Conferences

January 3, 2025

Call for Papers

Archives as Data: New Directions in Historical Research

We are excited to announce a conference on “Archives as Data: New Directions in Historical Research.” It will occur in January 2025 at Columbia University, and feature new work in the field of digital history and digital archiving, as well as roundtables and plenary discussions about the future of research using text as data.

The conference is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is a continuation of Columbia’s “Archives as Data” program. That program has just been extended to 2025 and 2026 thanks to a new grant from the NEH Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities program.

This conference will highlight the innovative work and new research opportunities emerging from the increasing volume of digitized and “born digital” materials for archivists and historians. The event will feature research presentations, roundtables, and plenary discussions about digital history and archives more generally, including some from participants of Columbia’s previous “Archives as Data” Summer Institutes (list copied below). However we are opening this call to all interested applicants in hopes we can further expand and connect the community of people working on these problems.

Those interested in presenting new projects at the conference should complete this form. We particularly welcome applications from people who have not previously had the opportunity to present work in this field, and collaborative projects that include historians as well as archivists.

How to apply: Complete this application form.

Conference date: January 3, 2025

Location: Lehman Center, Columbia University, New York City

Financial support: We hope to cover the travel costs and two nights hotel stay for conference presenters who would not otherwise be able to participate.

Invited Speakers at the 2023 and 2024 Archives as Data workshops:

Cameron Blevins, University of Colorado Denver

Merlin Chowkwanyun, Columbia University

Greg Eow, Center for Research Libraries

Jo Guldi, Southern Methodist University

Tim Hitchcock, University of Sussex

Barbara Rockenbach, Yale University

Heidi Tworek, University of British Columbia