Censorship and Information Control During Information Revolutions

Exploring how new information technologies from the printing press to the digital age have stimulated new forms of censorship and information control.

Dialogue Series

Bringing together scholars of the print revolution with experts and practitioners from our digital age, to learn what pre-modern cases can tell us about the wave of changes in censorship & information control practices happening in our world today.

Exhibit: Censorship and Information Control

The long history of censorship explored through banned & censored books and documents, open to the public, University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center, September 17 through December 15. Catalog available.
We are bringing together scholars of earlier information revolutions, from the printing press through radio and the copy machine, with journalists, editors, authors, activists and other experts on the contemporary information revolution. These twenty-five specialists are exploring and uncovering parallels between past and present that illuminate what is happening around us, and share them with the public through an online video series, a museum exhibit, and related publications.
  • Sections of the Project:
    • Eight public Dialogues among the participants, October 5 through November 20, 2018.
    • Videos of the public dialogues, shared with the public online.
    • Museum Exhibit “History of Censorship and Information Control from the Inquisition to the Internet” in the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Library, open September 17 through December 14, 2018.
    • A printed catalog of the exhibit, to make these resources permanently available.
    • Publications including an essay collection containing the participants’ reflections on the project.
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Explore the Exhibit

Encounter books and documents which record the long history of censorship in our Digital Gallery.