Category: Call for Research

Slavery North: Call for Abstracts — Deadline Dec. 19, 2025

Slavery North is pleased to invite participation in an academic conference, Rebellion, Resistance, and Refuge: Slavery and Border-Crossing during the American Revolution.

The conference will take place in person from Thursday, July 9 to Sunday, July 12, 2026, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA.

On the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Slavery North invites proposals for papers that rethink the cultures, events, and experiences of the Revolutionary War. This call encourages new scholarship that reexamines the Revolutionary War through the experiences of enslaved people in British North America, exploring themes of displacement, resistance, and freedom across emerging national borders.

Call for Abstracts:

Deadline for Abstracts: Friday, December 19, 2025

Slavery North invites proposals for 20-minute papers from graduate students, scholars, professors, and cultural and heritage workers. Proposals must include:

· Name, title, affiliation/institution, and location (city, province/state, country)

· Paper title

· Abstract: 200-300 words

· Two-page CV (featuring research highlights)

Submission Instructions:

Please submit your abstract and supporting materials via email as PDF attachments by Emily Davidson at: emilydavidso@umass.edu

More information: https://slaverynorth.com/event/call-for-abstracts-academic-conference/

The full call for abstracts is here.

We encourage you to circulate this invitation across your scholarly and community networks.

2026-27 Slavery North Research Institute at UMass.-Amherst: Fellowship Applications Due Sept. 21, 2025

The Slavery North Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst is pleased to announce three fellowship opportunities for the 2026-2027 Academic Year.

The deadline for all Slavery North fellowship applications is Sunday, September 21, 2025.

About Slavery North Fellowships

The Slavery North fellowship program welcomes national and international students, artists, and scholars, providing them with the space, funding, time, and community to produce transformative research outcomes. Slavery North Fellows actively participate in both the scholarly and social environment of the center. Slavery North Fellows, with support of Slavery North leadership, conduct independent research and create original works in one or more of the five mandate areas of Slavery North which include 1) Canadian Slavery, (2) slavery in the US North, (3) the comparative study of slavery in Canada, the US North, and other northern or temperate regions, (4) the study of the inter-connectedness of slavery in Canada and the US North with Caribbean Slavery, and (5) Black-Indigenous relations in Canadian Slavery or US North Slavery. Furthermore, the research must center on the enslaved and/or adopt an anti-colonial, de-colonial, post-colonial, and/or anti-racist methodology/approach which challenges the nature of European and Euro-American imperialism and colonialism and interrogates the racist logic of the institution of Transatlantic Slavery.

Visiting (Open Rank) Research Professor

See Full Job Description and Apply: https://careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-us/job/527921/visiting-open-rank-research-professor

Graduate Student Fellow (MA, MFA, or PhD)

See Full Job Description and Apply:  https://careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-us/job/527920/slavery-north-research-fellow

Artist-in-Residence Fellow

Link to Full Job Description and Apply: https://careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-us/job/528032/slavery-north-artistinresidenceresearch-fellow

Questions can be directed to: Emily Davidson emilydavidso@umass.edu

Call for Research Writing: Submit your research by Sept. 15, 2025 to the Met Journal

The Metropolitan Museum of Art invites  invite you to submit your research to the Metropolitan Museum Journal.

The Journal publishes articles and research notes that contain original research on works of art in The Met’s collection.

Articles contribute extensive and thoroughly argued scholarship—art historical, technical, and scientific—whereas research notes are narrower in scope, focusing on a specific aspect of new research or presenting a significant finding from technical analysis, for example.

The maximum length for articles is 8,000 words (including endnotes) and 10–12 images, and for research notes 4,000 words (including endnotes) and 4–6 images. 

The process of peer review is double-anonymous. Manuscripts are reviewed by the Journal Editorial Board, composed of members of the curatorial, conserva­tion, and scientific departments, as well as scholars from the broader academic community.

Articles and research notes in the Journal appear in print and online, and are accessible in JStor on the University of Chicago Press website.

Deadline for submissions for Vol. 61 (2026): September 15, 2025.

Submission guidelines: 

www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/met/instruct

Please send materials to: 

journalsubmissions@metmuseum.org

Questions? Write to:

Elizabeth.Block@metmuseum.org

Inspiration from the collection: 

www.metmuseum.org/art/collection

View the Journal: 

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/loi/met

Call for Papers: Submit to the Metropolitan Museum Journal

The Editorial Board of the peer-reviewed Metropolitan Museum Journal invites submissions of original research on works of art in the Museum’s collection.  

