MARK YOUR CALENDARS

18th Annual World History Association Conference

Salem, Massachusetts
June 25-28, 2009

Salem State College will host the eighteenth annual World History Association conference in Salem, Massachusetts,
June 25-28, 2009. In honor of Salem’s rich history of overseas involvement, the conference’s theme will be “Merchants
and Missionaries: Trade and Religion in World History.” Proposals on all
aspects of trade, religion, and related issues in world history are invited.

As always, the conference will offer the best of current world history
scholarship and pedagogy as well as ample opportunity for informal and
enjoyable collegial interaction. We hope you will also take advantage of
this chance to bring your family and visit Salem and the greater Boston area’s many historic and cultural attractions.

Further information concerning the 2009 conference, including proposal submission forms, accommodations and regis-
tration will be posted on the WHA website, www.thewha.org, later this summer.

Salem, Massachusetts: A Historic City of Global Proportions

The city of Salem’s motto, Divitis Indiae usque ad ultimum
sinum—“All the way to the farthest port of the rich East”—
sums up its important place in global maritime history.
Located on Massachusetts’ North Shore, Salem was by 1790
the sixth largest city in the United States, and its merchants
were major players in world commerce, especially in China.
Today the Salem Maritime National Historic Site—essentially
the entire port area of the city—commemorates that history.
Visitors can board the National Park Service’s Friendship of
Salem, a full-size replica of a 1797 East Indiaman launched
at Salem, which sailed to India, China, Java, and Sumatra.
Wharves at the Salem Maritime
National Historic Site
Salem’s leading role in maritime commerce went hand in hand with its missionary influence. It was the city that or-
dained the United States’ first Protestant missionaries to Asia in 1812. Prior to that, of course, Salem gained notoriety
for spiritual excess in its infamous witch trials in 1692, which were part of a larger, age-old, global phenomenon: the
persecution of marginalized individuals.

We hope you will join us for the 2009 conference and take advan-
tage of this exceptional opportunity for intellectual engagement and
rewarding recreation in a widely popular summer destination, Salem
and the greater North Shore and Boston area.

Go to www.salem.org or www.essexheritage.org for more information.

Library of the Peabody-Essex Museum