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

CFP: NeuroGLAM 2025

The members of Neuro-GLAM-orous Canada invite you to participate in their third annual free online conference.

August 22nd 2025 — Online

9 AM – 1 PM Pacific Standard Time
12 PM – 4 PM Eastern Standard Time
1 PM – 5 PM Atlantic Standard Time

What is Neuro-GLAM-orous Canada?
Neuro-GLAM-orous Canada emerged from the success and elevated feelings around the Ontario College and University Library Association’s 2022 Neurodiversity in the Library conference when it was seen just how badly there needs to be a place for neurodivergent gallery, library, archive, and museum workers in Canada to share their interests, experiences, research, and support.

Conceived of as part professional, self-advocacy, and support group, Neuro-GLAM-orous Canada is still in its early stages and primarily organizes on our Discord server (you can contact Ben Mitchell (bemitchell@tru.ca<mailto:bemitchell@tru.ca>) for an invite link).

Potential Topics:
The theme of this year’s conference is neurodiversity, GLAM, fascism, and its discontents. Presentations and panels may relate to, but are not limited to:

Research, professional work, and ongoing projects related to the theme.
Personal accounts of being neurodivergent in GLAM spaces in the context of eugenic and authoritarian cultures, practices, and laws.
How GLAM professions have historically resisted or facilitated fascism in different contexts or are currently resisting or facilitating it.
Surveillance and ableism in GLAM professions.

For those interested, the conference will conclude with a “Five Minute Fascinators” event where participants are invited to talk about a special interest for five minutes and why they think it is so interesting.

After the conference there will be a channel created on the Neuro-GLAM-orous Canada Discord server for ongoing discussions and follow up to discussions raised during the event and where links to recordings will be posted.

Guidelines
We invite proposals for individual presentations as well as for panel submissions. Presentations and panel discussions can be pre-recorded or delivered live.

For individual presentations, please submit an abstract of no more than around 2500 characters (approximately 400 words) a presentation title, a brief biographical statement (including pronouns if you feel comfortable doing so), contact information, and any potential trigger warnings for your presentation. You may also indicate the expected length of your presentation (10 minutes or 20 minutes max).

For complete panels, please submit a panel abstract of no more than 2500 characters (approximately 400 words) as well as a list of all participants and brief biographical statements (including pronouns if you feel comfortable doing so). Please identify (up to three panelists and one moderator) and provide participants’ contact information for the panel organizer.

At Neuro-GLAM-erous Canada we believe that the personal and professional are political, and encourage participants to think of themselves as whole beings. The sphere of vulnerability this creates will require tact and understanding. While this is a space to learn and be vulnerable, harassment, bigotry, and bad-faith actors will not be tolerated.

Proposals can be submitted to neuroglamcon@gmail.com<mailto:neuroglamcon@gmail.com>

Any questions can be directed to Ben Mitchell at bemitchell@tru.ca<mailto:bemitchell@tru.ca>

Proposal deadline: July 31st 2025

SHARP Annual Bibliography 2024

SHARP, the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing has compiled a bibliography of 2024 publications related to book, reading, and publishing history.

See also past bibliographies.

Ideas from oral history colleagues for a 4th edition of The Oral History Reader

Dear oral history colleague/s

We – myself and Alexander Freund – seek your expert advice, and would like to share your suggestions about oral history writings with colleagues, as appropriate, through H-OralHist.

We have been contracted by Routledge to edit a fourth edition of The Oral History Reader, which was first published in 1998 (Rob Perks, who co-edited the first three editions with Alistair, has decided to take a more back seat role in the fourth edition, as a founding editor). 

We are seeking your suggestions about oral history journal articles, or book chapters or extracts, published from 2015 on, that we might consider for inclusion in the fourth edition. We are looking for well-written pieces from the last decade that use oral history in original and imaginative ways, that include especially insightful reflections about aspects of oral history theory and method, and that would work for an international English-language readership that includes oral history students, researchers and practitioners. 

You don’t need to tell us about articles in the major English language oral history journals (Oral History, Oral History Review, Oral History Forum, Studies in Oral History, and Words and Silences), or about chapters in the major oral history books series (Palgrave Macmillan, Oxford and Routledge) – as we’ll be reading everything in those book series and journal issues.

We are keen to include writings from across the oral world, and from the range of disciplines and practices that work with oral history. They might concern any aspect of oral history, though the publisher, and reader reports, urged us especially to include new writing about the following topics:

  • Remote interviewing
  • Audio and video interviewing
  • Developing an oral history project
  • New digital media formats (podcasting, soundscapes etc)
  • ‘Shared authority’ 
  • Oral history and artificial intelligence

We will probably use the same five-part structure for the Reader (Critical Developments, Interviewing, Interpreting Memories, Making Histories, and Advocacy and Empowerment) so ideally the writings will work within that scheme though they may of course work across different categories. 

