Category: Books

Call for Chapters: Routledge Handbook of Oral History Theory

Co-editors George Severs and Amy Tooth Murphy are inviting expressions of interest to contribute chapters to the forthcoming Routledge Oral History Theory Handbook. The Handbook will consist of between 35 and 40 chapters in English which aim to reflect on and advance the field of theory within oral history. Despite its usefulness and importance, theory remains under-examined and under-appreciated within oral history. In dialogue with each other, the chapters of the Handbook will situate and make a case for theory as a crucial and productive component of oral history work, both within and beyond the academy. Across all stages of the oral history process, from conception to analysis and dissemination, theory is vital. To that end, the editors invite a wide range of contributions which centre theoretical frameworks, approaches, developments and provocations.

Theory is a live and dynamic process. As such, contributors to this volume are not expected to make definitive or ‘final’ pronouncements. Rather we encourage submissions which propose new and emerging concepts, actively engage with ongoing theoretical developments, and impact future practice. In doing so, the editors seek to stage work by an international range of authors, including but not limited to early career and established scholars, oral history practitioners, public historians, archivists and activists. This volume will be global in scope and the editors encourage submissions from a wide range of geographic contexts. We particularly encourage submissions from authors working in the geopolitical south and/or whose work foregrounds theories and questions of decolonisation and/or indigeneity.

We are seeking chapters of 8000 words. Authors are encouraged to submit abstracts of 250-300 words to the editors via ohtheoryhandbook@gmail.com along with a short biography by January 31st 2026. Authors are reminded that theory should form the core of the proposed chapters. We appreciate that case studies may feature but these should be used to evidence or inform the theoretical interventions at the hearts of chapters. The editors will respond with their decisions on submitted abstracts by the end of February 2026 and first draft chapters will be expected by the end of December 2026.

To learn more, please see the full Call for Chapters here.

G.L.A.M. Bookworms Book Club

Everyone is welcome to join Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Archives’ next G.L.A.M. Bookworms Book Club discussion: THE MUSEUM OF ORDINARY PEOPLE by Mike Gayle, via Zoom, Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 7pm (EST). RSVP for Zoom link: info@wolfsonarchives.org.

THE MUSEUM OF ORDINARY PEOPLE
By Mike Gayle
While dealing with the loss of her mother, Jess discovers a unique museum in a warehouse dedicated to everyday items that hold significant personal meaning. As she becomes the unofficial custodian of the collection, Jess uncovers heartwarming stories and secrets that help her navigate her own grief and find a new purpose.

Thank you!

——————————
Lou Ellen Kramer
Manager
Miami Dade College – Wolfson Archives
lkramer1@mdc.edu
info@wolfsonarchives.org

CFP: Seeking Oral Historians for Bloomsbury’s Trans Studies Book Series

Oral historians are warmly invited to write books for Trans Studies, a book series published by Bloomsbury Academic. We seek books that give voice to previously unrecognized transgender and nonbinary people and issues, with a special emphasis on topics not well documented in written literature, but for which there are oral archives that allow the recovery of previously forgotten histories. We also welcome books that explore already well-recognized transgender and nonbinary topics that can be examined in greater depth through oral histories. 

Bloomsbury is a pioneer in innovative oral history, and its gender and sexuality list publishes leading scholarly research from around the world, with a longstanding commitment to insightful books on LGBTQIA+ topics.

Books that emphasize the broader significance and potential of oral history for transgender studies are especially invited. All books in the Trans Studies series—whether they are grounded in the humanities, social sciences, or biological sciences—reflect on the assumptions that guide the book’s specific version of trans scholarship. We seek works that provide innovative reformulations of the scope and practice of trans studies, including novel methodologies and theoretical concepts that challenge the status quo. We welcome books from disciplines that are underrepresented in trans studies.

To propose a book for Trans Studies, please complete this form and submit it to General Editor Douglas Vakoch (dvakoch@meti.org) and Senior Acquisitions Editor Courtney Morales (Courtney.Morales@bloomsbury.com). Please include your CV, a list of five to seven potential reviewers you do not know personally, and a sample chapter. If you do not have a sample chapter for the book, please include a previous writing sample written in the same style that you envision for the book.

