CALL FOR PAPERS
On, Archives! Celebrating 50 Years of the Wisconsin Center for Film
and Theater Research a conference on media, theater and history
July 6-9, 2010
Madison, Wisconsin
http://www.wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/conference/index.html
In 2010 the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research celebrates
its 50th anniversary. Formed in 1960 as a joint project of what was
then the Department of Speech at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
and the Wisconsin Historical Society, the WCFTR was one of the
earliest institutions in the United States to perceive the value in
preserving and collecting archival materials in American film, radio,
television and theater. Conjointly with the WHS?s extensive Mass
Communication collections, the WCFTR has continued to build a resource
used by scholars, researchers, students, and the general public alike
to keep the history of media and the dramatic arts alive and to aid in
our understanding of cinema, radio, television, drama, and popular
culture as globally vital phenomena.
In this its 50th year, the Center will celebrate by hosting a
conference focused on film, radio, television and theater history, and
on the challenges of archiving in these areas. We invite a broad
range of scholarship touching on the concerns of the collections here
at Madison, and particularly invite those whose work has brought them
here to consult our papers, films, recordings, and graphic materials
in the course of their work. Equally important are considerations of
archiving popular, aural, and visual culture. We invite presentations
of historical work and contemporary work with roots in the
historical in the fields of film, theater, and broadcasting, and in
archival issues and debates, for a four-day celebration of the study
of media and performance culture in America and around the world, July
6-9, 2010, in Madison.
We invite you to submit papers in any of the following areas, or on
related subjects. We are particularly interested in work that makes
use of the Center?s or the Society?s collections, or that of other
archival venues.
? the history of film production, exhibition, and distribution in the
US and abroad
? the history of broadcasting in the United States, and its
transnational influences
? the history of American theater production and performance
? issues and challenges of media archiving, including the digital future
? the role of history in the study of media and popular culture
? historiographical methods and theory
? creative authorship in film, broadcasting, and theater
? the future of media and theater history
Send paper, panel, or workshop proposals of no more than 300 words to
Michele Hilmes at (wcftr50 /at/ gmail.com). Deadline: January 30, 2010.
See Conference link for details of proposal process.
The On, Archives conference will also host a symposium on Broadcasting
in the 1930s: New Media in a Time of Crisis. This is a
conference-within-a-conference, with its own submission process: see
the Symposium link on this page. Conference attendees are invited to
attend all sessions at both events.
On, Archives conference co-sponsored by the Department of
Communication Arts, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Department
of Theatre and Drama, the UW Cinematheque, and the Wisconsin Center
for Film and Theater Research.
Conference Organizer:
Professor Michele Hilmes
Department of Communication Arts
Director, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
University of Wisconsin-Madison
(mhilmes /at/ wisc.edu)
608-262-2547
For further information, contact:
Benjamin Brewster
Assistant Director
Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
(brbrewst /at/ wisc.edu)
608-262-9706
