Our 2022 EHC Conference “All Creatures Great and Small” is fast approaching. Join us from April 22-24 as we explore the many inter-relationships between equines and other species ranging from humans to microorganisms, acknowledging the anthropogenic world animals cope with, while also de-centering people in animal history.

The keynote speaker for the conference is Dr. Susan Nance, and she will be speaking on “The Mule in the Coal Mine: Equines and Other Vulnerable Beings in the History of Human-Made Crises.” This talk focuses on the story of a network of mules, children, mice, rats, and adults in the coal mines of early 20th century Pennsylvania, and asks how and why, when people see animals in crisis, they may still fail to change course.

The keynote takes place from 8:15-9:15am (PDT) on Friday April 22, and it is open to the public! To attend, please register here and you will be sent the Zoom link.

Dr. Nance is Professor in the Department of History at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, and she is also an affiliated faculty member with U of G’s Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare. She is the author of various books and articles including Rodeo: An Animal History (University of Oklahoma Press, 2020), Entertaining Elephants: Animal Agency and the Business of the American Circus (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), and she is the editor of the latest volume in the Broadview Sources Series: Ranching and the American West (Broadview, 2022). Susan is currently working on a new project, Animals of the Las Vegas Strip, a study of the nature and scope of the wild and exotic animal trade in the United States. The project is funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant and brings together the fields of animal, environmental, consumer, and entertainment history. It asks: What it was like to be a trafficked wild animal in the 20th century?  To find out more about Dr. Nance and her work, you can check out her website.

The conference program is now available to download. Registration for the full conference is available through this link.  EHC members can register for a discounted price: you can find out more about EHC membership here.

If you need some more equid themed clothing in your life, check out our EHC merchandise, including the official merch for our 2022 conference!