Mission
Founded in 1961, the American Society of Papyrologists (ASP) is an international scholarly community that through its activities fosters exchange of ideas and collaboration among its members, whether in person, in print, or in digital media, on all aspects of ancient papyrological texts in their full chronological, linguistic, and geographical diversity. The ASP believes that responsible and ethical scholarship, inclusiveness, and mutual respect are central tenets necessary for the well-being of the community and its members, and thus is committed to a welcoming environment that encourages participation from all those interested in its activities and who accept the responsibilities of such participation. Core to our mission is the amicitia papyrologorum, by which we commit to mutual support in the task of working with these difficult ancient artifacts.
The Society uses it resources to support and encourage research in the field, the teaching of the discipline, and international cooperation by scholars. ASP publishes The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (BASP), the only North American journal in the field of papyrology, and three book series. We also organize annual panel sessions at both the Society for Classical Studies and the Society for Biblical Literature, sponsor biennial summer institutes for training scholars in papyrology, and facilitate a triennial papyrological workshop (the North American Papyrological Seminar).
The Society uses it resources to support and encourage research in the field, the teaching of the discipline, and international cooperation by scholars. ASP publishes The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (BASP), the only North American journal in the field of papyrology, and three book series. We also organize annual panel sessions at both the Society for Classical Studies and the Society for Biblical Literature, sponsor biennial summer institutes for training scholars in papyrology, and facilitate a triennial papyrological workshop (the North American Papyrological Seminar).
Meetings & Seminars |
News & Events |
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Each year, the American Society of Papyrologists holds its Annual Meeting in early January in conjunction with the Joint Annual Meeting of the Society for Classical Studies (SCS) and the Archaeological Institute of America.
As part of the Annual Meeting, the ASP sponsors a panel of between three and five papers on a wide range of subjects within the field of papyrology. Submissions are welcome from all interested parties; membership in the ASP is not required, although it is strongly encouraged. However, since the ASP Annual Meeting is a part of the official SCS program, speakers must be members in good standing of the SCS. Also, speakers are held to the SCS's single appearance policy, i.e. individuals can appear only once on the SCS program. If you wish to submit a paper for the next Annual Meeting, a short abstract (500 words) should be sent to Mike Sampson (Manitoba) at [email protected] by February 15. Follow this link to the Call for Papers. Abstracts are refereed anonymously, and decisions made by the end of March. Each paper may use audio-visual equipment if necessary (this should be indicated on the abstract). Reminders of the deadline for abstracts will be in the SCS Newsletter in October and will also be posted on the PAPY list. Last Updated: (Tuesday, 03 May 2016 23:00) SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE PANEL:
PAPYROLOGY AND EARLY CHRISTIAN BACKGROUNDS The Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds Group explores how the ancient papyri illumine the world of early Christianity and will appeal to scholars interested in palaeographic, linguistic, and textual questions, as well as those who specialize in the social and cultural history of early Christianity. Questions and abstract submissions for the next panel should be directed to AnneMarie Luijendijk (Princeton) or Brent Nongbri (Norwegian School of Theology). Last Updated: (Saturday, 05 November 2016 02:19) Since 2003, the American Society of Papyrologists has helped organize routine intensive summer programs in papyrology, on what we hope will now be a regular biennial program. For more information on the summer institutes, visit our Summer Institute page. INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PAPYROLOGY
The 30th International Congress of Papyrology was held in July 2022 in Paris. The 31st Congress will take place from July 28 to August 2, 2025 at the University of Cologne. North American Papyrology Seminars (NAPS) take place off-schedule from the triennial International Congress. NAPS III was held at the University of Manitoba, Canada, in May/June 2024. Bylaws & PoliciesBylaws of the society
In January 2022, the Membership voted to incorporate the Society, and therewith to adopt new Bylaws. Click here for the full text of the Bylaws. The original ASP "Constitution" and its revisions can be found at the History tab. Professional Ethics Statement
In January 2022, the Membership adopted a new Professional Ethics Statement. Click here for full text of the Ethics Statement. Papyrus Trade ResolutioNS
Click here for ASP-AIP Papyrus Trade Resolution, which was approved by ASP Membership in January 2021, and which will be voted on at the 2022 Papyrological Congress. That resolution stands in addition to the 2007 ASP resolution condemning illegal trade in papyrus. StanDing CommittEes (ETHICs & SIP)