The Journal  publishes  Articles  and  Research Notes. Works of art from The Metropolitan Museum of Art collection should be central to the discussion.  Articles  contribute extensive and thoroughly argued scholarship—art historical, technical, and scientific—whereas  Research Notes  are narrower in scope, focusing on a specific aspect of new research or presenting a significant finding from technical analysis, for example. The maximum length for articles is 8,000 words (including endnotes) and 10–12 images, and for research notes 4,000 words (including endnotes) and 4–6 images. 

The process of peer review is double-anonymous. Manuscripts are reviewed by the Journal Editorial Board, composed of members of the curatorial, conserva­tion, and scientific departments, as well as scholars from the broader academic community.

Articles and Research Notes in the Journal appear in print and online, and are accessible in JStor on the University of Chicago Press website.

The deadline for submissions for Volume 61 (2025) is September 15, 2025.

Submission guidelines: www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/met/instruct

Please send materials to: journalsubmissions@metmuseum.org

Questions? Write to Elizabeth.Block@metmuseum.org

Inspiration from the Collection: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection

View the Journal: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/loi/met

Fellowship Opportunity: The Betsy James Wyeth Fellowship in Native American Art at SAAM (Applications due Oct. 15, 2024)

One fellowship will be awarded annually in support of a 12-month residency for a scholar at the predoctoral level or a 9-month appointment for a postdoctoral or senior-level researcher. Residencies must take place between June 1, 2025, and August 31, 2026, and begin on the 1st or 15th of the month. Housing is not provided.  

The Betsy James Wyeth Fellowship in Native American Art carries a stipend of $53,000 and an allowance of up to $5,000 for short research trips. Additional funds will be provided to help with the fellow’s health insurance premiums and travel to Washington, DC. The Smithsonian’s Office of International Relations will assist with arranging J-1 exchange visas for any recipients who require them

More info here:

https://americanart.si.edu/research/fellowships/betsy-james-wyeth

Call for Proposals: Race in Design History, An Anthology (deadline Mar. 15, 2023)

Race in Design History: An Anthology

edited by Kristina Wilson, Professor of Art History, Clark University and Michelle Joan Wilkinson, Curator of Architecture and Design, National Museum of African American History and Culture

How has race shaped the objects of our designed world? We invite contributors to submit to an edited volume that will focus on the ways design and design histories have engaged ideas about race, whether implicitly or explicitly. Race is a contested category with shifting meanings over time, and perceptions about race influence design history in multiple ways: how objects are designed; how designers imagine their ideal consumer; how designs are put into production and how those designs are marketed. Ultimately, race has an impact on the scope and structure of the residual design archive that historians are left sifting through. This edited volume welcomes contributions in the form of close readings of design objects as well as critical interrogations about design through the lenses of practice, pedagogy, curation, and historiography.

Recent work in design history has emphasized the importance of decolonizing the predominantly Western and Northern biases of the modernist canon. This anthology aims to contribute to that work, and embraces the goals of critical race studies of design, with an investigation of the role of race in all aspects of design history. It welcomes scholarship that looks at under-valued objects of design, scholarship that expands our understanding of what it means to have a career as a designer, and scholarship that illuminates design history in new contexts. We seek narratives of design history that interrogate our assumptions about what is knowable in the past.

We invite contributions on decorative objects, interiors, fashion, architecture, and graphic design, among others, 1800 to the present, global in scope. Proposals should be made for one or more of the following types of essays:

1) Scholarly essays of 3,500-4,000 words: these might be case studies that investigate a movement, a designer, a specific exhibition, or production materials and processes; should engage historical context and demonstrate methodological innovation.

2) Short essays of 1250-1500 words: close readings of objects, keywords, or terms that give the reader an immersive encounter; the style of writing in these essays could be more experimental, and these short pieces will complement the larger contextual discussions offered in the longer essays;

3) Questions of practice essays of 3,000 words: essays that address aspects of museum practice, teaching and pedagogical practice, designers’ practice.

Please send a 300-word proposal and a CV to:

KrWilson@clarku.edu and WilkinsonM@si.edu with “Race in Design History” in the subject line by the deadline of March 15, 2023. Contributors will be notified by mid-April, and drafts will be due September 15, 2023.

Call for Papers: 2022 Photography Network Symposium — apply by June 15

Intersecting Photographies

Photography Network’s 2022 Symposium, October 13-15 

The second symposium of the Photography Network will be hosted jointly by Photography Network and Howard University in Washington, DC. Depending on circumstances, the event will either be hybrid (in-person and virtual) or fully virtual. We will update speakers and attendees by August 15.

The 2022 symposium theme is “Intersecting Photographies.” Scholarship in the history of photography has until recently focused predominantly on its technical capabilities, patronage, and modes of representation. This focus elides the longer histories of colonialism and imperialism that the medium fosters­—and in which it can potentially intervene. Recent scholarship—including Ariella Azoulay’s “Unlearning the Origins of Photography” (2018), Mark Sealy’s Decolonising the Camera: Photography in Racial Time (2019), and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie’s (Seminole, Muscogee, Diné) “When is a Photograph Worth a Thousand Words?” (1998)—are among many projects reconceptualizing photography as a site of encounter and exchange, fraught with historical inequities brought by colonizing desires.

