Our 2024 Conference: “Into the Woods”

Into the Woods: New England Forests in Fact and Imagination

‘‘Lumbering Camp in Winter,” by Edward Hill (1843–1923), 1882. Oil on canvas.
Courtesy of the New Hampshire Historical Society (1951.007).

Click here for the latest 2024 conference schedule.

This year’s program will address the rich and varied histories of the relationship between the peoples of New England and adjacent areas and their forests. The seminar will explore the economic, cultural, and social significance of trees and forests in New England history.

Anyone interested in parks and conservation, visual and literary representations of wooded landscapes, indigenous relationships with forests, wood-dependent industries, and folklore involving New England’s woods and forests will find plenty of interest in this two-day program.

The annual Dublin Seminar is a meeting place where scholars of all kinds—academics, students, museum and library professionals, artisans and craftspeople, educators, preservationists, and committed avocational researchers—join in deep conversation around a focused theme in New England history, pooling their knowledge and exchanging ideas, sources, and methods in a thought-provoking forum.

The Seminar will convene in Deerfield, Massachusetts, on Friday, June 28, and Saturday, June 29. For the full schedule, see this page. This will be a hybrid program, with speakers and some attendees congregating in Deerfield and other attendees participating virtually. To register for either method, start at this page. (All registrants will be able to access session recordings for a limited time after the conference.)

Forestry professional can obtain up to twelve CFE credits for attending this conference through the Society of American Foresters. K-12 teachers can obtain up to ten PDPs for attending this conference through the Collaborative for Education Services.

The 2024 Program Committee

Michael J. Emmons, Jr., co-chair
Barbara Mathews, co-chair
Georgia Barnhill
David R. Byers
Richard M. Candee
Kathleen Daly
Robert P. Emlen
Erika Gasser
Tom Kelleher
Rachel D. Kline
Anne Lanning
Alice Nash
Caroline Sloat

Special thanks to our partner and host, Historic Deerfield, and to all our sponsors:

• American Antiquarian Society
• Boston University American and New England Studies Program
• The Forest History Society
• Historic Northampton
• University of Massachusetts Department of History
• University of Massachusetts Public History Program