Medieval Academy of America Office Closure Schedule

The Medieval Academy office will be closed Dec. 24 – Jan. 4. All of us in the office wish you a very happy holiday season. We look forward to working with you in 2016.

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Mary Jaharis Center Grants 2016-2017

The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture is pleased to announce its 2016-2017 grant competition. Our grants reflect the Mary Jaharis Center’s commitment to fostering the field of Byzantine studies through the support of graduate students and early career researchers and faculty.

Mary Jaharis Center Dissertation Development Grants target graduate students who have completed all coursework, language requirements, and exams necessary to advance to Ph.D. candidacy. Grants are meant to assist with the costs of travel associated with the development of a dissertation proposal in the field of Byzantine studies broadly conceived, e.g., travel to potential research sites, museum collections, research and special collections libraries. The goal of these grants is to assist students in refining their initial ideas into a feasible, interesting, and fundable doctoral project.

Mary Jaharis Center Dissertation Grants are awarded to advanced graduate students working on Ph.D. dissertations in the field of Byzantine studies broadly conceived. These grants are meant to help defray the costs of research-related expenses, e.g., travel, photography/digital images, microfilm.

Mary Jaharis Center Publication Grants support book-length publications or major articles in the field of Byzantine studies broadly conceived. Grants are aimed at early career academics. Preference will be given to postdocs and assistant professors, though applications from non-tenure track faculty and associate and full professors will be considered. We encourage the submission of first-book projects.

The application deadline for all grants is February 2, 2016. For further information, please see http://maryjahariscenter.org/grants/.

Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center, with any questions.

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Call for Papers – Re//generate: Materiality and the Afterlives of Things in the Middle Ages, 500-1500

The University of St Andrews School of Art History in collaboration with the St Andrews Institute of Medieval Studies (SAIMS) present Re//generate: Materiality and the Afterlives of Things in the Middle Ages, 500-1500, an interdisciplinary conference on reuse and recycling in medieval Europe taking place on 6-7th May 2016.

In recent years, the discipline of Art History has been grappling with the concept of materiality, the very thingness of art. The material of medieval art, be it parchment, precious metal, gem, bone or stone, has emerged as a spearheading topic. Unsurprisingly, this “material turn” has prompted intriguing questions. To what extent does an ivory figure of the Virgin and Child embody the divine, rather than merely represent it? What exactly did pilgrims do with the holy dust or liquid which they carried away from saints’ shrines in little ampullae? It is within this context that we wish to explore how recycling was part of the medieval (re)creative process.

This conference will investigate the different ways in which medieval people used and reused goods, materials, and other elements from existing forms to create (or recreate) new art and architecture. Why did medieval people preserve, conserve, and recycle art and materials from a different era? Did such appropriation go beyond mere economic practicality? Could the very materiality of an object have been the reason for its retention or reinvention? The two-day conference is aimed at postgraduates and early career academics from a range of disciplines including, but not limited to history, art history, museum studies, archaeology, book studies and literature.

We invite twenty-minute papers on the following range of topics and their relationship to the study of materiality, recycling and reuse in middle ages:

  • Second-hand materiality of medieval art and/or everyday objects;
  • The concept of refuse/garbage and its reuse;
  • The medieval and post-medieval afterlives of things;
  • Theoretical approaches to medieval materiality; Thing theory and Stuff theory;
  • Semiotics and anthropology of medieval recycling and recreation;
  • Issues of authorship, circulation and ownership of recycled art;
  • Genealogy of recycled materials: spoils, heirlooms, relics, ruins and remnants;
  • Conservation, preservation and restoration in medieval thought and practice.

Papers on other issues related to the study of materiality and reuse of materials in the Middle Ages or of medieval materials in post-medieval practice are also welcome. Please direct your submissions (250 word abstract) along with a short biography (100 word) to regenerate2016@st-andrews.ac.uk no later than 1st of February 2016. Conference website: regenerate2016.wordpress.com.

Organized by: Emily Savage (ens@st-andrews.ac.uk) and Ioana Coman (ic39@st-andrews.ac.uk). Funded through the Centre for Academic, Professional and Organisational Development (CAPOD).

