Tag: conferences

CFP: Symposium – Papering Over the Audiovisual Archives

The FIAT/IFTA Media Studies Commission together with the Entangled Media Histories invite you to a two-day international symposium to be held at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision on 19-20 November 2026.

The symposium focuses on paper archives and their uses in media historical research. The aim is to foreground these discussions as points of departure for showcasing the value of paper archives in media historiography and their indispensable contributions to appraising and valorising audiovisual archival records.

Call for Papers

The symposium is open to media historians, archivists, artists and media professionals doing archive-based work. We invite papers that shine a light on the use of paper archives in the writing of media histories. Papers that showcase the theoretical and methodological versatility of paper archives in media historical research are particularly welcome. We are interested in contributions that deal with archived paper (paper preserved as historical records) as well as archival paper (catalogues, index cards, maps, etc.). The following topics can serve as a point of inspiration, however proposals do not need to be limited to these:

  • paper archives as signifiers of archiving politics;
  • (re)orientations towards politics of digitisation, preservation and archival
    access;
  • practices of appraising historical records and their archival value;
  • intermediality in archive-based media histories;
  • archival precarity;
  • the gendering of paper archives;
  • paper archives and women’s media histories;
  • paper and (gendered) archival labour;
  • embodied approaches to archives;
  • archival paper (catalogues, inventories, memos, etc.) and its digital afterlives;
  • materiality of paper records;
  • silences in the archives as orientations towards re-sounding and re-visioning the archives;
  • polyvocality in the archives and imaginative processes of historical meaning-making;
  • paper archives as grounds for self-reflexivity in institutional media archives.

Abstracts of 250 words should be sent to msc@fiatifta.org by May 31st, 2026.

Queries can be sent to Alec Badenoch (Utrecht University) or Dana Mustata (University of Groningen).

CFP: Playing with History

PLAYING WITH HISTORY, 15 – 16 JULY

The Centre for Historical Studies at the University of Northampton welcomes submissions for our interdisciplinary and panhistorical conference Playing with History. This event brings together scholars, educators, and practitioners interested in examining how play—across its many forms—shapes, reflects, and reimagines the past. Play is often framed as leisure or diversion, yet it has long been central to cultural expression, technological innovation, learning, and socialization. From ancient board games to contemporary digital worlds, from childhood toys to serious games in education, play offers a rich archive for historical inquiry and creative engagement.

We welcome papers that address (but are not limited to) the following themes:

1. Histories of Games, Toys, and Play

  • Archaeologies and material cultures of play
  • Play and identity (gender, class, race, age)
  • Collecting, preserving, and curating play artefacts
  • Performance as play (acting, dressing up, theatre)

2. History and Gaming

  • Historical representation in tabletop, board, and role-playing games
  • Video games as sites of historical storytelling and memory
  • Game mechanics as historiographical tools
  • Histories of gaming technologies and industries

3. Pedagogy and Play

  • Game-based learning in history education
  • Role-playing and experiential learning in the classroom
  • Designing educational games and playful curricula
  • Critical perspectives on gamification
  • Play as a method of engaging with difficult or contested pasts

We encourage contributions from a wide range of disciplines, including history, archaeology, anthropology, education, media studies, game studies, museum studies, theatre studies and more. If you have something to say about play, you are welcome!

We welcome 200-word abstracts for traditional 20-minute papers, but also welcome submissions for more creative formats, such as game demonstrations, poster presentations and workshops. We warmly welcome abstracts from practitioners outside higher education and postgraduate students. 

Please email Rachel.Moss@northampton.ac.uk and Tim.Reinke-Williams@northampton.ac.uk your abstract and contact details by Monday 11 May.

Contact Information

Rachel.Moss@northampton.ac.uk and Tim.Reinke-Williams@northampton.ac.uk 

CFP: 2026 OHA Biennial Conference

Proposals are now being accepted to present at the 2026 OHA Biennial Conference to be held in Tardanya/Adelaide, South Australia, on the lands of the Kaurna people, from 3-6 December. The deadline for submission is 11 May 2026.

The conference is being presented jointly by Oral History Australia (OHA) and Oral History Australia SA/NT. The theme is the very timely ‘Human voices, modern technology: Oral history & authenticity’ and features world-leading oral history and technology expert Doug Boyd as keynote speaker.