Please also let us know about appropriate, exceptional oral history writings that have been published in languages other than English (we don’t have a budget for translation, but AI now makes it easier to do quick and rough translations so we can consider such pieces).

Finally, if you have used earlier editions of the Reader for teaching or in other ways, we’d love to hear your thoughts about the chapters in previous editions that are indispensable, and about chapters you think should be replaced by new writings. 

We look forward to hearing your thoughts through this group or, if you prefer, email privately to alistair.thomson@monash.edu and / or alexanderfreund9@gmail.com 

With best wishes, Alex and Al

CFP – Ephemera Society of America Conference

250 years: Ephemera Shapes America

Preamble 

On July 4, 2026, the United States will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. John Dunlap, a twenty-nine-year-old Irish immigrant, spent much of the night of July 4, 1776, hastily setting type and printing final copies of the single-sheet broadside of the Declaration. One was attached with a seal and folded into the Continental Congress manuscript journal after the words: “The Declaration being again read was agreed to as follows.” The others were distributed throughout the new United States to be read aloud in each of the 13 colonies and to the continental troops. Newspapers quickly published the contents. It is self-evident that ephemera played a pivotal role in the founding of our country. This broadside not only described the reasons for the country’s founding, it was also the means by which the public learned of our separation from Britain. Finding an original “Dunlap Broadside” continues to be the holy grail for collectors of American historical documents. Of the estimated 200 originally printed, twenty-six examples are known today. Most reside in institutions, including three at the National Archives, London. But copies have been unearthed in such places as Philadelphia’s famed Leary’s Book Store in 1968, in a crate that had not been opened since 1909. One, still in private hands, was discovered about twenty-five years ago behind a picture frame purchased for $4 at a Pennsylvania flea market.

Request for Proposals:

This historic anniversary is an apt moment for examining how ephemera played a key role not only in our founding, but also during the significant political events and social movements that make up our nation’s history.  Ephemera has helped to ignite, inform, commemorate, and reflect such events as the Civil War, the abolition of slavery, the Western land rush, the Centennial celebration, women’s suffrage, the World Wars, the Second Red Scare, counterculture movements in the 60s and activist activities today. Sometimes, ephemera serves as primary evidence. Without such survivors as hand-written accounts, photos, news clippings, and maps to establish the historical record, we might not know of the existence of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street and the tragic Race Massacre of 1921.

We invite submissions for talks at our 2026 conference in March on how ephemera has shaped and mirrored the major events and movements that have marked America’s growth. These presentations should be richly illustrated and supported by ephemera. Examples include: broadsides, posters, pamphlets, handbills, leaflets, newspaper articles, trade cards, billheads, letterheads, photographs, scrapbooks, diaries, circulars, brochures, booklets, signs, correspondence, playbills, menus, ration books, tickets, postcards, draft cards, arm bands, and buttons. 

Ephemera 46, the Ephemera Society of America (ESA) annual conference, will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich, Connecticut, on March 20, 2026. 

Each presentation will be 30 minutes in length, followed by a brief Q&A.  Please submit the following:

  • Presentation title and a written abstract, focusing on the way ephemera tells the story of your chosen topic. Please describe the specific types of ephemera you will use to illustrate your topic. Each presentation needs to feature at least three different types of ephemera. Proposals should not exceed 150 words.
  • 5 to 6 representative ephemera images 
  • A one-paragraph biography, including any affiliations
  • A jpg photograph of yourself for publicity purposes
  • Mailing address, phone number and e-mail address

Following a review of all proposals, finalists may be asked to submit 10 to 15 images of the types of ephemera that will be used to illustrate their talk. Proposals must be submitted via e-mail or post by September 15, 2025, to:

Barbara Loe, Ephemera 46 Conference Chair

e-mail: bjloe@earthlink.net or

post: Ephemera Society of America, Inc., P.O. Box 95, Cazenovia, NY 13035-0095.

Decisions and notification about proposals will be made by November 30, 2025. Presenters will be requested to sign a release at the time of acceptance allowing their presentation to be filmed for use by the ESA.

If selected, a draft PowerPoint presentation must be submitted by February 28, 2026. The final presentation must be submitted by March 12, 2026. Presentations must include 25 or more ephemera images. At this time, funding is not available from ESA to support travel or presentation costs. 

ESA is eager to expand the use of ephemera in the classroom, and we encourage presentations on all subjects addressing the use of ephemera in teaching and academic research. We encourage undergraduate and graduate students to submit proposals for the Emerging Scholars Program to be held on Thursday afternoon, March 19th.  For more information, please see “Emerging Scholars” under the “Discover” tab on our website:  www.ephemerasociety.org

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

Break from April 25-May 16

I am on vacation so there will be no posts for a few weeks. When I return, I’ll do my best to catch up but of course may miss a few announcement deadlines.

