CFP: "250 years: Ephemera Shapes America" (deadline for paper submission: Oct 15, 2025)

Link to RFP

Ephemera 46, the Ephemera Society of America (ESA) annual conference, will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich, Connecticut, on March 20, 2026

The historic anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776 is an apt moment for examining how ephemera played a key role not only in our founding, but also during the significant political events and social movements that make up our nation’s history. Ephemera has helped to ignite, inform, commemorate, and reflect such events as the Civil War, the abolition of slavery, the Western land rush, the Centennial celebration, women’s suffrage, the World Wars, the Second Red Scare, counterculture movements in the 60s and activist activities today. Sometimes, ephemera serves as primary evidence. Without such survivors as hand-written accounts, photos, news clippings, and maps to establish the historical record, we might not know of the existence of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street and the tragic Race Massacre of 1921.

We invite submissions for talks at our 2026 conference in March on how ephemera has shaped and mirrored the major events and movements that have marked America’s growth. These presentations should be richly illustrated and supported by ephemera.

Examples include: broadsides, posters, pamphlets, handbills, leaflets, newspaper articles, trade cards, billheads, letterheads, photographs, scrapbooks, diaries, circulars, brochures, booklets, signs, correspondence, playbills, menus, ration books, tickets, postcards, draft cards, arm bands, and buttons.