Second Call for Articles: The Public Curatorship of the Medieval Past
Posted by Lynsey Mclaughlin and John Sandy-Hindmarch on 2025-10-10
The Public Curatorship of the Medieval Past Special Collection explores how the medieval past is ‘curated’, that is, collected, interpreted, and communicated, across both professional and popular society, with a particular interest in the ways in which medievalism impacts these acts of curatorship.
Guided by the underlying principle that remembering and communicating the medieval past is a process shared in by individuals from all sections of society, the special collection facilitates much needed lines of communication within and beyond academic circles, thereby supporting greater cross-societal debate on how the medieval past can and should be communicated publicly. Following the great success of our first round of papers, we are delighted to announce that The Public Curatorship of the Medieval Past is launching a second call for papers. The focus of the collection remains the same, however on this occasion we are eager to encourage submissions that make use of multiple forms of media. In a public setting, the communication of the past is to be understood as a highly active and performative process, functioning across media platforms beyond text alone. As such, we would be glad to receive submissions that utilise non-traditional media, such as video and audio, whilst following the editorial guidelines of the Open Library of Humanities Journal. We also welcome research of many forms, such as interviews, exhibit reviews/ reports, and speeches.
Articles could cover issues including though not limited to:
· The challenges that are present in communicating the medieval past through a variety of mediums, be that heritage, archaeology, digital media, or reenactment and living history (or a combination of these mediums), and, if applicable, the initiatives you feel could be, or indeed have, implemented in order to tackle these challenges.
· Impact (positive or negative) of medievalism on the process of communicating the medieval past
· Community projects looking to curate the medieval past
· Research into the public understanding and reception of the medieval past
We also particularly encourage submissions from researchers outside of academia.
Authors are invited to submit their abstracts of 250 words to lmclaughlin@lincoln.ac.uk by the 31st December 2025. We will respond to abstracts by the 19th January 2026. After this, if you are invited to submit your paper, you will have until the 30th June 2026 to submit your full article.
Research articles should be approximately 8000 words in length, including references and a short bibliography. Submissions should include:
· Abstract (250 words)
· Full-length article (8000 words)
· Author information (short biographical statement of 200 words)
The special collection, edited by John Sandy-Hindmarch and Lynsey McLaughlin is to be published in the Open Library of Humanities Journal (OLHJ) (ISSN 2056-6700). The OLHJ is an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-funded diamond open-access journal with a strong emphasis on quality peer review and a prestigious academic steering board. Unlike some open-access publications, the OLHJ has no author-facing charges and is instead financially supported by an international consortium of libraries.
Should your proposal be taken forward, formal electronic submissions should be made online at https://olh.openlibhums.org/about/submissions/ in accordance with the journal's author guidelines, clearly marking the entry as [The Public Curatorship of the Medieval Past SPECIAL COLLECTION] and also selecting the collection from the collection drop-down list. Submissions will then undergo a double-anonymous peer-review process. Authors will be notified of the outcome as soon as reports are received.
To learn more about the publisher, the Open Library of Humanities, please visit: