On, Archives!
A conference on media, theater and history
Celebrating 50 Years of the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research
July 6 - 9, 2010
Madison, Wisconsin
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@gmail.com.
Deadline: January 30, 2010
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.
Conference attendees are invited to attend all sessions at both events.
