I’ve just had two new articles published:

Sigrid Wadauer: Identifying the Pedlar – Identifying as Pedlar (Austria, Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century). In: Rosa Salzberg, Massimo Rospocher (eds.): Mobile Lives: Itinerant and Street Trades in Historical Perspective.  Oldenbourg (De Gruyter) 2026, 207-231.

Sigrid Wadauer: Ambivalences of (In)Formality: Prospects, Problems, and Pitfalls of Investigating ‘Informal Work’ in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. In: Sibylle Marti,  Christof Dejung (eds.): Informal Work in Europe, ca 1870-1970.  Budapest, Vienna, New York, Amsterdam (Central European University Press) 2026, 69-91.

A huge thanks to the editors of both volumes!

Next week, I will be attending the Bhalisa Network meeting in Rome.

Bhalisa 6 | The politics of Intermediation in the building of digital identification systems | Temple Campus Rome, July 13 – 14, 2026

I am looking forward to taking part in a panel discussion with Keith Breckenridge, Eddy Higgs, Simon Szreter and Keren Weitzberg on colonial institutional paths, digital public infrastructure and the work of intermediaries. What gets registered, and how?

‘Halt! Who goes there?’ Registration of residents, travellers and migrants in historical perspectives.  

Workshop, 11.2.-12.2.2027, University of Vienna.  

This workshop aims to discuss the history of population registration from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, focussing on Europe from the late 18^th to the 20^th century.

Deadline for submissions: 31.7.2026

Am 21.1.2026 werde ich im Rahmen des WISO-Morgenkolloquiums einige Aspekte und erste Ergebnisse des FWF-Projekts „Kategorisieren und Registrieren von Mobilität und Aufenthalt“ (10.55776/PAT9328724) zur Diskussion stellen.

Kommentar: Peter Becker (Institut für Geschichte)

Moderation: Kirsten Wandschneider (WISO)

Zeit: Mittwoch, 21. Jänner 2026, 9.00–10.00 Uhr

Ort: hybrid – Seminarraum WISO, Hauptgebäude Universität Wien (Universitätsring 1, 1010 Wien), Stiege 6, 2. Zwischengeschoß und via Zoom:
https://univienna.zoom.us/j/64147884198?pwd=i3H6mmou1zg5hdSddyM3WqGCuKKbdP.1
Meeting-ID: 641 4788 4198 | Kenncode: 896354

Am 6. und 7. November 2025 findet in Göttingen die Tagung des Arbeitskreises für Kritische Unternehmens- und Industriegeschichte (AKKU) zum Thema “Murky Business – Branchen im Zwielicht: Legitimität & Image prekärer (Klein-)unternehmen seit dem 19. Jahrhundert” statt. Die Tagung wurde von Marcus Böick (Cambridge), Jan Logemann (Göttingen), Hendrik Heetlage (Göttingen / AKKU) und  Caetano Franz (Göttingen / AKKU) organisiert. In meinem Vortrag befasse ich mich mit Verdächtigunge, Rechtfertigungs- und Werbestrategien reisender Schausteller:innen.

Am 16. und 17. Oktober 2025 findet im Touriseum Trautmansdorff in Meran die Tagung “Gasthäuser und Gastwirt:innen – in Langzeitperspektive” statt. Organisiert wurde die Tagung vom  Zentrum für Regionalgeschichte und dem ERC AdG ALPINNCONNECT (Universität Wien.)

In meinem Beitrag  präsentiere ich erste Ergebnisse des FWF-Projektes „Kategorisieren und Registrieren von Mobilität und Aufenthalt“

Workshop: Grenze/n und Bürokratie. 15. und 16.9.2025, FH St. Pölten.

https://www.fhstp.ac.at/de/stories/events/grenze-n-und-buerokratie

Abstract

In late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Habsburg Austria, regulations permitted residents free movement, while at the same time the government strived for ubiquitous monitoring and surveillance of any change of place and stay. This policy relied on reporting by several parties, such as landlords, innkeepers or employers – and not only the police and local authorities. Registration was based on and created differences and inequalities between citizens and foreigners as well as among citizens, who were subjected to vigilance that was strict in different ways. The article compares various registration practices; it describes social sorting through registration; and it highlights incentives for registering or avoiding registration for legal, material or symbolic reasons and status.

Conference on Migration: Categories, Concepts, Terminologies. (Ljubljana)

Beate Althammer and I organized a session for the ESSHC 2025 in Leiden.

The session deals with “Paperwork Histories: Uses and Abuses of Identity Documents in Modern Europe”. It includes papers by:

• Beate Althammer (Humboldt University Berlin, Germany)
• Christina Diac (Romanian Academy, National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, Romania)
• Eszter Polonyi (University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia)
• Sigrid Wadauer (University of Vienna, Austria)
• Pia Lundqvist (Gothenburg University, Sweden)

Our discussant is Edward Higgs (University of Essex, UK)

The session will take place on Saturday, March 29, 11:00-13:00 in Lipsius 212.

The participants are all members of the COST-Action HIDDEN.