Workshop series
The programme of six interdisciplinary workshops builds on a successful two-day international symposium on ‘Scribal culture and political information’ held at Birkbeck and the British Library in September 2008 with funding from the British Academy. The programme investigates scribal culture in a wide range of fields. All workshops are intended mainly for academics, librarians, curators and postgraduates with interests in Renaissance culture in a broad sense. Each workshop features a number of papers, as well as discussion focused on practical examples of relevant manuscripts or artifacts.
1) POETRY, THEATRE AND MUSIC
20 February 2009, Trinity College, Cambridge
Did manuscript make for special conditions of creative production for writers and musicians? How did scribal culture shape the ways in which people experienced different domains of literature and music?
Details of programme and speakers
2) MATERIAL CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION OF MANUSCRIPTS
8 May 2009, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
What were the material objects related to writing and how did they shape the ways in which writing was possible? Where and how easily could one write? How did private houses allow individuals to concentrate on writing? What main styles of handwriting and decoration were used?
Details of programme and speakers.
3) SCIENCE, MEDICINE, PHILOSOPHY
5 June 2009, Wellcome Library, London
What were the relations between scribal culture and the culture of certain professions? In which areas would manuscript’s ability to circumvent censorship offer special advantages?
Details of programme and speakers.
4) MANUSCRIPT AND PRINT
3 July 2009, John Rylands University Library, Manchester
How did manuscript texts influence or adapt to the diffusion of printed texts? When coexisting, were they complementary or competing?
Details of programme and speakers.
5) THE IMPACT, USE AND DIFFUSION OF MANUSCRIPTS
30 October 2009, Centre for the Study of the Book, Bodleian Library, Oxford
How inclusive was the distribution of different kinds of manuscripts? Could manuscripts act as channels for the distribution of popular literature? How did attitudes to manuscript texts vary across the social scale? What was the role of literacy-intermediaries?
Details of programme and speakers.
6) THE CATALOGUING OF (POLITICAL) MANUSCRIPTS
November 2009, British Library, London
What does manuscript cataloguing entail and why is it important? What are the challenges facing the themed cataloguing of manuscripts in particular collections? How can a catalogue account for subject-matter, author, scribe, and collector? What are the British Library’s holdings and how can they best be catalogued?
Details of programme and speakers.