Knoxville 2020!

Please join us for the Annual Meeting of the Agricultural History Society in Knoxville, Tennessee, June 3-6, 2020.

Knoxville is a bustling, cosmopolitan, and vibrant city of about 300,000 in East Tennessee, nestled in the Tennessee River Valley and located just thirty miles away from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Downtown is packed with top-notch restaurants, music venues, and a booming craft beer scene. Yet it remains affordable: our hotel rate will be just over $100 a night, and downtown’s dining and nightlife are all fairly priced. And Knoxville is not only exciting and scenic; it holds a vital place in American agricultural history, particularly as headquarters of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the vast hydraulic development agency created during the New Deal. Therefore, our conference tour will take us to the concrete behemoth of Norris Dam, completed in 1936 and essentially unchanged since its opening.

The theme for this year’s conference is Challenging Crops and Climates. Globally, agriculture has been undertaken in diverse environments, including mountains, deserts, swamps, rain forests, tundra, places of extreme temperatures, and on marginal soils. People have also transformed challenging environments to meet the demands of agricultural production through both private and state-sponsored actions. The small farms of Appalachia and the massive dams of the Tennessee Valley Authority that surround Knoxville illustrate these strategies and adaptations.

Conference Venue
The conference sessions will take place at the University of Tennessee Conference Center, located at 600 Henley Street, just a three minute walk from the conference hotel.

Accommodations
The conference hotel is the Holiday Inn World’s Fair Park, located at 525 Henley Street.  The conference rate is $110.00 per night, plus 17.25% tax. Rooms are either a single king bed or double queen beds. Please make your booking either on-line or by calling 1-800-264-1579. The link for on-line booking is: Agricultural History Conference Booking Link for the Holiday Inn World's Fair Park. (The block code is AHS)

Parking is available for guests at a rate of $12.00 per night. The non-guest/day rate for parking is $15.00. Please note that the AHS encourages all participants to stay at the conference hotel to avoid penalties for failing to fill our block of rooms.

Registration
Conference registration will open on March 1. The basic registration fee covers all sessions and hospitality, including a welcome reception on Wednesday evening and the closing awards reception on Saturday evening.

Graduate students who attend the entire conference may apply for a $250 USD grant, paid by check at the conference. The form is available here. 

Airport
McGhee Tyson International Airport is approximately a 20 minute cab ride from the conference hotel. 

Conference at a Glance (Full Draft Schedule Here)
Wednesday
All Day Graduate Workshop
Meeting of the Executive Committee
Welcome Reception at Maple Hall 

Thursday
All-Day Concurrent Sessions
Presidential Address

Friday
Editorial Board Breakfast
Morning Concurrent Sessions
Afternoon Tour (Separate Registration Required): Includes a trip to Norris Dam and the Museum of Appalachia. The bus departs from the hotel at 12:30 and returns by 5:30. Lunch is included in the $45 cost, and pre-registration is required. 

Saturday
RWSA Breakfast (Separate Registration Required)
All-Day Concurrent Sessions
AHS Annual Business Meeting
Awards Reception  

Conference Sponsors and Support
The AHS is grateful for the support of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The generous sponsorship and support of the campus units and individuals listed below provides opportunities for UT students to present and discuss their research with a global community of scholars. 

Thanks to: The UTK Department of History; The UTK College of Arts and Sciences; The UTK Office of Research; Dr. Denise Phillips, Graduate Workshop Convener; Dr. Tore Olsson, Local Organizer