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Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts from Boston Collections

BEYOND WORDS: ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS FROM BOSTON COLLECTIONS

CHURCH & CLOISTER (Houghton Library: Sept. 12 – Dec. 10, 2016)
PLEASURE & PIETY (McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College: Sept. 12 – Dec. 11, 2016)
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE BOOKS (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Sept. 22, 2016 – Jan. 16, 2017)

An international conference linked to the exhibition with one day at each of the three venues will take place on Nov. 3–5, 2016.

The collections in the Boston area constitute one of the most important ensembles of illuminated manuscript material anywhere in North America, yet they remain, in large measure, virtually unknown to scholars and the wider  public alike. Conceived by Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art & Culture at Harvard, in 2000, his first year at the university, the exhibition could not have been prepared and organized without the collaboration of a team of local manuscript experts with whom he searched the stacks and stores of libraries and museums on both sides of the Charles River for buried treasures of illumination.

Beyond Words will be the first exhibition to showcase highlights of medieval and Renaissance illumination in the Boston area. It follows in the footsteps of other exhibitions which have vaunted the holdings of public collections in American and British cities, such as Leaves of Gold: Treasures of Manuscript Illumination from Philadelphia Collections (2001-2002)and Cambridge Illuminations (2005). Beyond Words, however, is a far more ambitious collaborative metropolitan project, in terms of the size of its curatorial team, number of exhibits and lending institutions, and multi-venue display:

The exhibition will be curated by a team of five manuscripts scholars with complementary expertise in the holdings and history of collections of manuscripts and early printed books in the Boston area: in addition to Jeffrey F. Hamburger, his Harvard colleague Dr. William P. Stoneman, Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts of the University’s Houghton Library, as well as Nancy Netzer, Professor of Art History and Director of the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College; Dr. Lisa Fagin Davis, Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America and co-author of the Directory of Collections in the United States and Canada with Pre-1600 Manuscript Holdings, Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, (2015), an update to Seymour De Ricci’s Census; and Dr. Anne-Marie Eze, formerly Associate Curator of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the first scholar to comprehensively study the museum’s rare books collection since the 1930s.

260 outstanding manuscripts and printed books dating from the ninth to seventeenth centuries have been carefully selected from Boston-area repositories. These include numerous masterpieces by well-known artists, such as Lippo Vanni, Benedetto Bordon, Jean Poyer, Jean Bourdichon, Simon Bening, and the Boucicaut and Rohan masters, as well as many others no less notable for being anonymous. Identifiable patrons include such renowned figures as Charles V of France, Jean, duc de Berry, Pope Sixtus IV, Borso d’Este, and Isabella d’Este among many others. These precious volumes will be loaned by eighteen local institutions are: The Armenian Museum and Library of America; The Boston Athenaeum; Burns Library, Boston College; School of Theology Library, Boston College; Boston University; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Boston Public Library, Brandeis University, Harvard University Law School; the Countway Library, Harvard Medical School; the Houghton Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Harvard University; the Harvard Divinity School—Andover-Harvard Theological Library of the Harvard University Divinity School; the Baker Library, Harvard Business School; the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Northeastern University; Tufts University, and Wellesley College.  As well as lending manuscripts, these institutions are also contributing the time and expertise of their in-house conservators and photographers, whose  are working hard to prepare for display and digitize the manuscripts, many of which have never been exhibited to the public or previously reproduced.

Beyond Words will be exhibited at three venues on both sides of the Charles River: Harvard University’s Houghton Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Boston College’s McMullen Museum of Art, where it will be the inaugural exhibition in the museum’s new building, a renovation of the  neo-Renaissance palazzo built as a residence for Boston’s archbishop by the architectural firm Maginnis and Walsh in 1927, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Each venue will highlight one of the three principal contexts for the production of books in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and related developments in design, script and decoration. The volumes will be presented to the public as the idealized libraries of three readers—the monk at the Houghton, lay person at Boston College and humanist prince at the Gardner Museum—to vividly bring to life books produced for the communal use of religious institutions; collections that served the educational, professional, and spiritual needs of individuals; and the magnificent libraries that proclaimed the power and cultivation of Renaissance rulers.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a single scholarly catalogue with essays and entries written by an international cohort of around eighty-five American and European scholars, including François Avril, Susan L’Engle, James Marrow, Scot Mckendrick, Lillian Armstrong, Federica Toniolo and Maria Thiesen. It will be edited by Beyond Words’s curatorial team and published by Boston College.

