What is the history of photography’s value a history of? Is it a labour and economic history? An institutional history of museum cataloguing systems and art market pressure? A history of the values promoted by photography as a cultural and social activity? A history of photographic conventions, trends and fashions? Recent publications like issue 8 of Photographica in 2024 and the PHRC conference of 2023 "Photography in its Environment", showed the increasing volume of work dealing in one way or another with photography and value.

In this PHRC 2025 conference we look for paper proposals that use the ambiguity of the term “value” as a starting point to reflect on the intertwined political, social, economic, scientific and historical factors that have shaped the value(s) of photography. We encourage the use of diverse methodological perspectives to critically analyse what has made photography valuable to a variety of stakeholders.

We welcome proposals for 15-minute papers on topics related, but not limited to themes like:

- Photographic values and ethics
- The markets of photography
- Labour and/or economic histories of photography
- The value of photography as heritage
- Value systems in photography collections
- Photography’s influence on social values

Please send paper proposals as a .doc or .pdf of maximum 300 words to phrcdmu.ac.uk by 10 January 2025, embedding in the document your name, contact details, up to 5 keywords and institutional affiliation (when applicable), and a short biography (80 words). We will be very grateful if you name your file with your surname.

Please visit the conference webpage for news and updates:
https://photographichistory.wordpress.com/annual-conference-2025/