On the form, list the highest degree for each author, editor, and chapter author. For edited volumes, all chapters should have at least one author who has already completed their PhD. 

High priorities for the series include books that provide intersectional perspectives, as well as works that examine transgender and nonbinary topics with reference to particular linguistic, national, and regional groups. We encourage authors from around the world to contribute to the series, incorporating culture-specific insights as feasible.

Books based on oral accounts of either contemporary or historical topics and individuals are equally appropriate. Books in this series include monographs and edited volumes that target academic audiences. We value books that explore socially relevant issues and that both clarify and question the premises of fields outside of trans studies.

All books follow the most recent guidelines for best practices in using accurate and respectful language when discussing transgender and nonbinary people and topics. Key resources to these best practices include GLAAD’s overviews of Transgender People and Nonbinary People, as well as this Glossary of Terms.

Contributors to this series come from disciplines including but not limited to anthropology, architecture, area studies, art, biology, cinema studies, classics, communication studies, cultural studies, disability studies, ecology, economics, education, environmental studies, ethics, ethnic studies, gender studies, geography, history, law, literary studies, masculinity studies, media studies, medicine, medieval studies, oral history, philosophy, political science, psychology, public policy, queer studies, religious studies, rhetoric, science and technology studies, science fiction studies, sociology, theology, trans studies, and women’s studies. Proposals grounded in other disciplines are equally welcome.

Bloomsbury Academic’s Trans Studies book series is based on a three-fold commitment to:

  • Provide inclusive, global representation of transgender and nonbinary topics and authors
  • Challenge assumptions of trans studies and other fields
  • Engage diverse disciplines from the humanities, social sciences, and biological sciences

Contact Email

dvakoch@meti.org

CFP: Seeking Material Culture Scholars for Bloombury’s Trans Studies Book Series

Seeking material culture scholars to write and edit books for Trans Studies, a book series published by Bloomsbury Academic. We welcome books on transgender and nonbinary lives and experiences as reflected in material culture. 

Bloomsbury Academic is a leading international publisher of books on material culture, and its Gender & Sexuality Studies list pioneers scholarship about marginalized gender identities and sexualities, as seen in the press’s commitment to LGBTQIA+ topics. 

High priorities for the Trans Studies series include books that provide intersectional perspectives, as well as works that examine transgender and nonbinary topics with reference to particular linguistic, national, and regional groups. We encourage authors from around the world to contribute to the series, incorporating culture-specific insights as feasible.

Contemporary and historical works are equally appropriate. Books in this series include monographs and edited volumes that target academic audiences. We value books that explore socially relevant issues and that both clarify and question the premises of trans studies.

To propose a book for Trans Studies, please complete this form and submit it to General Editor Douglas Vakoch (dvakoch@meti.org) and Senior Acquisitions Editor Courtney Morales (Courtney.Morales@bloomsbury.com). Please include your CV, a list of five to seven potential reviewers you do not know personally, and a sample chapter. If you do not have a sample chapter for the book, please include a previous writing sample written in the same style that you envision for the book.

On the form, list the highest degree for each author, editor, and chapter author. For edited volumes, all chapters should have at least one author who has already completed their PhD. 

All books in the Trans Studies series—whether they are grounded in the humanities, social sciences, or biological sciences—reflect on the assumptions that guide the book’s specific version of trans scholarship. We especially seek works that provide innovative reformulations of the scope and practice of trans studies, including novel methodologies and theoretical concepts that challenge the status quo. We welcome books from disciplines that are underrepresented in trans studies.

All books follow the most recent guidelines for best practices in using accurate and respectful language when discussing transgender and nonbinary people and topics. Key resources to these best practices include GLAAD’s overviews of Transgender People and Nonbinary People, as well as this Glossary of Terms.

