The Society of Architectural Historians is now accepting abstracts for its 76th Annual International Conference in Montréal, Canada, April 12–16, 2023 and virtually September 20–22, 2023. Please submit an abstract no later than 11:59 p.m. CDT on June 7, 2022, to one of the 31 thematic sessions, the Graduate Student Lightning Talks or the four Open Sessions for the Montréal conference and 10 thematic sessions or the four Open Sessions for the Virtual conference. SAH encourages submissions from architectural, landscape, and urban historians; museum curators; preservationists; independent scholars; architects; scholars in related fields; and members of SAH chapters, Affiliate Groups and partner organizations.

Thematic sessions and Graduate Student Lightning Talks (GSLT) are listed below. The thematic sessions have been selected to cover topics across all time periods and architectural styles. If your research topic is not a good fit for one of the thematic sessions, please submit your abstract to the Open Sessions; Open Sessions are available for those whose research topic does not match any of the thematic sessions. Please note that those submitting papers for the Graduate Student Lightning Talks must be graduate students at the time the talk is being delivered (April 12– 16, 2023). Instructions and deadlines for submitting to thematic sessions, GSLT and Open Sessions are the same.

Conference Chair: Carla Yanni, SAH 1st Vice President, Rutgers University

Submission Guidelines:

  1. Abstracts must be under 300 words.
  2. The title cannot exceed 65 characters, including spaces and punctuation.
  3. Abstracts and titles must follow the Chicago Manual of Style.
  4. Only one abstract by an author or co-author may be submitted (to either a Montréal session or a virtual session)
  5. A maximum of three (3) authors per abstract will be accepted.
  6. Please attach a two-page CV in PDF format.

Abstracts should define the subject and summarize the argument to be presented in the proposed paper. The content of that paper should be the product of well-documented original research that is primarily analytical and interpretive, rather than descriptive in nature. Papers cannot have been previously published or presented in public except to a small, local audience (under 100 people). All abstracts will be held in confidence during the review and selection process, and only the Session Chair and Conference Chair will have access to them. 

All Session Chairs have the prerogative to recommend changes to the abstract to ensure it addresses the session theme, and to suggest editorial revisions to a paper so it satisfies session guidelines. It is the responsibility of the Session Chairs to inform Speakers of those guidelines, as well as of the general expectations for participation in the session and the annual conference. Session Chairs reserve the right to withhold a paper from the program if the author has not complied with those guidelines.

Please Note: Each Speaker and Session Chair is expected to fund their own travel and expenses to Montréal, Canada. SAH has a limited number of conference fellowships for which Speakers and Session Chairs may apply. However, SAH’s funding is not sufficient to support the expenses of all Speakers and Session Chairs. Speakers and Session Chairs must register and establish membership in SAH for the 2023 conference by September 30, 2022 (for Montréal) and February 28, 2023 (for Virtual) and are required to pay the non-refundable conference registration fee as a show of their commitment.