The ASP has two standing committees, the Ethics Committee, which advises and assists the Board on questions regarding professional ethics, and the Summer Institute Committee, which advises and facilitates the biennial Summer Institutes in Papyrology. For current appointments, see the governance tab. Articles of Incorporation
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Call for Papers for Panel Sponsored by the American Society of Papyrologists Culture and Society in Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Egypt Organized by C. Michael Sampson (University of Manitoba) The American Society of Papyrologists invites proposals for papers for its panel “Culture and Society in Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Egypt” at the 2026 meeting of the Society for Classical Studies in San Francisco (7–10 January). Although the scope of papyrological studies is wide, submissions for this panel must meet at least one of the following criteria: (a) they must deploy evidence for ancient literary cultures that is preserved on papyri, ostraka, or wooden tablets (in Greek, Latin, Coptic, demotic Egyptian, Arabic, or other pertinent languages); (b) they must investigate aspects of the histories or cultures of Egypt from the Hellenistic to the early Islamic period. Submissions from graduate students and faculty at all levels are welcome. Please send abstracts that follow the guidelines for individual abstracts (see the SCS Guidelines for Authors of Abstracts) by email, as a Word of PDF email attachment, to C. Michael Sampson (University of Manitoba) at [email protected] by February 15, 2025. Abstracts should be a maximum of 500 words (excluding bibliography) and suitable for a 20- minute presentation. Please ensure that the abstracts are anonymized, to permit a process of double-blind review. Decisions will be communicated to the authors of abstracts by mid-April. Please note that authors submitting abstracts must be SCS members in good standing at the time of registration for the 2026 meeting. In Memoriam:
Raffaella Cribiore (1948-2023) 
Raffaella Cribiore (1948-2023)
The news of Raffaella Cribiore’s accidental death from drowning on July 13 (at Finale Liguria in Italy) was a great shock to her many friends across the world of classical studies. She had been looking forward to the colloquium on spaces for learning in the ancient world, as part of the Entretiens Hardt series, co-directed by her with Daniel Anderson. This colloquium, to be held next month, will now be a memorial to her. Its topic reflects the realm in which Raffaella was the most important scholar since H. I. Marrou, ancient education.
Raffaella was also well known as a papyrologist, and worked in several capacities in the American Society of Papyrologists over many years. At the time of her death, she had been serving as one of the Society's Financial Trustees. Raffaella was born in Varese, Italy, on March 27, 1948, the daughter of Mario and Stefania Razzini. She received her Laurea from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, magna cum laude, in 1972, studying particularly with the great papyrologist Orsolina Montevecchi, to whom she remained devoted. Her education was interrupted by a move to New York and years of raising her family, but she returned to graduate school in the mid-1980s and received her M.Phil. (1990) and Ph.D. (1993) degrees from Columbia University. Her revised dissertation (Writing, Teachers, and Students in Graeco-Roman Egypt) was published three years later and quickly achieved classic status, at least as measured by being the most-stolen book from classical libraries (a status she was proud of). It was a revolutionary achievement, the first study of school texts based on an investigation of the materiality of these texts, both supports and handwriting. Even if I was never able to retrain my eyes to be as observant as hers, I learned more from it than from any other dissertation I directed. There followed over the next twenty years four more single-author books, beginning with Gymnastics of the Mind, which won the Goodwin Award for 2004, and continuing with three books on Libanius, for whom she had a respect and even affection quite beyond common measure. There was also our joint volume collecting and studying Women’s Letters from Ancient Egypt, a project that owed its origin to the typology of handwritings that she had developed and the uncommon sensitivity to hands that she possessed. Another book, Listening to the Philosophers: Notes on Notes, is in press at Cornell University Press, and a volume of school texts in Coptic on ostraca in the Columbia University collection, co-edited with Jennifer Cromwell, is out to referees at another publisher. More than five dozen articles and a host of reviews round out the scholarly production of these three decades. In the first half of this period, Raffaella served as curator of papyri at Columbia, while teaching part-time in the Department of Classics. In 2008 she moved to New York University as Professor of Classics, which gave her greater scope for her love of teaching and allowed her to work with graduate students. She also accumulated a range of professional offices, editorial boards, honors, and the like, particularly serving