Professor Doug Boyd PhD is the Director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries and is a recent president of the Oral History Association. Boyd  envisioned, designed and implemented the open source and free OHMS system, which synchronizes text with audio and video online.  In 2019 Boyd received a Fulbright Scholars Research Grant to collaborate with the National Library of Australia on innovative access to online oral history. He is the author of Oral History: A Very Short Introduction  published by Oxford University Press in 2025. 

For further information go to:

Please note that concession rates will be available for members of Oral History Australia state associations and the National Oral History Association of New Zealand (NOHANZ) who wish to attend the conference.

Contact Information

Conference organisers

Contact Email

conference@oralhistoryaustralia.org.au

URL

https://oralhistoryaustralia.org.au/biennial-conference-2026/cfp/

Call for Posters: OHA 2026 Annual Meeting

Deadline May 31, 2026

While the Call for Proposals is now closed, there’s still time to submit a poster for the 2026 Oral History Association Annual Meeting!

Our memories are closely tied to the landscapes we inhabit, both real and imagined, and these connections are being reshaped by environmental change, political instability, and ongoing crises. As people become disconnected from familiar places and ways of living, oral history helps capture how individuals and communities make sense of identity and belonging.

The 2026 Oral History Association Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon invites contributions from across fields and communities to explore how people shape and are shaped by the places they inhabit, move through, or leave behind. With the Pacific Northwest as a meaningful setting, the conference will highlight themes such as environmental change, migration, memory, and resilience. We welcome a wide range of perspectives and formats that engage with these ideas and demonstrate the role of oral history in documenting relationships between people and place.

Don’t miss your chance to contribute to this important conversation! Submit your poster today.

CFP: 2026 OHA Biennial Conference, Human voices, modern technology: Oral history & authenticity

Deadline  11 May 2026

Oral history is ‘history built around people’ (Paul Thompson). Its methodology is embedded in humanity—it is a person-to-person communication through which the experiences and memories of one are recorded for posterity by another, using best practice tools and techniques. Through oral history, voices are preserved and accents, nuances, vernacular speech, emotive expressions and silences are captured. By recording these very human reactions we can analyse the stories and experiences of diverse groups, including those who in the past have been absent in the historical record.

Underpinning the relationship between interviewer and interviewee are issues of ethics, privacy, permission, informed consent, personal safety, and representation—all principles grounded in authenticity and truth. Rapidly advancing technologies such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be useful and time saving. By incorporating new technology into our practice in a considered and balanced way, we can streamline oral history processes and improve accessibility. Yet AI may also erode the very human connectivity that is integral to oral history interviews and outputs. As AI changes the world around us, oral history practitioners face distinctive challenges: ensuring the security and integrity of data; protecting the personal privacy and safety of interviewees; ensuring copyright, ownership and the authenticity of voice.

We invite papers that consider how new applications, techniques and changes in technology are being used by practitioners in planning, recording, transcribing, archiving, and sharing oral histories. Papers might consider (but are not limited to):

  • ethical considerations
  • transcription technologies
  • challenges underpinning podcasting and videography
  • the long-term storage of interviews, and the
  • potential consequences of hosting projects online.

Alternatively, we are also looking for papers that reaffirm the values that have always been inherent to oral history as a methodology necessitating human interactivity and authentic storytelling, which recognise the importance of continuing to forge connections and safeguard oral histories for the future.

Requirements

All proposals to present at the conference must be submitted using the conference EasyChair submission portal (see details below) no later than 11 May 2026.

We welcome proposals for presentations in a variety of formats and media, including standard paper presentations (typically 20 minutes); short ‘lightning’ accounts of work in progress (typically 5 minutes); participatory workshops; performances; or thematic panels comprising several presenters. Presentations should involve oral history.

If you would like to discuss the format or focus of your presentation before you submit, please send an email to conference@oralhistoryaustralia.org.au and we will send your details to the chair of the Conference Program Committee.

Proposals for presentations / papers / panels / posters should be no more than 200 words (single space, 12 point font in Times New Roman) and must include at the top of the page, your name, institutional affiliation (if applicable), postal address, phone number and email address, the title for your presentation/panel, the sub-theme/s your work best connects to, and the presentation format (standard 20 minute paper; 5 minute ‘lightning’ account of work in progress; thematic panel; performance; or participatory workshop).