Contributors to this series come from disciplines including but not limited to affect studies, anthropology, architecture, area studies, art, biology, cinema studies, classics, communication studies, cultural studies, disability studies, ecology, economics, education, emotion studies, environmental studies, ethics, ethnic studies, gender studies, geography, history, law, literary studies, masculinity studies, media studies, medicine, medieval studies, philosophy, political science, psychology, public policy, queer studies, religious studies, rhetoric, science and technology studies, science fiction studies, sociology, theology, trans studies, and women’s studies. Proposals grounded in other disciplines are equally welcome.

Contact Email

dvakoch@meti.org

New/Recent Publications

Articles

Vescio, Portia; Bouley Sweeten, Regina; Dull, Kathleen; McDonald, Dylan; and Pringle, Jonathan (2025) “Hybrid Conferences as the Standard Offering of Archival Organizations,” Journal of Western Archives: Vol. 16: Iss. 1, Article 5.

Brier, David. “Making the Invisible Visible: Teaching Students About the Hidden Environmental Costs of Digital Activities” College & Research Libraries News [Online], Volume 86 Number 9 (1 October 2025)

Thomas M. Susman, Celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the 1974 Amendments to the Freedom of Information Act and Remembering its Conception: A Personal Odyssey. 7J. CIVIC INFO.2, 1-12(2025).

Kathryn Montalbano & Benjy Hamm, The Whole County is Watching: The Use of Kentucky’s Open Records and Meetings Acts by Local Newspapers in Rural Communities. 7J. CIVIC INFO.2, 41-62(2025).

Chigwada, J., & Ngulube, P. (2023). Stakeholders in the acquisition, preservation, and dissemination of indigenous knowledge projects. Information Development, 41(4), 1281-1298. https://doi.org/10.1177/02666669231192851 (Original work published 2025)

Tella, A., Jatto, E. O., & Ajani, Y. A. (2025). Preserving indigenous knowledge: Leveraging digital technology and artificial intelligence. IFLA Journal, 51(3), 703-721. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352251342505 (Original work published 2025)

Knowlton, Steven A. “Memories of Public Libraries in Oral Histories of Accomplished Black Professionals: Methods of Finding the Library in the Life of the User.” Information & Culture 60, no. 2 (2025): 109-144. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lac.00012.

Books

Troubling Archives: History and Memory in Namibian Literature and Art
Julia Rensing
[transcript], 2025

Revoicing Intangible Cultural Heritage: Perspectives from the Margins of Europe
Edited By Laura Hodsdon, Valts Ernštreits, Kadri Koreinik, Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar
Routledge, 2025

Designing for Playful Engagement in Museums: Immersion, Emotion, Narrative, and Gameplay
Ed Rodley
Routledge, 2025

Les Archives par Létat et ses Institutions: Contribution à une théorie de reconstitution des fonds d’archives mutilés, dispersés et/ou détruits // Archives by the State and its Institutions: Contribution to a theory of reconstitution of mutilated, dispersed and/or destroyed archival funds
Mehenni Akbal

Pioneering Women Archivists in Early 20th Century England
Elizabeth Shepherd
Routledge, 2025

Drawn to the Stacks: Essays on Libraries, Librarians and Archives in Comics and Graphic Novels
Carrye Kay Syma, Robert G. Weiner, Donell Callender
McFarland

Network Analysis for Book Historians: Digital Labour and Data Visualization Techniques
Liz Fischer
Arc Humanities Press

The Future of Memory: A History of Lossless Format Standards in the Moving Image Archive
Jimi Jones and Marek Jancovic
University of Illinois Press, 2025

Displays of Belonging: Polish Jewish Collecting and Museums, 1891–1941
Sarah Ellen Zarrow
Cornell University Press, 2025

The Routledge Handbook of Museum and Heritage Education
Edited By Maggie McColl, Pete Brown, Michelle Delaney, Karl Borromäus Murr, Henrik Zipsane
Routledge, 2025

Digitising Cultural Heritage: Clashes with Copyright Law
Pinar Oruç
Bloomsbury, 2025

