The North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) is the national organization in the United States of America for professional historians, underwater archeologists, archivists, librarians, museum specialists and others working in the broad field of

maritime history Maritime history is the study of human interaction with and activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant. As an academic subject, it ...

. NASOH is an affiliated organization of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

. NASOH was founded in 1973 to provide a forum for maritime history and remains actively devoted to the study and promotion of maritime history. The society's objectives are to promote the exchange of information among its members and others interested in the history of the seas, lakes, and inland waterways; to call attention to books, articles, and documents pertinent to naval and maritime history; and to work with local, regional, national, international, and government organizations toward the goal of fostering a more general awareness and appreciation for North America's naval and maritime heritage. NASOH also houses the U.S. Commission on Maritime History which is a constituent member of the

International Commission for Maritime History The International Commission for Maritime History (ICMH) was established in 1960 to promote international cooperation and the exchange of ideas in the field of maritime history. It is affiliated with the International Committee of Historical Scien ...

. NASOH's organizational records are deposited in the Joyner Library] at

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

Annual conferences

Every year NASOH holds an academic conference, where its members present papers on current research in maritime history. Each year, the conferences are held in a different location. The site is usually at a maritime location, which will allow members to link a broad national and global understanding of maritime history to local and regional maritime activities. Meetings have been held on the West Coast, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, the Mid- and Southern-Atlantic coasts of the United States as well as in Canada and in Bermuda.

Past conference locations

* 2020 –

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal c ...

Note: The 2020 conference was postponed on account of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. * 2019 –

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American p ...

* 2018 – St. Charles, Missouri * 2017 –

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

* 2016 –

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

* 2015 –

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under b ...

* 2014 –

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

* 2013 – Alpena, Michigan * 2012 –

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding G ...

* 2011 –

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia B ...

* 2010 – Mystic, Connecticut * 2009 –

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California and the second largest city in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the city had a population of 126,090 at the 2020 census. Vallejo is home to th ...

* 2008 –

* 2007 – Kings Point, New York * 2006 –

Manitowoc, Wisconsin Manitowoc () is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2020 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,626, with over ...

* 2005 –

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

* 2004 –

St. Michaels, Maryland Saint Michaels, also known as St. Michaels, is a town in Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,029 at the 2010 census. Saint Michaels derives its name from the Episcopal Parish established there in 1677. The church attrac ...

* 2003 –

Bath, Maine Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. The population was 8,766 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County, which includes one city and 10 towns. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its ...

* 2002 –

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

* 2001 –

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Tor ...

* 2000 – Point Clear, Alabama * 1999 – Lake George, New York * 1998 – San Diego, California * 1997 –

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

* 1996 – Boston, Massachusetts * 1995 –

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

* 1994 –

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

* 1993 –

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

* 1992 – Washington, D.C. * 1991 – New York City & Fort Schuyler * 1990 –

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the U ...

* 1989 – San Francisco, California * 1988 –

Woods Hole, Massachusetts Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 ...

* 1987 –

* 1986 –

* 1985 –

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the ...

* 1984 – Kings Point, New York * 1983 – Mystic, Connecticut * 1982 –

* 1981 –

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S ...

* 1980 –

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. Th ...

* 1979 –

* 1978 –

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

* 1977 –

* 1973 –

Orono, Maine Orono () is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. Located on the Penobscot and Stillwater rivers, it was first settled by American colonists in 1774. They named it in honor of Chief Joseph Orono, a sachem of the indigenous Penobs ...

* 1971 –

Prizes

The president of NASOH awards on occasion the

K. Jack Bauer Karl Jack Bauer (born 30 July 1926 in Springfield, Ohio – died 17 September 1987 in Troy, New York), was one of the founders of the North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) and a well-known naval historian. NASOH's K. Jack Bauer Award ...

Award to honor those who have given distinguished service to NASOH and have made life-time contributions to the field of maritime history. The Charles Dana Gibson Award honors the best article on North American maritime history published in a peer-reviewed journal. Each year, a panel of selected NASOH members reviews all the books published during the year in the field of maritime history to select the

John Lyman Book Awards The John Lyman Book Awards are given annually by the North American Society for Oceanic History to recognise excellence in published books making a major contribution to the study and understanding of maritime and naval history. They are named aft ...

that are given annually by the society in the following six categories: Canadian naval and maritime history, U.S. naval history, U.S. maritime history, science and technology, reference works and published primary sources, and biography and autobiography. The society also gives a number of awards to graduate students: Chad Smith Student Travel Grants are awarded to assist students in funding travel to its annual meeting to deliver a paper at the meeting. The award is named in honor of Philip Chadwick Foster Smith, maritime museum curator, maritime historian, and an early member of NASOH.

Clark G. Reynolds Dr. Clark Gilbert Reynolds, B.A., M.A. (History), Ph.D. (December 11, 1939 – December 10, 2005) was an historian of naval warfare, with a particular interest in the development of U.S. naval aviation. In addition, he made contributions to the f ...

Student Paper Award is provided each year to the author of the best paper by a graduate student delivered at the society's annual conference. Named in honor of

(1939-2005)—naval historian, museum curator, and the first executive officer of NASOH—the prize will consist of assistance in publishing the essay in The Northern Mariner(the journal co-sponsored by NASOH and the Canadian Nautical Research Society), a membership in NASOH, and a handsome plaque. The James C. Bradford Dissertation Research Fellowship is named in honor of NASOH past-president Dr. James C. Bradford, in recognition of his distinguished contributions to the field of American naval history. Topics in all periods of United States and North American naval history, including strategy, tactics, and operations; institutional development and administration; biography, personnel, and social development; exploration, science, and technology and science; and policy and diplomacy. Applicants must have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. at the time of application and have an approved dissertation proposal on file at their degree-granting institution.

Publications

The society publishes at regular intervals the ''NASOH Newsletter'' to inform members about activities within the field of maritime history. From 2007, NASOH also publishes in association with the Canadian Nautical Research Society the refereed academic journal ''The

Northern Mariner ''The Northern Mariner'' (French: ''Le marin du nord'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Canadian Nautical Research Society in association with the North American Society for Oceanic History. It covers the study of mar ...

(TNM)''. From time to time, NASOH publishes books of collected papers from its annual conferences and NASOH will be publishing a series of handbooks for use in teaching aspects of maritime history.

Presidents of NASOH

# William A. Baker January 1, 1976 to December 31, 1980 # Timothy J. Runyan January 1, 1981 to December 31, 1985 # Dean C. Allard January 1, 1986 to December 31, 1989 # Barry M. Gough January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1991 # William N. Still, Jr. January 1, 1992 to December 31, 1995 # Briton C. Busch January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1999 #

William S. Dudley William Sheldon Dudley (born 14 July 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, USA) is a naval historian of the United States Navy, who served as Director of Naval History and Director, Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. from 1995 to 2004. Early life ...

January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2003 # John Hattendorf January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2007 # James C. Bradford January 1, 2008 to May 2011 # Warren Riess May 2011 to May 2015 # Gene A. Smith May 2015 to May 2019 # Amy Mitchell-Cook May 2019 to present

References

External links

The official website o
NASOH
{{DEFAULTSORT:North American Society For Oceanic History Organizations established in 1973 Maritime history of the United States Naval warfare History organizations based in the United States Naval history Historical societies of the United States * Maritime organizations 1973 establishments in the United States Maritime history organizations