The symposium contributes to art history’s ongoing interrogation of photography as a colonizing technology, as well as the exploration of the medium’s ability to promote social justice. “Intersecting Photographies” supports thinkers active in disentangling these histories by foregrounding three kinds of intersections: 1) those between peoples (intersubjective or intercultural); 2) those between photography and other media (intermedial); and 3) photographs, photographers, or photographic subjects that foreground multi-layered representations of social groups and self-fashioning, following Kimberlé Crenshaw’s conceptualization of identity’s “intersectionality.” 

Proposals drawing on these interwoven spheres of concern could consider subjects such as:

·      Methodological questions regarding authority to speak on challenging photographs and themes

·      Social formations and power relationships in the “photographic encounter” and contexts of display

·      Displaying history, colonization, and legacies of imperialism in museums and other institutions

·      The application of decolonization studies and/or digital humanities to archival holdings

·      The archive as a critical site of intersectionality 

·      Intercultural albums as documents and objects of self-fashioning 

Photography Network invites proposals for presentations that broach these and other subjects pertinent to “Intersecting Photographies.” We welcome proposals across disciplines and encourage a broad range of subjects that reflect the geographical diversity of the field. Practitioners and scholars at any stage of their career are welcome to submit their research. We also welcome international scholars but note that the conference will be in English. The symposium organizers are also interested in attracting a range of presentational styles. In addition to proposals for individual, 20-minute papers, we also seek alternative-format presentations (e.g., workshops and roundtables). To encourage variety, applicants may submit up to 2 proposals, provided that one is in an alternative format. We will also host a Pecha Kucha for new research on any topic from students, curators, academics, and practitioners. If you would like to be considered for the Pecha Kucha, please note so in your email submission. You are welcome to apply only to the Pecha Kucha. Conference sessions will be organized around accepted submissions, rather than prescribed themes. 

Please send: (1) a 250-word abstract, (2) a clear indication of preferred format, and (3) a three-page resume or CV by June 15 to the Photography Network Symposium organizing committee: Monica Bravo (University of Southern California), Melanee Harvey (Howard University),Caroline Riley (University of California, Davis), Leslie Ureña (National Portrait Gallery), and Andrés Zervigón (Rutgers University), at photographynetworksymposium@gmail.com. To be considered only for the Pecha Kucha, please email us a 100-word abstract and a short, three-page resume or CV. Notifications of accepted proposals will be sent by email by July 19. The symposium will be held October 13, 14, and 15, 2022. The schedule will be announced by August 1 and will be determined after reviewing the abstracts and finalizing the conference format. Final papers from speakers are required by September 15.

 It is our hope that “Intersecting Photographies” will be live-streamed for those unable to attend because of geographic, financial, or other logistical barriers. ASL interpretation and enabling closed captioning for the live stream will make the symposium further available for those with language barriers.

Note: All are welcome to apply. Accepted presenters must be Photography Network members in good standing at the time of the symposium. Annual membership is $20 (student/unaffiliated), $40 (Affiliated), or $100 (Sustaining Member). Please visit Photography Network’s website (https://www.photographynetwork.net/memberregistration) for more information on how to join. 

Call for New Sessions SECAC 2022 in Baltimore–Deadline Apr. 14, 2022

The Call for New Sessions for SECAC 2022 in Baltimore is open through Thursday, April 14 at https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/18/home.

Now that we are reviewing the roster of sessions that were originally scheduled for 2021, we would like to invite proposals for newly conceived sessions. We are especially interested in new ideas, themes, and approaches, and in combined art history and studio art sessions, where appropriate. This call for new session proposals will be followed by a corresponding (and final) call for papers. 

Link to abstracts of sessions advanced from 2021:  https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/page/sessions


Conference Dates: October 26 – 29, 2022
Venue: Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel
Conference Director: Kerr Houston
Contact: secac2022@mica.edu
Call for Sessions: March 22 – April 14, 2022
Website: https://secacart.org/page/Baltimore

The Maryland Institute College of Art is excited to act as the institutional host for the 78th annual meeting of SECAC in Baltimore, MD, from October 26-29, 2022. Based at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel and informed by the theme Watershed, the conference seeks to foster thoughtful analyses of the myriad intersections between art, art history, education, and social and environmental justice. To that end, more than 130 individual sessions will be supplemented by a keynote address by the artist, educator and 2016 MacArthur fellow Joyce Scott, and by three optional walking tours led by local architectural historians, artists and activists. The conference will also include a show of work by the 2021 Artist’s Fellowship winner Brianna Harlan and an exhibition of work by SECAC members, juried by the artist and curator Jeffrey Kent Attendees will have the chance, too, to explore Baltimore’s rich artistic landscape, from The Walters Art Museum and the Baltimore Museum of Art to the American Visionary Art Museum, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, and a vibrant local gallery scene. The conference hotel is within convenient walking distance of Baltimore’s celebrated Inner Harbor, as well as a number of nearby restaurants, historical sites, and attractions. MICA looks forward to welcoming you to Charm City!

