From Records to Stories: Archives as Storytellers of Democracy
The Council of State Archivists (CoSA) is pleased to announce its second independently hosted annual meeting for state and territorial archivists and archives staff. Our annual meeting is a dynamic opportunity to have conversations around issues that are unique to State and Territorial Archives.
This year's theme centers on the power of storytelling. We invite you to contemplate the crucial role that archives play in collecting and preserving records. These records are the bedrock of our narratives, shaping our understanding of ourselves as a democratic nation. What issues do state and territorial archives experience when composing stories? What technologies are archives using to develop or host stories? How can the archives engage the public and empower them to be storytellers? Share your experiences in these areas or your own examples on improving historical storytelling.
While this year's overall theme is "storytelling," it does not have to be the focus of all session proposals. We'd love for you to share:
- a project, challenge, or topic that energized you
- successful collaborative project
- a question or problem you'd like to lead a discussion on
We strongly encourage you to partner with other state or territorial archives to collaborate on a panel or present individually. Please use this Google Sheet if you’d like to collaborate on a session.
We welcome session proposals from corporate vendors that adhere to the meeting theme AND include one or more representatives from state archives as presenters. All proposals are reviewed competitively by the planning committee in order to create a balanced and engaging program.
The deadline for submissions has been extended to April 29, 2025. Please submit proposals electronically via this online form.
Proposals should include:
- Presenter(s) name, job title, institution/organization, and email address
- Title of proposed session (If proposing multiple presentations, include a title for each presentation)
- Brief (50-250 word) abstract of session to be used in the meeting program.
- Preferred format (select all that apply): presentation, panel, lightning talk, roundtable, workshop, mini work session on a specific topic/question, or other (please specify)
- Length of presentation (30 minutes or 45 minutes)
Notifications of acceptance will go out by early May.