Today is the first day of the American Historical Association’s 127th annual meeting, being held this year in New Orleans.

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 6, 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 127th Annual Meeting, which contains quite a few other helpful articles. Figure out where you’re going with these hotel floorplans.

• Registration
  Location: New Orleans Marriott’s Mardi Gras Ballroom
  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: Marriott’s Grand Ballroom
  Thursday Hours: 3:00–7:00 p.m.
  Resources: Exhibit Hall floorplan, list of exhibitors
• Free Internet
  

  In the Hotels

  • The New Orleans Marriott and Sheraton New Orleans have Wi-Fi on the lobby level.
  • The Roosevelt has free access on the lobby level and Teddy’s Café.
  • The Astor has free access in the lobby and in the business center.
  • The Monteleone has free Wi-Fi in all public areas.

  Around the Area

  • Urban Spoon offers a list of restaurants and café’s that are free Wi-Fi hotspots. View the full list here.
  • In addition, ask.com offers a compilation of free Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the New Orleans area, with many centered squarely in the French Quarter.

  Session
  Our theme for this conference, “Lives, Places, Stories,” is meant to encourage proposals from scholars who explore the roles of environment and geography in all aspects of human history. Some sessions, like the “Climate and the Atlantic World: Hurricanes, El Niño, La Niña, and Drought in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries” panel, 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:

  • The Emancipation Proclamation at 150: Dynamics, Contexts, and Legacies
    3:30–5:30 p.m.
    Roosevelt Ballroom II (Roosevelt New Orleans)
    In light of the conference theme of “Lives, Places, Stories” and the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, this session brings together leading historians who shall consider both local dynamics and transnational phenomena pertaining to transitions from slavery to freedom.
  • The Entrepreneurial Historian
    3:30–5:30 p.m.
    La Galerie 3 (New Orleans Marriott)
    Using the format of a roundtable discussion, five entrepreneurial historians will explore questions about entrepreneurship, historical research, and historical ethics. The discussion will be interactive and audience participation will be actively encouraged.
  • Amigo
    5:30–8:00 p.m.,
    Waterbury Ballroom (Sheraton New Orleans)
    John Sayles, independent filmmaker and Paul Kramer, Vanderbilt University, will introduce the film and lead a discussion afterward.

  Opening of the 127th Annual Meeting
  The opening of the 127th annual meeting will feature the plenary session “The Public Practice of History in and for a Digital Age” from 8:00–10:00 p.m. in La Galerie (New Orleans Marriott). AHA President Bill Cronon will chair the session and panelists will present papers dealing with the growing relationship between history and digital technology.

  This post first appeared on AHA Today.