2014 Annual Meeting

Kansas City, MO, April 24-26, 2014

Call for Proposals

The Midwest Archives Conference invites submissions of presentations, sessions, posters, and papers for its annual meeting, to be held April 24-26, 2014, in Kansas City, Missouri. The 2014 Program Committee invites proposals on all aspects of archives and archival work. Creative and timely presentations from professionals in archives and related fields (public history, libraries, museums, genealogy, information science, and records management) and from graduate students are very welcome. 

Typically, sessions are 90 minutes in length with three panelists and a chair or moderator. Try to strive for a diverse panel with participants from different institutions! Early proposal submissions are encouraged, but the final deadline is September 20, 2013! EXTENDED DEADLINE TO OCTOBER 1; Submit your proposal now!

We also welcome proposals for professional workshops. Also, if you have a proposal that you think would fit better into a lightning round format, feel free to submit that, too!

All submissions will be given due consideration by the Program Committee; here are some ideas to help you get started:

1) Because Kansas City is known as a cradle of jazz (in the 1930s Kansas City jazz marked the transition from structured big band to the improv style of Bebop), the theme for the 2014 Annual Meeting will be “The Syncopations of History.” Proposals focusing on jazz and blues, music in general, or that otherwise complement the meeting’s theme will hopefully have your colleagues swinging in their seats.

2) Musical syncopation involves a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected and create an off-beat tune or piece of music. Perhaps your day-to-day archival work or your career has taken unusual twists, involved some elements of surprise, required a bit of improvisation, or featured accents where they wouldn’t normally occur. Share your experience so others aren’t caught off guard!

3) Kansas City has long served as a major American crossroads - as an origin point for westward expansion, a hotbed of military activity during the Civil War, or as the near population and geographic centers of the country.  Sessions focusing on the political and social history of which Kansas City has been a part are always welcome.

4) And speaking of crossroads, we all know that our institutions and collections are places where different people, places, stories and histories come together. Let’s meet together ourselves and discuss situations involving meetings, mixings, encounters and junctures in our own work.

5) Kansas City is home to both the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the Black Archives of Mid-America, which help document the diversity of our great nation. Share the story of your diverse collections or the unique and distinctive solutions you have employed within your repository.

6) Known for its steak and barbecue, Kansas City has a storied culinary heritage. With stockyards once only second in size to Chicago’s and a tomato and molasses-based barbecue sauce, Kansas City has a meaty gastronomic tradition. Tell us about the unique cooking or culinary heritages documented in your collections or how your work has marinated over time or in combination with unique ingredients to become a recipe for success.

All arrangements, progressions, and styles of presentations will be considered for 2014 MAC. Don’t delay; send in your proposals today!  To submit a session proposal, save the submission form to your computer, complete it, and then send it via email, traditional mail, or fax it to one of the co-chairs listed on the form. You may also submit a proposal electronically here.