Reports

History, the Past, and Public Culture
American Historical Association

An Overview of Emulation as a Preservation Method
Eric Kaltman, Winnie Schwaid-Lindner, Drey Jonathan, Andrew Borman, Alex Garnett, and Larry Masinter
CLIR, July 2025

CfP: Human Rights Archives and the Problems of Provenance

Human Rights Archives and the Problems of Provenance

Special Issue of The Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies

Editors: Michelle Caswell, UCLA and Jess Melvin, University of Sydney

Records documenting human rights abuse raise a host of critical challenges for archivists, scholars, activists, survivors, and source communities. Who owns such records? Which stakeholders have the legal and/or ethical authority to make decisions about their stewardship? When should community-based collections, personal records, oral histories or artistic expressions comment on, respond to, or fill in the gaps left by official state documentation?

Dominant Western archival theories trace the provenance of records to their creators. By this narrow estimation, many records documenting human rights abuse belong to the abusers who created them or successor states. However, recent developments in critical archival studies challenge dominant Western notions of provenance, expanding it (as in community or social provenance) (Bastian 2009, Douglas 2017), retooling it for liberatory aims such as crip provenance (Brilmyer 2022), land as provenance (Ghaddar 2022), or provenancial fabulation (Lapp 2023), or abandoning it altogether (Drake 2021). A recent special issue of Archival Science edited by Jeannette Bastian, Stanley Griffin, and James Lowry addresses emerging conceptions of provenance in detail.

This renewed interest in provenance has opened up critical questions as provenance relates specifically to the ownership, stewardship, and uses of records documenting human rights abuse. This special issue of The Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies will exclusively feature papers produced at the Human Rights Archives and the Problems of Provenance symposium at the University of Sydney in June 2025. The symposium was organized as part of the Indonesia Trauma Testimony Project made possible with support from the Australian Research Council.

Submission due date: September 1, 2025 (Contact jclis@litwinbooks.com to submit a paper.)

Anticipated publication date: Spring 2026

References

Bastian J (2006) Reading colonial records through an archival lens: the provenance of place, space and creation. Arch Sci 6: 267-284.

Brilmyer G (2022) Toward a crip provenance: centering disability in archives through its absence. J Contemporary Arch Stud 9:1-25

Douglas J (2017) Origins and beyond. In: MacNeil H & Eastwood T (eds.) Currents of Archival Thinking (2nd. ed) Libraries Unlimited, California. pp 25-52

Drake J (2016) RadTech Meets RadArch: Towards A New Principle for Archives and Archival Description. Medium. https://medium.com/on-archivy/radtech-meets-radarch-towards-a-new-principle-for-archives-and-archival-description-568f133e4325

Call for submissions: De Gruyter Brill’s Technology and Change in History book series

Call for submissions: De Gruyter Brill’s Technology and Change in History book series

Series editors: Adam Lucas and Phillip Reid

The role played by technology in transforming human societies has been a preoccupation of the modern period. Technology and Change in History is a peer-reviewed series of monographs and edited volumes which surveys the development of technology from a variety of different historical perspectives.

Since 1997, the series has published eighteen volumes, with the nineteenth due out in June 2025. The current editors seek to increase the pace of publication while maintaining the highest standard of original scholarship. 

We invite scholars at all postdoctoral career stages to submit monographs or edited volumes in the history of technology for consideration. We encourage submissions from archaeologists and material culture specialists as well as historians. We are currently exploring the feasibility of commissioning monographs and edited volumes featuring the technologies and techniques of Indigenous people, and welcome proposals that meet those criteria. 

Information and a list of previous publications may be found here. 

Proposals and manuscripts should be submitted to Helena Schöb, Acquisitions Editor, at helena.schoeb@degruyterbrill.com. 

General queries about appropriate topics may be submitted to the series editors at alucas@uow.edu.au and phillipfrankreid@gmail.com. 

Contact Information

Proposals and manuscripts should be submitted to Helena Schöb, Acquisitions Editor, at helena.schoeb@degruyterbrill.com. 

