Call for Session Proposals for 2015 ACWR Conference

Archivists for Congregations of Women Religious (ACWR) have put out a call for proposals for papers for the upcoming Triennial Conference,“ACWR at 25: Bridging Tradition with Technology,” to be held in Pittsburgh August 27-30, 2015. They are soliciting proposals from members, independent researchers, historians, archivists, and others related to the field of expertise. Traditional sessions and panel discussions are welcome, but multimedia presentations, workshop sessions and roundtables are highly encouraged.

Based on the results of a recent membership survey, the following topics are particularly relevant:
  • Technology, including digitization and born-digital materials
  • Storage and handling of object collections
  • Exhibits and heritage rooms
  • Oral history programs
  • Project management
  • Capturing community history and fostering charism
  • Role of archives within the administrations of religious communities
  • Archives 101, including disaster plans, finding aids, and collections policies
  • Planning for the future, including mergers, closures, and transfer to lay staff
  • Access, including issues of privacy and confidentiality
A program committee will evaluate proposals on the strength of a 300-word abstract, the speaker’s experience, and relevance to the above topic list. Please include a title for the proposed presentation, a brief bio for each presenter, and any technology requirements. The program committee will select the strongest proposals and place them in the session that best reflects the topic. Complete session proposals are welcome but the committee reserves the right to make suggestions about their content in order to best meet membership interest as indicated by the survey results. When considering the number of speakers for a complete session, please remember that a session runs for a total of 75 minutes, including time for questions.

Applicants may submit multiple proposals but speakers will only be invited to present at one session.

Please send your proposals to archivistsacwr@gmail.com by March 31, 2015. The ACWR look forward to hearing from you!