Call for Papers: “Habsburg International: Austrian Consuls and Consulates in the United States and Around the World”

Consuls have long occupied an ambiguous place in the historiography of international relations. Ubiquitous in imperial infrastructures, yet largely overshadowed by ambassadors and high diplomacy, the historical role of a consular agent has often been derided as the manager of a ‘red tape factory’ or as playing second fiddle as the diplomat’s sidekick; a Watson to their Holmes. Recent scholarship has begun to reevaluate the consular institution as central to the functioning of empire, commerce, migration, legal authority and diplomacy, particularly during the long nineteenth century when, it is now acknowledged, consuls enjoyed their ‘finest hour’ as integral actors in an increasingly globalising and interwoven world.

Within this frame, the consuls of the Habsburg Monarchy (and later Austria-Hungary) offer an especially rich but understudied case beyond the works of Rudolf Agstner, Engelbert Deusch and others. From port cities in the Eastern Mediterranean to consular offices in North and South America, East Asia, and across Central and Eastern Europe, Habsburg consuls acted as diplomatic agents, commercial protectors, legal intermediaries, cultural brokers, and imperial scouts. Their activities illuminate how Habsburg power projected itself through informal means via networks of officials which, at its peak, numbered 493 consulates at the turn of the twentieth century. By embedding itself into transregional circuits of governance, trade, and information, the Habsburg Monarchy asserted its global presence through pragmatic (and sometimes even clandestine) locally anchored forms of statecraft.

We invite contributions that examine the institution, personnel, and practices of Habsburg consuls in relation to the local and foreign dimensions of Habsburg internationalism from the inception of imperial consuls in the eighteenth century into the postimperial period that extended into First Republic Austria.

We particularly encourage submissions that explore the role of Austrian consuls and consulates in the United States.  Nearly one in ten Austrian consuls served in the United States during the long nineteenth century, and the expansion of the consular service and their activities in the U.S. accompanied the emergence of American midwestern metropoles – Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Milwaukee – even as the New York consulate remained primary in balancing Austrian considerations of exchange, trade, and international great power politics. Meanwhile, the rising tide of emigration from Austria-Hungary elevated the importance of consuls and their activities in serving Habsburg citizens.

Papers might explore diplomatic and legal history, global and imperial history, economic history, the history of migration, or material culture and cultural diplomacy. We particularly welcome studies that consider both professional and honorary/merchant consuls; the role of consuls in contested situations; consular practices in transimperial or multiethnic contexts; and analyses that question the wider conventions of Habsburg agents abroad, especially in the United States. Contributions based on multilingual sources are especially encouraged, as are comparative studies situating Habsburg consuls alongside those of other empires or small states.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• The structure and reform of the Habsburg consular service Habsburg consuls in the United States, including individual case studies
• The background and implementation of the 1870  “Consular Convention between the Austro Hungarian Monarchy and the United States”
• The function status of consul publications, such as Bestimmungen über Handel und Schiffahrt der Vereinigten Staaten by New York consul Karl Loosey
• Consuls and extraterritorial jurisdiction/consular courts in Habsburg history Honorary and merchant consuls in commercial diplomacy
• Consular activities in the Ottoman Empire including the Balkans
• Educational practices of consuls, especially the Oriental Academy in Vienna Personal and professional networks of consular individuals
• Intelligence gathering and political reporting
• Cultural representation, collection, and knowledge transfer
• Consular involvement in missionary, archaeological, or scientific ventures
• Class, ethnicity, or gender in consular careers and appointments
• Transimperial entanglements and consular cooperation/conflict
• Consuls and the administration of migration, passports, and repatriation
• The legacy and historiography of Habsburg consular activity

Papers selected will be presented at the conference workshop hosted by Institute for Habsburg and Balkans Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv of the Austrian State Archives, with the support of the Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies. Selected papers may thereafter be considered for inclusion in a special issue of the Journal of Austrian-American History, or an edited volume. The language of the conference shall be English.

Please send proposals of 400-500 words along with a short bio (max. 150 words) by 16 January 2026 to Jonathan Singerton via j.o.w.singerton@vu.nl

Place and time: Vienna, 25–26 June 2026

Deadline for submissions: 16 January 2026

Travel costs: covered in the event of an invitation

Organising Committee: Barbara Haider-Wilson (IHB/ÖAW), Jonathan Singerton (VU Amsterdam), Michael Burri (BIAAS), Andreas Titton (HHStA/OeStA)

Contact Email: j.o.w.singerton@vu.nl