I also want to say thank you to everyone who follows and reads this blog. So far this year there have been 80 posts, over 6,000 views, and over 3,500 visitors. I am so appreciative that people use this resource!

Happy writing, researching, presenting, and publishing!

CFP: Society of Georgia Archivists Annual Meeting

The Society of Georgia Archivists Annual Meeting Program Committee proudly presents the theme for the 2025 annual meeting: Archivists “Macon” It Happen: Back to Basics.

The Committee invites you to attend the meeting, to be held at Middle Georgia State University in Macon, Georgia on Thursday, October 2, 2025.

Our 2025 program invites session proposals that will encompass presentations, working groups, interest groups, skill labs, mini workshops, and demonstrations on a broad spectrum of archival work as we take it back to the basics. Presentations will examine how archivists accomplish their work without reinventing the wheel – how do we leverage existing tools, workflows, and archival community connections?  While proposals on all aspects of archival practice and research will be considered, the Program Committee is especially interested in the following key topics:

  • Access, outreach, and instruction
  • Acquisitions, i.e. donor relations, deeds of gift, transfers, collection development policies, and donor guides
  • Career resources, i.e. advancement, resume & cover letter building, interview skills, conflict resolution, and salary negotiation 
  • Digital stewardship, i.e. digital scholarship/digital humanities projects, born-digital preservation
  • Preservation
  • Processing
  • Trainings, i.e. disaster planning, in-house conservation, and volunteer & student training
  • Workflows/Documentation/Project Management

The committee welcomes proposals from anyone involved with archives, including archival staff and volunteers, students, new professionals, community organizers, researchers, and allied professionals. 

The following are the session types we are accepting this year:

  • 50-minute mini workshops. A mini workshop on topics of interest that includes concrete practical tools and lessons for a smaller group of attendees. 
  • 50-minute working group/interest group. For working groups, facilitators and up to 5-7 discussants grapple with a shared concern. Before and during the meeting, working groups articulate a purpose they are working toward or a problem they are actively trying to solve. Proposals are submitted by facilitators, who will confirm discussants after acceptance. For interest groups, facilitators determine a topic of interest to host a structured discussion forum where attendees can engage in open-ended discussions, share ideas, and debate issues related to the topic of choice.
  • 50-minute panel (2-5 presenters). A complete session made up of formal presentations coordinated around a single theme.
  • 25-minute skills lab, tutorial, or case study (1-3 presenters). Show attendees how to use or apply a specific tool, technique, workflow, or concept. Visual aids and/or handouts are encouraged. 
  • 7-minute “Lightning Talk” (1-2 presenters). Briefly highlight recent projects, works in progress, or ideas for future collaboration.
  • Poster Session. Briefly highlight recent projects, works in progress, or ideas for future collaboration.

Proposals can be submitted through the online submission form. The deadline for proposal submissions is May 30, 2025.  

The Program Committee has created a Google spreadsheet to connect individuals seeking ideas and/or collaborators for session and poster proposals. The document is not monitored by SGA or the Program Committee and is not part of the official submission process.

For more information about the 2025 Annual Meeting, contact a member of the planning team:

CfP Museums in Motion: New Frontiers in Chinese Museum Studies

We are delighted to invite papers for the international workshop ‘Museums in Motion: New Frontiers in Chinese Museum Studies’, to be held in person and online at the University of Siena on 13-14 November 2025. 

Studying Chinese museums is both an intriguing and rewarding pursuit, offering a valuable perspective on the histories and cultures of China and its unprecedented transformations over the past three decades. These institutions house an extraordinary wealth of historical, artistic, and cultural artefacts, providing deep insight into China’s long and complex past, as well as its multilayered interactions with the world today. From ancient bronzes and calligraphy to contemporary art and political exhibitions, museums in China serve as dynamic spaces where history is preserved, interpreted, and debated. They shape narratives, influence national and local identities, and even serve political functions. The way history and culture are presented—what is emphasized, omitted, or reframed—offers a revealing glimpse into China’s evolving relationship with its past and present.

At the same time, questions of accessibility and representation remain central. While major state-run museums, such as the National Museum of China, present grand, state-approved narratives, smaller independent museums sometimes offer alternative perspectives, occasionally challenging official histories. This raises critical discussions about who controls historical narratives and how they are curated. Beyond their role as cultural and historical institutions, Chinese museums are at the forefront of technological and curatorial innovation. Digital exhibitions, AI-driven curation, and new approaches to audience engagement are transforming how visitors experience history and culture. But what does this mean for museum studies as a field? Are existing theories and methodologies sufficient to analyze these developments, or do we need new frameworks to understand this evolving landscape?

