Language & Captions & Prints, Oh My!: A Panel on Editing Historical Writing

Join PEN for a panel discussion themed around editing considerations for historical writing. Come away with tips for editing captions of historic prints, navigating historic spellings vs. modern spellings, and more.

Describing Printed Images Accurately

Presenter: Paul Maravelas

Captions for historic prints too often misdescribe the print’s nature; one often sees maps and prints described as lithographs when, to an informed eye, the image was clearly produced by another method, such as engraving, etching, or relief. In this short illustrated presentation, editor and printing historian Paul Maravelas will provide simple methods editors can use to confirm or correct an author’s choice of descriptors when discussing maps and prints. Editors, when unsure, will be urged to simply correct the descriptor to “print.”

Language Considerations in Historical Writing

Presenter: Hannah Smith

Editing historical writing—whether academic or nonacademic—comes with considerations unique to the discipline. This presentation will focus on issues around language that arise frequently in historical writing, including when to use historical spellings vs. modern spellings and navigating field-specific language. It will also touch on tips to keep in mind when editing writing in English by non-native speakers. Attendees will come away equipped with tools to apply to their work when editing historical writing and beyond.

How to Attend This Event

MEMBERS: All PEN members will receive the access link for this meeting ahead of the event date—no registration required. However, registering does help us know how many attendees to expect.

NONMEMBERS: Registration is required to attend this meeting and closes the day before the event. Nonmembers may attend up to two free Professional Editors Network meetings before becoming a member, but access to recordings of our meetings is an exclusive benefit of PEN membership.

When you register, you will receive an immediate confirmation email indicating when you will receive the meeting link. If you registered but cannot find your confirmation email, or if you have any questions about this event, contact events@pensite.org.