If you wish to stop receiving email from us, you can simply remove yourself by visiting: http://secacart.org/members/EmailOptPreferences.aspx?id=55025866&e=keri.watson@ucf.edu&h=47c2f92155d7b436c1cc8d397a57a08239262053

SECAC
PO Box 9773
Wilmington, DE 19809-9773

CFP: Digital Art History article in Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide

CALL FOR PROPOSALS:
Terra-sponsored Digital Art History Article in Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide
Deadline: April 15, 2022

Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide (NCAW) is pleased to announce the continuation of our series American Art History Digitally supported by a grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art. The editors of NCAW are now accepting proposals for the final digital art history article in the series to be published in spring 2023. To be considered, projects have to focus on art and visual culture of the Americas in the long nineteenth century, from the United States War of Independence to World War I, and must expand on existing histories of art by addressing understudied topics or historically marginalized constituencies while adopting research methods that are inclusive and equitable.

Proposals also should take full advantage of the potential of digital publishing by using digital technologies in the article’s research or publication phase, or both. Strong proposals will demonstrate how the production of digital tool(s) and/or components will lead to a scholarly argument’s key insights (either the tool/component enhanced the depth of insight or made it possible) and/or will illustrate aspects of that argument in dynamic/interactive ways. NCAW encourages authors to use open source software when possible.

While by no means limited to the following, proposals might explore:
• High resolution imaging or dynamic image presentation (e.g., panoramas, zoom images, visual essays, x-ray or infrared reflectography, moving images, 3D images of art objects, annotated musical scores, annotated digital facsimiles)
• “Big data” mining and analysis (e.g., social network analysis or text mining using analytics programs like Gephi, Network Workbench)
• Mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (e.g., depictions of sites, locations of objects, paths of travel, using online mapping tools like MapBox, Timemapper, Neatline)

NCAW is a pioneer in publishing digital art history. For examples of already-completed projects, see the Digital Art History and Digital Humanities page. Authors are not expected to have extensive technical expertise themselves but should be able to articulate how digital research methods and NCAW’s digital publication format connect with their research questions. Upon acceptance of a proposal authors will identify, in discussion with NCAW editors, the digital tools/software to be used. NCAW editors will assist with the development of a timeline and with guidelines for workflow, but authors will be responsible for managing their projects.

To propose a digital art history project, please submit:
A. Abstract (500 words maximum) as a Microsoft Word document detailing the scholarly content of the article, including how information gleaned from the proposed digital tool will impact the article’s interpretive claims
B. Abstract (500 words maximum) as a Microsoft Word document outlining the appearance/format of the digital tool(s) and explaining how the author plans to present the article and tool within the NCAW framework (technologies used, layout, etc.). Also provide link(s) from existing digital project(s) that resemble your proposed project functionally, aesthetically, or in the technologies used, followed by several sentences describing which elements of that project will differ from/emulate your proposed digital tool
C. Budget (1 page maximum)
D. CV
If interested contributors have an idea for a digital art history project but would like to discuss it with the editors first, we would be happy to talk with you about your ideas in advance of the deadline. Please contact Carey Gibbons, Digital Art History Editor, at dah_editor@19thc-artworldwide.org.

Two Fellowship Opportunities at the Menil Drawing Institute

The Menil Drawing Institute is accepting applications for two of its fellowships for the 2022-23 academic year: the Menil Drawing Institute Pre-Doctoral Fellowship and the Morgan-Menil Research Fellowship.

The Menil Drawing Institute Pre-Doctoral Fellowship is open to American and international students whose doctoral research focuses on modern and/or contemporary drawing. The Pre-Doctoral Fellowship is 9 months in length, lasting from September to June each year.

The Morgan-Menil Research Fellowship is awarded jointly by the Menil Collection and the Morgan Library & Museum. This fellowship is 3 to 9 months in length. It is meant to support independent projects on some aspect of the history, theory, interpretation, or cultural meaning of drawing throughout the history of art. It is open to candidates at the pre-doctoral, post-doctoral or mid-career level.

For more details about these opportunities, please use the following link:

https://www.menil.org/drawing-institute/scholars