Furthermore, museums play an increasingly significant role in China’s modern cultural and economic strategies. The country has invested heavily in building and modernizing these institutions, signalling both a commitment to preserving heritage, and an effort to enhance cultural tourism internally and China’s cultural influences externally. Yet, this also raises fundamental questions: Are museums primarily spaces for education, instruments of soft power, or engines of commercial gain? How do they compare to museums in other parts of the world? Ultimately, studying Chinese museums is not just about appreciating artefacts—it is about understanding the intersections of history, culture, politics and society. Museums are not just neutral spaces; they actively participate in shaping national identity and public memory.

Objectives

Given China’s rapid cultural, political, and technological transformations, this workshop aims to explore the current landscape of Chinese museum studies. It seeks to foster international collaboration by bringing together scholars, curators, policymakers, and practitioners from diverse perspectives. The event will serve as a unique forum for critical dialogue, interdisciplinary exchange, and the rethinking of future directions in Chinese museum studies. 

We aim to collect contributions to publish an edited volume with a leading publisher in the field in 2026/2027.

Scope 

We encourage interdisciplinary approaches and welcome submissions in English that engage with a broad range of research topics, projects, and case studies, from practitioners, policymakers, and scholars from different perspectives and disciplines, including but not limited to: Archaeology; Art and Art History; Anthropological and Ethnographic Studies; Sociological Perspectives; Political Science and International Relations; Economic and Business Approaches; Media and Communication Studies; Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices; Conservation and Heritage Management; Exhibition Design and Interpretation; Education and Pedagogical Approaches; Gender and Feminist Studies; Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies; Science and Technology Studies; and Philosophical and Ethical Considerations.

Key questions the workshop seeks to address include (but are not limited to):

  • How are museums in China shaping and reshaping historical narratives?
  • What role do digital technologies play in Chinese museums?
  • How do Chinese museums engage with international audiences and collaborate with global institutions?
  • What challenges do museums face in terms of funding, curation, and public engagement?
  • How do museums navigate issues of decolonization, repatriation, and contested heritage?
  • What role do museums play in fostering community engagement, especially among local and ethnic minority groups?
  • How do privately funded museums contribute to or challenge dominant narratives?
  • How do museums address environmental sustainability and heritage conservation?
  • What ethical concerns arise with AI, VR, and big data in museum curation?
  • How are gender, diversity, and marginal voices represented in Chinese museums?
  • What role do Chinese museums play in international cultural diplomacy and soft power?
  • How do Chinese exhibitions and collections abroad shape global perceptions of Chinese culture?
  • What are the dynamics of collaboration between Chinese and foreign museums and how do these influence museum practices globally?
  • New methods and approaches to museum studies 
  • Historical perspective on museum development in China 
  • Museum development in Greater China and among Chinese diasporas 

Dates: 13–14 November 2025
Format: Hybrid (Online & In-Person)

Hosting University: University of Siena (Department of Philology and Literary Criticism) – Arezzo Campus
Venue: Logge del Grano Hall, Piazzetta Logge del Grano 5, 52100 Arezzo, Italy

Presentation Format: Papers should not exceed 20 minutes, followed by a 5-minute discussion.

Submission Guidelines: Please send an abstract (250 words)along with a bio (max. 100 words, detailing affiliation, career stage and disciplinary background).

Important Dates: 

  • Submission Deadline: 31 May 2025
  • Notification of Acceptance: 31 July 2025
  • Program Draft: 30 September 2025

Fee: Attendance at the workshop is free. Participants attending the in-person session shall cover their own travel and accommodation.

Proposal Submission: Please send proposals in a single email to all organizers at the following addresses:

Ornella De Nigris: ornella.denigris@unisi.it|Cangbai Wang: C.Wang6@westminster.ac.uk |Sofia Bollo: sofia.bollo@uzh.ch

Call for Submissions – Museums Journal: Afterlives (2026)

Museums 2026 – Call for Submissions for Afterlives (Issue #11)

What does it mean to be alive? To be dead? To exist in a state beyond?

An afterlife can be a refusal, it can be the archive’s inability to forget, the museum’s struggle to unmake itself, the artifact that resists its own display. An afterlife can be a haunting, a presence that insists, a structure that lingers past its collapse. An afterlife can be a release, an object freed from the logic that once defined it, a collection finding life in new hands, a museum breaking apart to make space for something unimagined.

Submission Deadline: January 5, 2026, 11:59 PM (CST)

Submission Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdjlnJZYMnaMP7GCEKtt-Y5U7B654xSBF4ASmT84AwUvlwtzw/viewform?pli=1