Working Groups

The Consortium invites scholars to join our topical working groups for challenging and collegial discussion of interesting publications in their fields and of each others’ works-in-progress.

Each group meets monthly. All interested scholars are welcome to participate via online video conferencing.

To join a working group, you must have an account on the Consortium website first.

  1. Log in, or create an account
  2. Click on a group below
  3. Click on the "Request Membership" link
Submit a discussion paper for one of the working groups.

Upcoming Meetings

Please set your timezone.

Tuesday, August 18, 2026, 2:00 - 3:30 pm EDT

Oceans HSTM Book Club: The Sequel! 

Alison Glassie (Northeastern University) will lead us in a discussion of Ned Beauman's novel Venomous Lumpsucker

The book should be available at all the usual places, and probably at your local public library.  

Wednesday, August 26, 2026, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT

Hoaxes and Frauds: Contested Color Photography Processes around 1900
By Hanin Hannouch 

Tuesday, September 1, 2026, 9:00 - 10:30 am EDT

*NOTE SPECIAL TIME*

Tuesday, September 1, 2026, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT

Colonialism in Astronomy: Discussion of Readings

Join us for a group discussion of the following readings on the topic of colonialism in astronomy, led by Steve Case. (Note that these articles are all open access and may be obtained directly through the links listed below.)

Papers:

Wednesday, September 9, 2026, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT

Meeting Topic:  "Iridescence" Discussion of a work-in-progress
                          Author: Giulia Simonini .
                          Commentator: Anne-Valérie Dulac

Nuance: TBA

The essay will be available soon!

Meeting Organizer: Giulia & Sarah

Thursday, September 10, 2026, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT

Jason Terry (Freie University Berlin) and Pamina Herrmann (Freie University Berlin): Sensing the Unknown: Worlds of Knowledge and Natural Histories in England and the English Empire (17th/18th Century)


 

Monday, September 14, 2026, 8:00 - 9:30 pm EDT

Introductory session: 

a) Meet the conveners and the participants

b) Discuss the working group's orientation to the launch of a new journal, Psychedelic Cultures

c) Discuss plan for the year

Tuesday, September 15, 2026, 2:00 - 3:30 pm EDT

Ali Glassie, Northeastern University, Syllabus Assessment Workshop: "Ocean Literacies" 

Wednesday, September 30, 2026, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT

Opening ceremony: roundtable on DHST activities and its comissions.

In this session, representatives of different DHST Commissions will speak about the role and activities DHST is carrying out.

 

Friday, October 2, 2026, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT

Geoff Belknap, National Museum of Scotland

Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 8:00 - 9:30 am EDT

Antara Chatterjee, "Embodied and Gendered Experiences of Illness: Some Fictional Representations of Tagore and Manik Bandyopadhyay"

Wednesday, October 7, 2026, 8:00 - 9:30 am EDT

Behind the collections: a conversation with the Archivist.

In this session, speakers will share their experiences as archivists and reflect on the essential role they play in supporting historical research.

 

Elizabeth Kata (IAEA): Elizabeth Kata is the Unit Head of the Archives Unit at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria. She received her Master's in Historical Research, Historical Auxiliary Sciences and Archival Studies from the Austrian Institute of Historical Research at the University of Vienna.

Wednesday, October 7, 2026, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm EDT

Thomas Simpson, University of Warwick

"Knowing Earth through ice: frozen matter and planetary sciences before ESS"

Wednesday, October 14, 2026, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT

Meeting Topic:  How can we measure or identify colours, and why does terminology matter?

Nuance: TBA

 

Meeting Organizer: Verena

 

Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 2:00 - 3:30 pm EDT

Pedro Afonso Cristovão dos Santos, Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana, "The Sargasso Sea and the 'Discovery' of the Americas: 19th Century Transnational Debates on Nautical History and Historical Geography"

Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 8:00 - 9:30 am EDT

Challenges and possibilities of working in a Museum.

In this session, speakers will talk about the aspects and challenges of working in a Museum.

 

Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 10:00 - 11:30 am EDT

Cameron Daddis

(PhD Candidate - History of Science, Medicine, and TechnologyUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison)

Wednesday, November 4, 2026, 8:00 - 9:30 am EST

Digital humanities and AI: use and limits as methodological tools.

 

Giovanna Di Rosario (Polimi).

Matthieu Huson (CNRS/PSL).

 

Wednesday, November 4, 2026, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm EST

Alina Bykova, Stanford University, Paper Title TBA

Friday, November 6, 2026, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EST

Erin McLeary and Myles Chang Matunis, Mütter Museum and Historical Medical Library

Image
Linda Hall Exterior

The Linda Hall Library. Image courtesy of Linda Hall Library.

Past Groups and Seminars