Congress of History of San Diego & Imperial Counties
54th Annual History Conference * Friday, March 29, & Saturday, March 30, 2019
Conference Location: Portuguese Hall, Point Loma, San Diego, CA

Final Request for Speakers

Thank you to all the historians who have responded.
This is our last Call for Speakers.
Contact conference co-chair Louise Torio at: HistoricSanDiego@aol.com
ASAP or (619) 233-8833
to see if your “defining moment” fits in with the 2019 conference theme.

Our region has an interesting past. A lot has happened in 250 years. While claimed by Spain in 1542 with Cabrillo’s exploration of the Pacific coast ( Joao Rodrigues Cabrillo in Portuguese, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in Spanish ), it wasn’t until the 1769 Portola expedition that Spanish/European exploration and settlement began in what would become San Diego in the State of California. For good or bad, nothing would be the same. Since that defining moment 250 years ago, events
and people (some famous, some little known) have dramatically influenced the course of the region. This conference explores the impacts, intended or not, of decisions that have brought us to where we are today.

Historians, researchers, writers, and storytellers: Each year the Congress of History presents a history conference on topics that reflect our region. We’ve done conferences on big themes (like the impact of world wars on the region). This year we seek talks about a defining moment within the past 250 years. This defining moment might be an event, movement, activity, uprising, or change in thinking that could have been impactful to the entire two-county region or to a specific town or area. What defining moments do you want to bring to our attention? What defining moments are important to you from the Founding Era (roughly 1769-1850), the Middle Era (roughly 1850-1950), and the Modern Era (roughly 1950-2000*)? [*Our cut off for this history conference is the year 2000.] And you don’t have to be a professional speaker, writer, or historian. Great presentations come from those who care! Are you an author? Bring your books for sale!

• Your topic may be something not widely known that had a big impact on a place.
• Or It may be about a person who did something of great impact in the region.
• Or it could be about an incident that changed the course of events.

If it was a defining moment, we want to hear your take on it!

Geographic Area: COH organization members range from southern Orange County to northern Baja California. Please use this region as your guide for proposing your historic talk.

Conference Format: 16-18 speakers over two days, each giving a 20-minute talk with 10 minutes for Q&A. Speakers must have a PowerPoint presentation (with lots of photos please, not so heavy on text).

Link to form ( Adobe Acrobat – 109 kb file size )

Email form to Louise Torio at HistoricSanDiego@aol.com. (OK to just answer all questions from the form.)