the 126th Annual Meeting
The opening of the 126th annual meeting will feature the plenary session “How to Write a History of Information: A Session in Honor of Peter Burke” from 8:00–10:00 p.m. in the Sheraton Ballroom V. AHA President Anthony Grafton will chair the session and panelists will present papers on the history of information and data.

Please note: the presentation of the eighth Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Public Service Award was originally scheduled to take place during tonight’s plenary session of the annual meeting, but will now take place tomorrow as part of the General Meeting.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.