Call for Papers
8th Bethlehem Conference on Moravian History and Music
August 16-19, 2023
This conference explores Moravian history and music
from the fifteenth to twenty-first centuries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
WORLD • HERITAGE • SITE
The Moravian communities of Bethlehem (USA), Gracehill (UK), and Herrnhut (Germany) are presently working together to join with Christiansfeld (Denmark) in becoming a multinational UNESCO World Heritage Site. These three words give us the theme for our 2023 conference. We especially welcome proposals for individual papers, panels, or lecture recitals addressing aspects of the relationships between Moravians and the World (natural, religious, socio-economic, political, etc.), Moravian Heritage, and Moravian Sites (Sights or Cites). Each of these perspectives offers a unique way of thinking about Moravians and their interactions with others.
We also welcome papers relating to the anniversaries of composers and instrument makers. These might include celebrating the birthday anniversaries of Jan Blahoslav (1523-1571), Christian Gregor (1723-1801), and Edward William Leinbach (1823-1901) or the 150th anniversary of the deaths of Peter Ricksecker (1791-1873), Jedediah Weiss (1796-1873), John Christian Malthaner (1810-1873), and C.F. Martin (1796-1873).
Please submit a proposal of 300 words or less, accompanied by a one-page CV, by January 1, 2023. We encourage submissions from undergraduate students for whom there may be special panels and poster sessions. The program committee will notify accepted applicants by February 15, 2023.
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Travel grants for research at the Moravian Archives are available. The Moravian Archives will be closed to researchers during the conference, but research is possible before and after the conference. More information on the research travel grants is available at www.moravianchurcharchives.org/about (tab: Research Grants). Application deadline for these Archive travel grants for research is February 28, 2023.







The conference is sponsored by Moravian Archives, Moravian University, and Center for Moravian Studies, in partnership with Moravian Music Foundation, Moravian Theological Seminary, and Moravian Historical Society with additional funding generously provided by Bethlehem Area Moravians and Penn State University Press.
Dr. Hilde Binford, Conference Chair
Associate Professor of Music