ISCHE 40 Pre-Conference Workshop CFP: Visual History of Education. Deadline: Feb. 28, 2018

Picture archives and the emergence of Visual History of Education

ISCHE Pre-conference workshop,  August 28, 2018
Bibliothek für Bildungsgeschichtliche Forschung (DIPF), Warschauer Str. 34-38, 10243 Berlin

Convenors:
Sabine Reh (sabine.reh@dipf.de) Stefanie Kollmann, (kollmann@dipf.de), Lars Müller (l.mueller@dipf.de), Bibliothek für Bildungsgeschichtliche Forschung des DIPF, Berlin
Tijs van Ruiten (t.vanruiten@onderwijsmuseum.nl), Jacques Dane (j.dane@onderwijsmuseum.nl), National Onderwijsmuseum Dordrecht, Netherlands

Call for proposal

One of the characteristic features of modern life is the omnipresence of images – in public life as well as in the private surroundings. At latest with coining the term “Visual history” at the beginning of the nineteen nineties historical disciplines are dealing with this ever growing pool of pictorial sources. This is also true for educational history – especially when keeping in mind that the use of images in an educational context is common practice since early modern ages. This concerns the presentation practices, the design of didactic visual media and their use in educational practice as well as the illustrated traces of historical educational practice and historical educational knowledge (e.g. photographs of school buildings or educational scenes).

There are various digital picture archives to address the research questions of many historical disciplines. These databases, though, differ widely in purpose and design – and of course they cannot serve every scientific demand. According to Gerhard Paul there should be at least four layers of information evaluation when analysing historical images (reality of depiction, genesis, use and impact). Thus, building up a corpus of image sources with sufficient accompanying information can be quite challenging.

As major topic the PCW will focus on the impact of the discipline on developing and maintaining of a picture archive. Are there key prerequisites for a picture archive on educational history? In how far can existing data archives meet the needs? What do the different data archives offer and how are they used? What is their strength and weakness in regard to a comprehensive analysis? Can they meet the demands of the visual history of education? Is there a need for another solution? Are there common basic requirements?

In order to discuss these issues presentations of image databases relating to the history of education are requested, like Pictura Paedagogica Online , Historywallcharts  or DigiPorta.  The further areas of focus shall be placed on

–            media type (e.g. wall charts, photographs, paintings),

–            depicted subject (e.g. portrait, school, classroom, children),

–            institutional background (e.g. collection formed by a school museum),

–            regional emphasis (e.g. Europe)

–            disciplinary collection (e.g. collection on educational history).

Deadline: February 28, 2018.

Please submit your abstract (max. 500 words) including title, name, institutional affiliation, conceptual approach, historical sources and main discussion points to: kollmann@dipf.de