The exhibition is supported by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as by private donors.

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Medieval Academy of America 2016 Election Results

I am very pleased to report the results of the 2016 Medieval Academy of America elections:

President: Carmela Vircillo Franklin (Classics, Columbia Univ.)
1st Vice-President: Margot Fassler (Music History and Liturgy, Univ. of Notre Dame)
2nd Vice-President: David Wallace (English and Comparative Literature, Univ. of Pennsylvania)

Councillors:
Matthew Gabriele (History, Virginia Tech.)
Sharon Kinoshita (French, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz)
Amy Livingstone (History, Wittenberg Univ.)
Jerry Singerman (Comparative Literature, Univ. of Pennsylvania Press)

Nominating Committee:
Sean L. Field (History, Univ. of Vermont)
Fiona Griffiths (History, Stanford Univ.)

My congratulations to all who were elected, and my thanks to all who stood for election.

– Lisa Fagin Davis, Executive Director

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Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Manuscript Studies

Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Manuscript Studies

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries seek an innovative and energetic CLIR Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Manuscript Studies to play an integral role in the working life of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS) in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts at Penn’s Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.

About the Position:

The Fellow will work on the SIMS team on several overlapping initiatives that explore both the materiality of medieval manuscripts as within a digital context and the possibilities of analyzing texts that the codices contain. These initiatives include:

  • Collation Visualization, a developing set of tools that enable scholars to virtually model and visualize the physical construction of manuscripts, relating the models to digital images and content https://github.com/leoba/VisColland http://dorpdev.library.upenn.edu/collation/
  • Digital Editions, a project to create image-based editions of medieval manuscripts from our own and other collections and publish them online. (Complete: http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/ljs225/, under development:http://schoenberginstitute.org/pembroke25)
  • Manuscript Ebooks, an ongoing project to create ebooks (in the epub format) from manuscripts in OPenn and from other open source repositories. http://repository.upenn.edu/sims_ebooks/
  • Kalendarium, a project to build a crowd-sourced digital tool for collecting and identifying all the world’s medieval liturgical calendars. Begun at Penn, participants now include Stanford University and the Morgan Library as well as universities in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Scotland. http://schoenberginstitute.org/kalendarium/
  • Video Facsimiles, an experimental project to create high-quality videos of complete manuscripts and annotate them on textual content, visual content, and issues of materiality. http://scalar.usc.edu/works/video-facsimiles/index
  • Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts, currently in year two of a three-year, $300,000 grant from the NEH, which collects information about both the current and historic locations of the world’s pre-1600 manuscript books, creating a metacatalogue for finding and indexing the world’s manuscripts. http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/schoenberg/
  • Video Orientations, short (1-2 minute) videos that briefly introduce our manuscripts to a general audience, which are stored in our scholarly repository, shared on social media, and linked to manuscript records in our OPAC.http://repository.upenn.edu/sims_video/

The centerpiece of the Fellow’s work will be developing a new initiative in conjunction with SIMS staff and using Penn’s physical and digital resources. This initiative may be a single extended project, or several short-term projects. This would be a two-year position, funded by the Mellon Foundation (via CLIR) and the Penn Libraries.