Presenters will be encouraged to submit papers to the refereed, online Oral History Australia journal, Studies in Oral History.

Submission

New proposals should be uploaded to EasyChair via this link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=oha2026.

To use this online conference management system, you will need to create an author account (a simple process that we have used in previous conferences) and then submit your proposal by uploading it as a PDF document (with full details as listed above).

If you are unfamiliar with EasyChair, please follow the instructions available at: https://www.easychair.org/docs/how_to_submit.

If you are unable to use this system, please email your proposal as a PDF attachment to conference@oralhistoryaustralia.org.au.

CFP: Edinburgh Bibliographical Seminar and Workshop: Catalogues and Registers as Evidence in the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

The inaugural Edinburgh Bibliographical Seminar and Workshop (EBSW) seeks proposals on the theme of ‘Catalogues and Registers as Evidence in the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology’. The event will occur at the University of Edinburgh from 20 July to 24 July, 2026, the week after the joint meeting of the History of Science Society and the European Society for the History of Science.

This interdisciplinary seminar aims to investigate the significant potential of historical registers of commodities, books, and borrowing as sources for the study of the history of mathematics, science, and technology, as well as intellectual history. Beyond their practical applications, catalogues and registers of books can reveal the intellectual landscape of a particular time and place. They can show which books were available, what was considered important, and how knowledge was organised and categorised. By examining these registers, catalogues, and records, we can track the circulation of ideas across disciplines and regions. This examination can provide context for understanding the development of scientific and mathematical thought. As the Books and Borrowings, 1750-1830, project has demonstrated, careful attention to the social context of registers of borrowing can thicken our descriptions and enrich our understanding of how knowledge has been used. Linked to the vision of the great or universal library, the concept of secular universalism has long been thought to spread its legitimisation through the globalisation of modern mathematics. Building on Kant, universalist logicians and philosophers lay claim to a secular universal mode of reasoning that is common to all minds, displacing previous evangelical universalist modes such as those associated with Leibniz, and non-universal epistemes. Becoming widespread from the globalisation of curricular reforms like William Whewell’s or the Madras system, this secular universal conception demanded a way to address the accumulated knowledge and traditions of the past to clear space for its own epistemic break. That is, modern, global mathematics is a site where ideas must somehow contend with the past before secular universalism can become universal.

In a collaborative and hands-on set of workshops, EBSW participants will be invited to examine the books and registers at the University of Edinburgh that shaped the intellectual landscapes of the Enlightenment to modern eras, with a particular emphasis on the changing relationships between mathematics, natural history, and theology. Participants will pre-circulate drafts of a work in progress of around 2,000-3,000 words, which the group will discuss and refine in seminar meetings during the week. Based on these meetings, we will develop a communal sense of the methodologies for using catalogues as evidence for the histories of mathematics, science, and technology. Selected contributions will be invited for an edited conference volume addressing larger methodological questions in these areas.

Proposals should demonstrate, investigate, complicate, or challenge the use of catalogues or registers as a kind of historical evidence around a specific corpus or text. Papers will ideally benefit from the materials in the University of Edinburgh libraries, which have strong books and with catalogue evidence from the 16th century to the present day. Potential topics may include:

  • natural theology, religious history, or early modern thought and their relationship to mathematics, science, and technology or the history of ideas
  • near and far east, ancient and contemporary history or orientalizing images or practices as related to the image of modernity
  • mathematical models, specimens, and exhibits as pedagogical and research tools in and outside of libraries
  • technical, professional and literary texts: reading modes and evidence of political and social change as they relate to the formation of disciplines
  • global library history, collectors and collections, and contemporary library use
  • re-considerations of texts, truth, objectivity, and meaning during the interwar period particularly regarding mathematics, science, and technology

Adrian Johns will deliver an opening talk ‘Registers and the Dream of Universal Information: A Selective History’ which is co-sponsored by the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society.

Applications are due by 21 April, 2026, and should include a proposed title and abstract, a brief two to three sentence bio, and an indication of the applicant’s financial needs for travel. With funding from a UKRI-ERC Horizon grant, the EBSW expects to be able to support travel expenses for many of the participants.