General queries about appropriate topics may be submitted to the series editors at alucas@uow.edu.au and phillipfrankreid@gmail.com. 

Contact Email

helena.schoeb@degruyterbrill.com

URL: https://brill.com/display/serial/TCH

G.L.A.M. Bookworms Book Club for June

You are invited to Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Archives’ next G.L.A.M.* Bookworms Book Club discussion is on Wednesday, June 18, 7pm (EDT) via Zoom. RSVP/information: info@wolfsonarchives.org.

We’re reading NATURAL HISTORY by Carlos Fonseca:

A curator at a natural history museum investigates the mysterious life of a fashion designer. As he unravels her story, he uncovers deep connections between art, politics, and nature, blurring the line between truth and fiction.

*Gallery, Library, Archives and Museum professionals, but anyone is welcome to join!

Call for Contributions: Panoramic and Immersive Media Studies (PIMS) Yearbook

The Panoramic and Immersive Media Studies Yearbook (PIMS Yearbook) invites contributions for publication consideration in its third yearbook. The PIMS Yearbook is the annual yearbook of the International Panorama Council (IPC), published by De Gruyter. It surveys the historical and contemporary landscape of panoramic and immersive media. This open call invites scholarly, creative, and practical contributions in seven areas including scholarly essays (peer-reviewed) and creative essays.

Panoramic and Immersive Media Studies (PIMS) Yearbook 3 (2026)

The Panoramic and Immersive Media Studies Yearbook (PIMS Yearbook) invites contributions for publication consideration in its third yearbook. The PIMS Yearbook is the annual yearbook of the International Panorama Council (IPC), published by De Gruyter. It surveys the historical and contemporary landscape of panoramic and immersive media. This open call invites scholarly, creative, and practical contributions in seven areas including scholarly essays (peer-reviewed) and creative essays.

Panoramic & Immersive Media Studies (PIMS) Yearbook 3 (2026)

The Panoramic & Immersive Media Studies (PIMS) Yearbook is the annual yearbook of the International Panorama Council (IPC, Switzerland), published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg (Germany). It surveys the historical and contemporary landscape of panoramic and immersive media. This interdisciplinary field includes—but is not limited to—optical and haptic devices; 360-degree paintings; long-form paintings, photography, and prints; dioramas; museum displays; games; gardens; literature; maps; music; printed matter; still and moving images; virtual and augmented reality; and theatrical productions. Whereas the notion of the panoramic describes extensive, expansive and/or all-embracing vistas, immersion refers to porous interfaces between representation and the real, observer and observed, nature and culture, and past, present, and future. Together, the concepts of panorama and immersion have catalyzed time- and space-bending strategies for creating, experiencing, and transforming culture, ideas, and built and social space across the arc of human history.

This open call invites scholarly, creative, and practical contributions in seven areas including scholarly essays (subject to double-blind peer review); visual and creative essays; restoration, management, and field reports; opinion forum pieces; IPC conference reports & papers (this section is open only to IPC conference presenters; contributions subject to single-blind peer review); reviews; and reprints. Contributions may explore a range of ideas in panoramic and immersive media, such as historical and contemporary uses of immersive technologies; innovative methods in preservation and heritage interpretation; tools for applications in museum interpretation and display, contemporary art practices, or educational settings; exploring contested heritage; and analyzing nationalist and imperialist discourses. View the publisher’s PIMS Yearbook page at De Gruyter Oldenbourg.

We welcome contributions from IPC members and non-members alike. The PIMS Yearbook is managed by three Executive Editors, a team of Section Editors, and an IPC Editorial Advisory Board. In addition, each issue invites one or more Guest Editors. Section details appear below. Sections not edited by named section editors are edited by PIMS Executive Editors.

SECTIONS

Scholarly Essays
This double-blind peer reviewed section invites scholarly essays that explore themes in panoramic and immersive media studies. We welcome consideration of historical and contemporary immersive media, technologies, aesthetics, and cultural practices and their continuing influence today. Contributions to the Scholarly Essays section are first reviewed by section editors and then subject to double-blind peer review coordinated by De Gruyter. If accepted for further consideration, the editors will request an anonymized copy for external double-blind peer review with the publisher.

