Call for Conference Proposals

The Huntington invites proposals from scholars wishing to convene a research conference during the 2027–28 academic year.

The Research Department hosts six to eight one- or two-day academic conferences every year. The Director of Research welcomes the submission of proposals from scholars who are interested in convening conferences that reflect and build upon the strengths of the institution’s research library, art collections, and botanical gardens.

Conferences may take a variety of formats, including but not limited to:

• Panels and/or roundtables on a given theme
• Papers or conversations organized around a cluster of objects, sources, problems, or methods
• Seminar with papers pre-circulated by participants
• Experiential workshop organized around a lab, creative exercise, digital project, etc.  

All conferences take place at The Huntington over one or two days, generally Thu–Sat, and include a maximum of 12 speakers, only three of whom may be traveling from overseas. The Huntington provides lodging and reimburses economy air and ground travel for the conveners and speakers (but do not pay honoraria), and charges a registration fee for attendees (waived for students).

Applications should be sent by email to Catherine Wehrey-Miller, Assistant to the Director of Research, at cwehrey@huntington.org, and should include:

• The conference title
• The contact details of the conveners
• A 1,000-word rationale for the conference explaining:
  • Themes and research questions
  • Scholarly impact
  • Rationale for hosting an event on this theme at this time
  • Relevance to The Huntington’s collections
• An indicative schedule, including
  • Request for either one or two days
  • List of titles for each session or panel
• Details of representative speakers, which may be communicated by:
  • Names and titles of indicative participants (if conveners intend to fill roster by invitation), or
  • Plans for distribution of CFP (if conveners intend to accept abstract submissions)
• The month or general time when you would like the conference to take place, between late September 2027 and May 2028