CALL FOR PAPERS

Rooms with a view - Historic House Museums and their Surroundings

This year’s annual meeting and conference of DEMHIST will take place between 2-4 September 2004, in Berlin, Germany.

The Conference will focus on the urban house museum and its social environment as well as the historic house park in suburban settings. Other relevant topics may include security issues, conservation strategies as regards public events and the public function of historic house museums. All curators, directors, museums professionals and those with an interest in the preservation and interpretation of historic house museums are invited to attend.

The deadline for concise 250-300 word abstracts is 31, May. Presented papers should be no more than 20 mins in length. Preference in the selection of papers may be given to members of DEMHIST. For membership please contact your local office, or national chair, of ICOM. Please indicate your full contact details and professional affiliation if any. Submissions should be made in Word compatible format.

The Historic House Museums International Committee/DEMHIST came into being in 1999 as part of the International Council of Museums/ICOM with the express aim of working to increase international awareness of the importance and great value of house museums. DEMHIST is the forum for proposing and debating key criteria for the management and conservation of house-museums. The enormous variety characteristic of the artistic assets displayed in such museums calls for innovative strategies to deal with specific challenges in the areas of conservation and restoration, safety, education and communication.