The Association for Documentary Editing’s Semiquincentennial Committee (“SemiCom”) is coordinating the ADE‘s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding. As announced in this fall’s e-newsletter, SemiCom will organize sessions to be held virtually in the summer of 2026. Presenters will discuss documents that they have edited or recovered and that help illuminate the broad sweep of US history prior to and after the original thirteen colonies became the early United States. Documents may relate to any place or time that is, was, or became part of (or was impacted by) the United States before or after 1776. To acknowledge the peoples, languages, and cultures of these territories, documents in any language may be presented.
The documents will become the core of a digital gallery, part of the ADE‘s website, highlighting the breadth of documents to which people are opening access and the breadth of editorial strategies they employ. After the initial launch, editors will be invited to add their own documents to the site.
SemiCom invites editors to participate in the sessions and the gallery. It has extended the deadline for expressing interest to January 31, 2026, and has prepared a simple form for doing so. Please find the form and additional information at https://forms.gle/
Michael Cohen, Kenya Dworkin, and Katherine Sibley