The application form is forthcoming and will be linked at https://sigma.mathsworlds.org/activities/ebsw/ 

Contact Dr J.P. Ascher with questions at jascher@ed.ac.uk

Contact Information

Dr J. P. Ascher, UKRI-ERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh

Contact Email

jascher@ed.ac.uk

URL

https://sigma.mathsworlds.org/activities/ebsw/

CFP: Artefacts XXXI: “Trust and Objects”

With pleasure, the Science History Institute, along with the American Philosophical Society and  the Mütter Museum at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, announces that the next and 31st meeting of ARTEFACTS will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19-21 October 2026.

Today, many museums aligned with the history of science (very broadly defined) are being called upon to help build, restore, or grow “trust in science” among their audiences. As historians of science and museum professionals, the organizers share the concerns motivating such calls, yet also recognize that “trust in science” is itself an object of historical inquiry. 

Such tensions within the history of science are, of course, not new. Since museums and historians often must reconcile such tensions in public-facing projects (and recognizing that we serve many different “publics,” across and within institutions), we have the opportunity to explore how scientific objects can be mobilized to bring audiences into a more critical history of science. Objects are on one hand epistemologically and ontologically flexible; their meanings and identities come from those who study and interpret them. At the same time, for the public, objects are material, “real,” and carry an aura of authority. In the American Alliance of Museums’ Spring 2021 report on Museums and Trust, respondents identified the fact that “Museums present real/original/authentic objects” as the second-most cited measure of their trustworthiness. (For further analysis, see the essay “History Museums and Trust” from the American Association for State and Local History.)

The theme of the 2026 meeting is TRUST AND OBJECTS. We encourage proposals that explore how museums and academic institutions use material culture to build “trust in the history of science” in multiple ways. How do we use objects to negotiate the different meanings of “science” for audiences? In what ways can objects be deployed programmatically and interpretively to raise critical and generative questions about science, and its relationships to politics, culture, and economy? How can the seemingly inert nature of material culture be used to cultivate values of care, empathy, and understanding? 

In keeping with the theme, we especially encourage proposals from individuals working on or with public-facing projects using material culture. This could include museum professionals, as well as historians who study museums, public displays, or interpretation within the history of science. 

Examples might include, but are not limited to:

  • Case studies of museum exhibitions or interpretive projects that illustrate the role of museums and/or material culture in exploring trust in science
  • Discussions about how to negotiate among internal and external stakeholders in defining “science,” the goals of the history of science, or how to connect with different audiences
  • Challenges posed by interpreting material culture unfamiliar to visitors, or “unappealing” due to  its visual character or technical complexity
  • Historical perspectives on the interpretation of material culture in the history of science 
  • Discussions of objects that challenge definitions of science and define the edges of an institution’s collecting scope

Please remember that the focus of presentations should be on artefacts.

ARTEFACTS will once again offer two tracks for submissions: (1) works to be considered for publication (a pre-circulated paper and a longer presentation based on the paper) and (2) works-in-progress (shorter presentations without a paper). Abstracts for track 1 should be 500-1000 words; abstracts for track 2 should be 200-300 words. They should be accompanied by a 75-word author biography and sent to artefacts@sciencehistory.org by April 30. We aim to notify accepted participants by May 31.

Registration will open formally when the program is announced in June, but in the meantime informal queries should be directed to artefacts@sciencehistory.org.

Contact Email

artefacts@sciencehistory.org

URL https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2026-03/ArtefactsCallforPapers.pdf

CFP: “Capturing Violence Against Women and Children in Oral History Interviews” (due April 8)

We are looking for participants for a panel for the ESSHC (European Social Science History Conference) titled “Capturing Violence Against Women and Children in Oral History Interviews”.

The conference will be held in Lyon, France, from 21–24 April 2027.

The panel addresses the methodological and ethical challenges of identifying and interpreting experiences of violence against women and children in oral history interviews, particularly in the context of the Second World War and the immediate postwar period.