both the American Society of Papyrologists and the Society for Classical Studies in various roles. Although she liked to portray herself as preferring the life of the scholarly hermit, tucked away among her books in her house on Sutton Place, Raffaella is more widely remembered for her joyous sociability and kindness; she was of course a superb cook. Less predictable perhaps was her affection for the inelegant life of a member of an excavation team. She arrived at Amheida, in the Dakhla Oasis, just after we had discovered a room with poetry on the walls—a teacher’s model for a class, in fact. The miracle of the person in the world best qualified to study and publish these couplets arriving at just that moment remains a vivid memory. She tried in subsequent years to dress down to field standards, but she could never shed her elegance, two orders of magnitude above the rest of us, not to speak of her opinion that pesto should have less garlic than I wanted. Alongside the scholarly work, Raffaella had a bent for story-telling, reflected in a volume of stories for children, Martina’s Town, published in 2010. It was named after her daughter Martina, who survives her along with Raffaella’s son Federico and her beloved grandchildren, Martina’s daughter Stefania Cribiore-Nieves and Federico’s daughter Ottavia Cribiore-Shirtz, as well as her brother Edoardo Razzini. - Roger Bagnall Thanks to Martina Cribiore, David Levene, and Bethany Wasik for help in preparing this notice. 2024 SUMMER INSTITUTE IN PAPYROLOGY
Application deadline Jan 3, 2024 The American Society of Papyrologists and the Istituto Papirologico “G. Vitelli” are sponsoring a summer institute in papyrology for advanced graduate students and junior faculty in ancient studies (classics, history, religious studies, Egyptology, archaeology, and related disciplines). The institute, which will run in Florence from 1 through 26 July 2024, will focus on documentary papyri from the Roman period in the Papiri della Società Italiana collection housed at the “Vitelli”. For further information and application click here. ASP Travel subventions
The American Society of Papyrologists announces a new program to make available a limited budget to support, on a competitive basis, travel for papyrological training (such as the Summer Institutes in Papyrology) or research in papyrology (such as travel to collections). The competition is open to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and untenured faculty, including contingent faculty. Applicants must be members in good standing of the ASP. Preference is given to students and faculty in North American institutions. The maximum amount of each award is $2,000. The application should consist of:
The application should be sent to [email protected], with the subject heading “Application for ASP Travel Award”. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. A brief report about the project and its impact will be due within three months of receiving the award. |
Announcements
Special Announcement: Supporting the Papyrological Navigator for future scholars
See News for quarterly updates on the campaign
The PN is by now a fundamental part of many people’s daily research and teaching, and it would be easy to take it for granted, especially since users have never been charged a fee. Many users do contribute their volunteer labor to adding new texts to it and improving the information already in it; without their contributed time the data would rapidly become out of date. But a complex resource like this did not come into being without cost, and sustaining it is not going to be free, either. Fortunately, the basic technology support is provided by Duke University’s Duke Collaboratory for Classics Computing. But at present there is no long-term management of the content of the Duke Databank, and there is no permanent funding for the HGV either. The long-term usability of the PN is thus far from guaranteed.
We need a permanent position for a leadership and management role, and a fund to endow such a position has now been started. It is held by the Society for Classical Studies, which will take care of investing it along with the rest of its endowment, but it is up to papyrologists to raise the money. We will need at least $2 million (in current dollars) to support a position at the level of a research associate. This position could eventually be located in any of the institutions responsible for the components of the PN, whether in Europe or in the US. The first $50,000 has already been contributed, with a promise of a total of $500,000 over the next decade to match contributions by others.
Will you help to guarantee the future of the PN? Contributions of any amount can be made by credit or debit card by clicking on the button below, which will take you to the site of the Society for Classical Studies; you have only to indicate that your contribution is for digital papyrology to be sure that it will go into the right fund. Contributions by check can be mailed to the Society for Classical Studies, New York University, 20 Cooper Square, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10003. For contributions of securities please contact the Executive Director, Helen Cullyer, at [email protected].
Thank you for helping make it possible for future generations to use this vital resource in their research and teaching.