American/Diaspora / Pedagogy & Professional

Paul Thifault (Springfield College)

"The Future of the American Literary Archive" invites panelists to share archival discoveries in American literature while also engaging in broader methodological reflections on the state of archival research in the humanities. In the context of explaining their own archival work and/or pedagogy, panelists will discuss how archival research has been impacted—for better or for worse—by tectonic shifts in the US humanities landscape including technological developments (AI, digitization), declining undergraduate humanities enrollments, and calls for more public-facing humanities scholarship readable to a general audience. Do such shifts necessarily endanger traditional archival research, or can archival work function to make legible for administrations and skeptical publics the tangible social, pedagogical, and professional value of humanistic research? Scholars working in any period or genre of American literary study are encouraged to apply.

Please submit an abstract (250-300 words) and a short bio.

This session invites panelists to share archival discoveries in American literature while also engaging in broader methodological reflections on the state of archival research in the humanities.