Group for Literary Archives and Manuscripts (North America)

Registration for the English Literary Heritage Conference is now open.

This interdisciplinary conference aims to consider the interpretation of literary heritage objects in archives, museums and literary houses. It aims to stimulate an inclusive discussion about new and innovative ways to preserve and exhibit literary manuscripts and objects, drawing on the expertise of academics, curators and archivists.  The conference is part of a project on “English Literary Heritage: Curation, Innovation and Outreach” at the Institute of English Studies.

The conference will take place on September 18 2015 at the University of London’s  Senate House. To view the full program and to register please visit: http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/EnglishLiteraryHeritageconference.

Following previously successful I-CHORA conferences in Toronto (2003), Amsterdam (2005), Boston (2007), Perth (2008), London (2010) and Austin (2012), the University of Amsterdam, Media and Information Program is pleased to announce the forthcoming seventh International Conference on the History of Records and Archives to be held in Amsterdam from July 29-31, 2015.

The theme of the conference is: Engaging with Archives and Records: Histories and Theories.  We invite proposals for papers that explore different ways of historicizing and theorizing recordmaking, recordkeeping, and archiving practices from a range of disciplinary perspectives and through the eyes of creators, custodians, and users.  Topics might include, but are not limited to:

-hidden (and not so hidden) histories of particular recordmaking and recordkeeping cultures and communities
-the making/unmaking/remaking of records in times of conflict and war
silences in the records
-communities and diasporas of records
-histories of archival concepts, functions, and methods through time and across disciplines
-user perspectives on the archive through time and across disciplines
-theorizing the history of archives in the wake of the archival turn
-historicizing and theorizing the archive and archives in the digital world

Proposals for papers should be made in the form of abstracts of 450-500 words and should be sent to ichora7-fgw@uva.nl by Friday, February 6, 2015. We will advise acceptance by early March 2015.

Following the conference, presenters will be invited to submit their contributions for a peer-reviewed, post-conference publication on the theme of the conference.

Organizing and Program Committee
Fiorella Foscarini, University of Amsterdam & University of Toronto, Canada
Heather MacNeil, University of Toronto, Canada
Bonnie Mak, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Gillian Oliver, University of Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand
Theo Thomassen, University of Amsterdam
Stefano Vitali, Soprintendenza Archivistica per l’Emilia-Romagna, Bologna, Italy

“Contexts for Literary and Artistic Production” (19-20 June, 2015) at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland will examine the relationship between creative output and economic forces in the long 19th century.

This conference aims to encourage dialogue and collaboration within and between the humanities, digital humanities, economics and social sciences concerning literary and artistic culture and the use of quantitative and qualitative methodologies and information technology and their impact on existing research questions, accepted critical and theoretical paradigms, and historiographies.

For further details visit the conference website.

The Diasporic Literary Archives Project will be holding its final meeting at Yale University on October 23rd and 24th, 2014. The workshop is titled “Diaspora and the Digital” and will review the challenges and the opportunities for born-digital literary archives and for digital humanities projects. It will investigate new forms of scholarship and new patterns of research made possible by changing archival technologies; assess the implications for accessibility and for the politics of location; and evaluate from an international perspective the risks that may follow from unequal access to these technologies.

More information about the project and the workshop can be found online here: http://www.diasporicarchives.com/international-workshops/. See link to “Yale University Programme.”

Space is limited. To register for the workshop, please contact Merieta Bayati at merieta.bayati@yale.edu.

Valentines sent to Gwendolyn Bennett, American writer and artist, from her father.

Gwendolyn Bennett Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.