The Ephemera Society of America (ESA) holds an annual three-day conference in Old Greenwich, Ct. in March devoted to sharing and exploring various aspects of ephemera. The first day is devoted to presentations of papers around a specific theme and to exhibits and member forums. This is followed by a two-day ephemera trade fair with dealers from around the world.

ESA seeks papers for presentation at the annual conference on Friday, March 16, 2012.  The theme for next year’s conference is “American Social History as Seen Through Ephemera.”

Presentations may address any aspect of American Social History (for example  the Civil War, Women’s suffrage, American political history, the  impact of the industrial revolution on daily life, the history of immigration or the changing role of minorities over the decades, among many possible topics).

The term “ephemera” includes a broad range of materials printed on paper, making this conference particularly attractive to scholars, librarians, curators, archivists, print historians, collectors, and dealers.

Each presentation will last 30 minutes, followed by a brief Q&A. Please send presentation titles and abstracts including the types of ephemera you propose to use to illustrate your topic, a one-paragraph bio including any affiliation and your mailing address, phone number and e-mail address.

Abstracts should not exceed 250 words, and should be submitted by August 25, 2011, to Barbara Loe, Ephemera 32 Conference Chair by e-mail at bjloe@earthlink.net or by post to Barbara Loe, 11165 Penfield Ave. North, Stillwater, MN 55082. Decisions and notification about proposals will be made by October. Funding is not available from ESA to support travel or presentation costs. Presentations must be in Microsoft Office Power Point and should besubmitted to the Conference Chair by February 15th, 2012.