Welcome to ESPRit

Welcome to the European Society for Periodical Research. Since its inception in 2009, ESPRit has proven its value as an international network for periodical researchers. We are proud of our inspiring annual conferences which bring together scholars from inside and outside of Europe and of the peer-reviewed Open Access Journal of European Periodical Studies (JEPS) which has entered its fifth year. 

Until recently, ESPRit membership has been informal, consisting mainly of a subscription to our mailing list. As from July 2019, a paid membership system is being put into place. Periodical scholars who wish to support the Society, participate in its annual meetings, and benefit from discounts at future events, are kindly invited to register their membership by clicking on the button below.

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ESPRit online seminars on Popular Magazines

In order to build our online ESPRit community, we are starting a series of monthly one-hour online seminars. The first series will be programmed on Friday afternoons in March, April and May 2021. It will take as its focus ‘Popular Magazines’, and will be co-hosted by the ETMIET/KENI team from Panteion University (Athens). If this trial proves successful, we hope to continue the monthly sessions from September onwards, either by extending the popular magazines theme, or by introducing new ones.

General Theme of the first Seminar Series (March - May 2021):
‘Crossover influences and local identities of the popular illustrated periodicals of the 19th and twentieth centuries’

We propose a series of seminars on the theme of popular periodicals with particular focus on the ways in which the forms, styles, images and symbolic values of popular periodicals cross, or are transformed by, national borders. Presentations may discuss a diverse range of issues, including the following:

  • the role of illustrated print matter in the construction, establishment and transformation of different national and ethnic communities
  • the cross-border influences in the editing, production of print matter, forms, and imagery and their impact on the local publishing of popular magazine
  • popular periodicals as reflection of their era and their specific features in different countries
  • themes on national identities, patriotism, masculinity and femininity, childhood and the family
  • the transfer across borders of technologies of image printing and colour reproduction
  • Illustrated popular print culture in fashion, art, cinema, fiction, popular culture, politics, news, advertising
  • Popular magazines’ role in the development of mass production, commercialization, and mass consumption, and technology
  • Various forms of the popular magazine: crime fiction, pulp fiction, science fiction, etc.
  • The Cold War and its representation in popular magazines

Members and non-members of ESPRit are welcome to participate. We are now inviting proposals for contributions to this first series of ESPRit seminars. These may include:

  • Individual 15 minute presentations on recent or ongoing research
  • 1 hour panels by the members of a particular research project
  • Presentations on personal or institutional magazine collections or online resources for periodical scholars (databases, digital archives, etc.)

Please send your proposals to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before the 1st of February.