Society for the History of Technology (SHOT)

The Society for the History of Technology is dedicated to the historical study of technology and its relations with politics, economics, labor, business, the environment, public policy, science, and the arts. Founded in 1958, the society now numbers around 1500 members. An international society, SHOT meets annually in North America or Europe and also sponsors smaller conferences focused on specialized topics, often jointly with other scholarly societies and organizations.

The society’s quarterly journal, Technology and Culture, is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. In addition to T&C, SHOT publishes regular newsletters, and, with the Johns Hopkins University Press, a new book series “Historical Perspectives on Technology, Society, and Culture.”

Since SHOT’s inception in 1958, members have formed special interest groups (SIGs) for the purpose of bringing together scholars and professionals with interests in specific fields of the history of technology. Guidelines for SIG‘s were laid down in 2007. Brief descriptions and contact information for SHOT’s active SIG’s. Please find all SIG’s here

A Global Perspective

SHOT actively works to foster a global community for the study of the history of technology, with the aim of supporting a worldwide network of scholars in this field. We welcome as members, people from any country who are interested in the history of technology, broadly defined. SHOT members include scholars from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, India,  Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Kenya, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

SHOT has a number of programs to support global participation, including our Global Community Scholars program (formerly known as the International Scholars program) and our program of travel grants to SHOT meetings. In 1992, SHOT began holding its annual meeting outside North America every four years, with locations in London, Munich, Uppsala, Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Singapore. SHOT and ICOHTEC will meet together in Viña del Mar, near Santiago de Chile, July 8-14, 2024, marking the first time that either society meets on the South American continent.

2020 marked SHOT’s successful, first ever, Virtual Meeting making it possible for members and non members to meet during this difficult year, influenced by COVID-19, social distancing and travel bans.

Our 2021 Virtual meeting, joint with HSS, proved invigorating meeting, with over a thousand participants from all over the world. We want to thank our members, and especially our sponsors, for making this happen. In 2022 we met in New Orleans for the first in-person meeting in three years, adhering strictly to covid precautions such as masking. The 2022 meeting included 2 threads of hybrid sessions, for a total of 16 streamed sessions. We are now looking forward to another in-person meeting October 25-29 2023, in Long Beach – doubtless continuing with covid precautions!