Section Editors

  • Liz Crooks, Director, University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
  • Melissa Wolfe, Curator and Head of American Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

Invited Guest Editors

  • Leen Engelen, LUCA School of Arts, KU Leuven, Belgium
  • Prof. Victor Flores, Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Susana S. Martins, University of Nova Lisbon, Faculdade De Ciências Sociais e Humanas, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Forum
The Forum is responsive to current debates and public conversations surrounding old and new immersive media. It welcomes opinion pieces, interviews, etc. that make an argument, are delivered in the author’s own voice, are based on fact, and are drawn from the author’s research, expertise or experience. For example, contributions may explore the historical and contemporary uses of immersive technologies in preservation and heritage interpretation, as tools for exploring contested heritage, in museum interpretation and display, in educational settings, as entertainment and leisure enhancements, and in the service of promoting nationalist and imperialist discourses.

Reprints
The PIMS Reprints section makes space for revisiting articles, documents, other printed media and objects pertinent to the study of multimodal immersive technologies and media. Subject to permissions, this section features previously published, out-of-print and out-of-copyright materials understood to be significant to the production, reception and study of panoramic and immersive media. Contributions may also include historical and unpublished manuscripts, and/or other archival materials, such as illustrated presentations of objects and optical devices. Please include a short editorial/introductory essay (up to 800 words) to contextualize the proposed article, paper, document, translation, or object. If including images, please ensure they are print-ready and supply evidence of permission to publish.

Restoration, Management, and Field Reports
We invite papers and reports on the preservation, restoration, management and interpretation of historic panoramas and related immersive media formats. Contributions are subject to editing by section editors.

Section Editors

  • Patrick Deicher, President, Bourbaki Panorama Foundation, Lucerne, Switzerland​​
  • Gabriele Koller, Jerusalem Panorama Foundation, Altötting, Germany

Visual and Creative Essays
We invite visual and creative approaches including visual essays, artistic projects, creative writing, and other makerly modes of reflection and material research on immersive media. Contributions are editorially curated and prospective authors for this section are encouraged to contact section editors before submitting full proposals. Direct your message to IRMA360 [at] protonmail [dot] com.

Section Editors

  • Ruby Carlson, Director/Co-Curator, Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles, California, USA
  • Sara Velas, Director/Co-Curator, Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles, California, USA

33rd IPC Conference Report & Papers
This single-blind peer reviewed section publishes the IPC conference program, abstracts, keywords, and presenter biographies. It also invites conference presenters to contribute papers of up to 3,000 words that reflect the substance of their presentations. Conference presenters are welcome to contribute to this section or any other section. Contributions to the Conference Reports & Papers section are subject to single-blind peer review.

Section Editors

  • Liz Crooks, Director, University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
  • Melissa Wolfe, Curator and Head of American Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

Reviews
This section invites reviews of recent books, exhibitions, events, performances, archives, and products of a panoramic and/or immersive nature.

GENERAL NOTE
Contributions to the Scholarly Essays section are first reviewed by section editors and then subject to double-blind peer review coordinated by De Gruyter. Contributions to the Conference Reports & Papers section are subject to single-blind peer review. All other sections are reviewed by the PIMS Yearbook editorial board. Following the initial review of submitted materials, PIMS Yearbook editors may re-assign a submission for consideration in another section. On occasion, a submission will be recommended for publication in a succeeding volume.

Executive Editors

  • Prof. Dr. Molly Briggs, School of Art & Design, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
  • Prof. Dr. Thorsten Logge, University of Hamburg, Germany
  • Prof. Nicholas C. Lowe, John H. Bryan Chair of Historic Preservation, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA

Section Editors

  • Ruby Carlson, Velaslavasay Panorama, Director/Co-Curator, Los Angeles, California, USA
  • Liz Crooks, Director, University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
  • Patrick Deicher, President of the Bourbaki Panorama Foundation, Lucerne, Switzerland​​
  • Prof. Victor Flores, Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Leen Engelen, LUCA School of Arts, KU Leuven, Belgium
  • Susana S. Martins, University of Nova Lisbon, Faculdade De Ciências Sociais e Humanas, University of Lisbon, Portugal
  • Gabriele Koller, Curator, Museum Panorama Altötting, Altötting, Germany
  • Sara Velas, Velaslavasay Panorama, Director/Co-Curator, Los Angeles, California, USA
  • Dr. Melissa Wolfe, Curator and Head of American Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

Editorial Advisory Board

  • Prof. Dr. Thiago Leitão de Souza, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Dr. Blagovesta Momchedjikova, Expository Writing Program, New York University, USA
  • Robin Skinner, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand
  • Suzanne Wray, Independent Scholar & Researcher, New York City, New York, USA

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
The PIMS Yearbook accepts original and complete illustrated manuscripts written in the English language.

How to Submit
Please send your initial submission to pimsyearbookipc [at] gmail [dot] com

Please indicate which section you are submitting to:

  • Scholarly Essays (double-blind peer review)
  • Forum (edited)
  • Restoration, Management, and Field Reports (edited)
  • Visual and Creative Essays (edited)
  • International Panorama Council Conference Report 2024 (single-blind peer review)
  • Reviews (edited)
  • Reprints (edited)

Contributions need not be anonymized at the initial submission stage

Word limits

Scholarly Essays: Abstract up to 300 words plus 4 to 7 keywords (do not include title words); main text up to 10,000 words including notes, references, image captions, and author bio (in exceptional cases we can accommodate up to 15,000 words).

Visual & Creative Essays: Abstract up to 300 words plus 4 to 7 keywords (do not include title words); main text up to 5,000 words plus works cited; author biography up to 150 words. Contributions to this section may be more image-rich and may be shorter in word count.

Forum, Restoration, and Conference sections: Abstract up to 300 words plus 4 to 7 keywords (do not include title words); main text up to 5,000 words plus works cited; author biography up to 150 words.

Reviews: Title as the “[Book/Exhibition/Event] Review: [Title of Book/Exhibition/Event (plus author/maker name if applicable)]”; main text up to 3,000 words.

Reprints: Accompany the content to be reprinted with an original introduction, up to 1,500 words plus 4 to 7 keywords.

Manuscript Preparation & Formatting
Please use MS Word.docx file format if possible. If you don’t have access to MS Word, use Google.docs to prepare as a .docx file.

All submissions must be formatted in compliance with the PIMS Style Sheet, and the PIMS Manuscript Template, and the Chicago Manual of Style 18th Edition.

Download and use the PIMS-ManuscriptTemplate as your starting point; follow all instructions and examples provided therein. Again, if you do not have access to MS Word, we recommend composing as a .docx file in Google docs.
Also, download the PIMS Yearbook v3 StyleSheet and refer to it as you work.

Images
Only include images that are central and necessary to your argument; do not include images solely for the purposes of illustration.

Contributions to the Visual and Creative Essays and Reviews sections can be more image-rich.

All images must be accompanied by in-text image callouts. Images not referred to in the text, e.g. without callouts, cannot be published.

Contributions to the Visual and Creative Essays and Reviews sections may not require image in-text callouts

Image files are not required upon initial submission. However, we strongly recommend gathering print-ready image files now, so that if accepted for publication you will be prepared to move forward. Minimum specifications for file size and quality:

  • 7 in / 17 cm in longest dimension
  • 300 dpi (600 dpi preferred)

If your contribution is accepted for publication, you will be required to provide legal proof of image permissions for each image, even open source images. Now is a good time to begin gathering that information.