The panel will feature the following speakers:

  • Marta Pawlińska (University of Warsaw, Poland), examines narratives of violence experienced by Polish forced labourers, especially young women who worked as domestic servants in German households. 
  • Jakub Gałęziowski (University of Warsaw, Poland), works with individuals who were born as a consequence of forced labour during the war or shortly after its end and who often grew up without parental care as so-called unaccompanied children. 
  • Maria Buko (University of Konstanz, Germany), collects narratives of war orphans who, for various reasons, were left without family as a result of the war. 

In each of the presented cases, different forms of violence are present, yet they are not always articulated explicitly. Rather, they often emerge indirectly and must be carefully identified within lengthy personal narratives.
This panel therefore reflects on the methodological and ethical questions involved in recognizing and interpreting such experiences of violence, as well as on responsible approaches to addressing violence both during the interview process and in subsequent analysis.

We invite scholars with corresponding interests to join this panel.
 

Submission Details

Please send:

  • a proposal for your presentation, and
  • a short academic CV

by 08 April 2026 to: ma.pawlinska@uw.edu.pl

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Marta Pawlińska, Jakub Gałęziowski, Maria Buko

Contact Email

ma.pawlinska@uw.edu.pl

CFP: Material Matters: It’s in the Details 2027 Virtual Conference

Call for Papers

Material Matters: It’s in the Details

January 23, 2027

The vast majority of participants in the military events of the long 18th century left no written traces of themselves. Fortunately for scholars, and the public, evidence of their presence survives in material form. From the arms they carried, to the archaeological evidence of their presence, the material experience of soldiering extensively survives if we look carefully. Often seen as mementos or souvenirs of war, or as distinct areas of avocational collecting, military material culture is pervasive, yet understudied, as a rich body of material culture.

However, “military material culture” is not limited to the weapons men wielded or the uniforms they wore. The dense networks of manufacturing supporting early modern militaries connected civilians across the world and expands our definition of this area of study. Furthermore, militaries left their impact on societies through the appropriation and re-use of materials, as well as physically on landscapes shaped by the presence, or absence, of soldiers. Thus, material culture provides a unique and compelling way to engage with topics and individuals for which no written sources survive.

The Fort Ticonderoga Museum seeks papers relating broadly to material culture made, used, or altered in a military context. From soldier’s encounters with domestic furnishings on campaign, to the weapons designed and built for battle. We are seeking new research from established scholars in addition to graduate students, professionals, and artisans that relate to material culture made, used, or altered in a military context between roughly 1609-1815. Papers may engage but are not limited to: 

  • Objects made for military purposes 
  • Civilian objects used in military contexts 
  • Archeological research into sites of military occupation 
  • Ephemeral material cultures such as food or fuel
  • Military material culture crossing cultural, national, and geographic lines 
  • Construction and fabrication of material culture 
  • Craft, trade, experimental archeology, or living history perspectives on material culture 
  • Art and representations of material culture in military contexts 

This conference takes place online, using Zoom Webinars, on Saturday, January 23, 2027. Sessions are 30 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes for audience questions. Traditional illustrated papers, combined with live or recorded videos of trade practice or object analysis, will all be accepted for consideration. Fort Ticonderoga may provide speakers with an honorarium. Please submit a 300-word abstract and CV by email by July 1, 2026, to Richard M. Strum, Director of Academic Programs: rstrum@fort-ticonderoga.org

Contact Information

Rich Strum, Director of Academic Programs

Fort Ticonderoga 

rstrum@fort-ticonderoga.org

Contact Email

rstrum@fort-ticonderoga.org

Website https://fortticonderoga.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Material-Matters-2027-CFP.pdf

Call for Lightning Talks at STHC Annual Section Meeting

The Science, Technology, and Health Care Section is seeking members to present brief lightning talks during their Annual Section Meeting, May 26th from 2-3.30p EST. Lightening talks are brief, 5-10 minute presentations designed to share ideas, projects, initiatives, successes, and opportunities with the larger section membership.

Talks may also include calls for participation in research, surveys, partnerships, or introductions to tools or concepts you have found compelling in your work and feel inspired to share.

All Section Meetings are conducted virtually. Presenters are welcome – but not required – to create a brief deck of slides (less than 5) to accompany their talk. Presenters and attendees are not required to register for SAA to attend.

If you are interested, contact STHC Section Co-chair Allison Fischbach (afischbach@jhu.edu) by April 6.