The Brown University Women Writers Project invites paper proposals for a proposed panel titled 'Women in the archives of science' at the 2008 History of Science Society meeting to be held November 6-9 in Pittsburg, Pa. As part of our 20th anniversary the WWP is sponsoring a variety of discussions on the use of archival materials and their role in the study of women's writing and culture. For this panel, we are seeking papers that focus on the historiography of the archives of history of science.

What have been the effects of the critical and theoretical perspectives of history of science in the study of women in science and how the field has in turn been shaped by work on women's scientific inquiry? We are particularly interested in research which addresses, compares, or critiques the role of the digital archive in contemporary history of science, though this need not be the sole topic of the paper

Topics of interest include:
* The effect of different technological environments (instrumental technologies, archival technologies, research technologies) on scholarship on women in science
* The ability of the digital archive to represent different technologies deployed by women in scientific inquiry
* The role that the archival environment plays in the writing of the histories of women in science
* Issues of gender in archival research and archive selection, preservation, or access
* The impact of different critical or historiographical methodologies on archival usage
* Recent innovations in preservation and presentation, in digital publication
* The use of archives in pedagogical practices and their potential value in teaching and researching women's work

Please send an abstract of up to 300 words and a one page c.v to WWP@Brown.edu by March 1, 2008.