Contributions for v3 are due 3 October 2025

Send inquiries and contributions to pimsyearbookipc [at] gmail [dot] com

PIMS Yearbook at De Gruyter Oldenbourg

Contact Information

Executive Editors

  • Dr. Molly Briggs, School of Art & Design, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
  • Prof. Dr. Thorsten Logge, Universität Hamburg, Germany
  • Nicholas C. Lowe, Professor, John H. Bryan Chair of Historic Preservation, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA

Contact Email: pimsyearbookipc@gmail.com

Call for Chapter Proposals: Navigating Archival Backlogs: Strategies for Success

Title: Navigating Archival Backlogs: Strategies for Success
Editors: Heather Gilbert, College of Charleston and Claudia F. Willett, Stanford University
Publisher: Bloomsbury

We are excited to invite chapter proposals for Navigating Archival Backlogs: Strategies for Success, a double-blind peer reviewed edited volume to be published by Bloomsbury. Please email the editors at navigatingarchivalbacklogs@gmail.com with any questions.

About the Book

Nearly every archive has an accessioning and/or processing backlog.  It is an almost universal truth accepted by the profession. This situation reflects long-standing issues in the profession: limited staffing, resourcing, space, and institutional support. We know the consequences of archival backlogs: they prevent accessibility and discoverability of our collections and, therefore, our history, and they contribute to archival silences and obstruct researchers. However, the practical and physical extent of this problem is often left undiscussed, and the residual issues are left unaddressed. 

This edited volume will provide contemporary case studies of the development and implementation of successful backlog reduction strategies. It will address a range of backlog material types (including both physical and digital backlogs) and a spectrum of resource availability (including institutions with little to no budget to address their backlog issue). Readers should come away fortified with practical and accessible solutions that they can use to address their specific backlog problem(s). 

Call for Chapter Proposals

Proposals are invited from individuals working in archival and cultural heritage institutions who have experience navigating, working with, managing, or addressing archival backlogs. Case studies and exploratory research are invited and welcome, as are essays that incorporate scholarly writing with personal narratives. Final chapters should be between 2,500 – 5,000 words. All selected chapters will undergo double-blind peer review prior to publication. This is not an exhaustive list, so do not feel limited by the following suggested topics.

Section 1: Physical backlog strategies

Themes for this section could include: 

  • Processing, accessioning, deaccessioning, and/or proactive collecting practices and strategies as a function of backlog management.
  • “More product, less process” processing style (MPLP) and/or extensible/efficient processing as a means of addressing a backlog.
  • Backlog workflow creation, implementation, and management and/or software and/or tools used in these processes.   

Section 2: Digital backlog strategies

Themes for this section could include: 

  • Born digital processing, accessioning, deaccessioning, and/or proactive collecting practices and strategies as a function of digital backlog management.
  • Building cross departmental collaborations and workflows.
  • Software and/or tools used in addressing digital backlogs.

Section 3: Hybrid backlog strategies

Themes for this section could include: 

  • Discussion of the extent of hybrid collections (and their backlogs) and the unique challenges they present
  • Resource and knowledge sharing that leverage collaborative solutions
  • Personnel proficiency requirements for successful hybrid backlog resolution.

Section 4: Leadership & Management 

Themes for this section could include: 

  • Change management related to backlog management
  • Large scale project management for backlogs
  • Conflict resolution and personnel and donor management as related to backlog issues
  • Impacts of having an archival backlog

Proposal Instructions

Please submit your proposals using the Call for Chapter Proposals Google Form by June 2, 2025. The proposal should include all contributing authors, a working title, 3-5 keywords describing your proposed topic, which book section you believe your proposal fits best, and a description of your proposed chapter that does not exceed 500 words.  

Authors will be notified of acceptance by August 15, 2025. See below for the full project timeline. Please email the editors at navigatingarchivalbacklogs@gmail.com with any questions.

Project Timeline

  • CFP closes June 2, 2025
  • Authors notified of acceptance by August 15, 2025
  • Chapter outlines sent to editor by September 15, 2025
  • First drafts due January 1, 2026
  • Draft reviews completed and feedback provided to authors by March 2, 2026
  • Final drafts due April 1, 2026
  • Publication anticipated August 2026