Details regarding the conference may be found at http://swtxpca.org Proposals for individual presentations are being accepted for the Collecting, Collectibles, Collectors, Collections Area and related topics. We also seek proposals for entire panels as well as roundtable discussions concerning Collecting, Collectibles, Collectors, and Collections.
Some areas of consideration include, but are not limited to:

Collections/Collecting/Collectors/collectibles in popular culture
• Collections in libraries, archives or museums
• Collections/Collecting/Collectibles in Science Fiction and Fantasy
• Personal Collections
• Folk Art Collections and Collectibles
• Collections and collectors in literature, film, theatre • The history of collecting
• Early American collections and Americana
• Collections of Native American, African American, Asian American, and Latina/o cultures(and others)
• Private or public collections
• The impulse to collect.
• Collecting and political correctness.
• Legal issues regarding collecting/collections.
• The business of collecting - buying and selling, mediating value - the dealer, the picker, the agent.
• The impact of the Internet (including eBay and like sites) on collecting.
• Relationships between collectors and curators.
• Collecting as community activity.
• Collecting as scholarship.
• Collectors' organizations (car clubs, stamp clubs, costume jewelry collectors' groups, etc.), their functions, their controversies.
• What is an "authentic" collectible?
• Collecting the immaterial (places, memories, people, websites, words, etc.)

Scholars, artists, curators, and other professionals are encouraged to participate. Graduate students are welcome, with award opportunities for the best graduate papers. Please visit the organization website for more information about this conference. http://www.swtxpca.org
Papers should be approximately 20 minutes long (8-10 pages) and should be original works of scholarship that have not been presented or published elsewhere. Proposals for entire panels should include 3-4 presentations/papers. Roundtables should be approximately 90 minutes long. Inquiries regarding this area and/or abstracts of 200-250 word for papers, panels, and roundtables may be submitted to http://conference2012.swtxpca.org or sent to Kathrin Dodds at the email or physical address below by December 1, 2011.