Required Qualifications:

  • PhD in an area of medieval studies, with a concentration in the history of the book
  • Working knowledge of at least two non-English languages

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience with prior digital projects and some knowledge of programming

Fellow Responsibilities:

  • Contribute to the work of SIMS by supporting existing work as relevant to his or her interests, and develop his or her own initiative to work on during the course of the fellowship, as described above.
  • Participate in the ongoing digitization of medieval manuscripts through cataloging new manuscripts and generating metadata for existing manuscripts.
  • Assist the library in the adoption of new technologies for access to medieval material, including the International Image Interoperability Framework http://iiif.io/
  • Participate in the curation of special collections library data, including:
    • Curation of data in OPenn (our open access collection of digitized medieval manuscript data:http://openn.library.upenn.edu/
    • Development of a data repository in the library for data already available through Penn;
    • Curation of originally developed video content.
    • Participate in the acquisition of manuscript-related digital resources by Penn Libraries.
    • Make regular contributions to the Penn Libraries Manuscripts Tumblr (http://upennmanuscripts.tumblr.com/

At Penn the Fellow will receive mentoring and guidance from experts in the field. These include Dot Porter (Curator of Digital Research Services), Will Noel (Director – SIMS and Kislak Center), Doug Emery (Digital Content Programmer), Robert Ousterhout (Professor of History of Art, Director of the Center for Ancient Studies), as well as the wider Philadelphia history of the book community. The Fellow will be hosted by SIMS and have a joint appointment in the department of the History of Art at Penn. He or she will also participate in the programs of the Kislak Center and the department of the History of Art. These include organizing seminars on best digital practices, delivering lectures, and curating exhibitions. The Fellow will help plan, solicit contributions, and speak at the ninth annual Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age in 2017. This will provide the Fellow with a platform for presenting new developments in the field of medieval data curation, including those to which he or she has contributed.

About the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies and the Kislak Center

The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies is a teaching and research center devoted to the study of manuscripts in their material and digital forms. Housed in the Penn Libraries’ Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, SIMS emphasizes hands-on work with unique witnesses to the past through the practical study of paleography, codicology, illumination, book arts, book history and the history of science and medicine, among many other fields. These primary source materials offer the Penn community and scholars everywhere unprecedented opportunities for collaboration in multidisciplinary research and scholarship. SIMS engages with regional and international institutions to foster study and use of the collection through lectures, symposia, publications, and digitization programs, and holds a firm commitment to develop and promote digital technologies that instruct and inspire scholars and students around the world through forward-thinking open-access policies.

The Kislak Center is the product of a $17 million renovation project and houses an extraordinary collection of rare books and manuscripts. Its mission is to bring collections, modern technology, and a wide base of patrons together to facilitate access to our common cultural heritage. The fellow will benefit from the combined skills and knowledge of the Kislak Center’s staff as well as faculty of the humanities departments, and the wider resources, of the University. Through its faculty and library resources, the University of Pennsylvania has long been at the forefront of book history and material text research, especially in the medieval and early modern period. The fellow will play a key role in developing this field through his or her research as an integral part of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies team.

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Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto’s Summer Latin Program

In 2016, the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto will offer the following courses in Medieval Latin:

Beginning Latin (8 hours of instruction weekly, 24 May to 15 July 2016, with an optional three-week reading course thereafter).  Textbook: Moreland and Fleischer, Latin: an Intensive Course.

Level One Medieval Latin (7.5 hours weekly, 30 May to 8 July 2016, with an optional two-week grammar review before the course).

Level Two Medieval Latin (7.5 hours weekly, 11 July to 19 August 2016).

Enrolment in the Level One and Level Two courses will be restricted and will depend on performance in the April Level One Latin examination.  Information on the examinations and the summer program is available on line (medieval.utoronto.ca).

The fee for each course is $1,200 (Can) for Canadian residents, or its equivalent in US dollars for non-Canadian residents.  The deadline to apply for all courses is 1 May 2016.  Enrolment in each course is limited.

A limited number of stipends are available for graduate students participating in summer courses in medieval languages or manuscript studies, and Level One and Level Two Latin at the Centre for Medieval Studies. The stipend will be paid directly to the program to offset a portion of the tuition cost and is contingent on acceptance into the program. Applicants must be members of the Medieval Academy in good standing with at least one year of graduate school remaining and must demonstrate both the importance of the summer course to their program of study and their home institution’s inability to offer analogous coursework.

To apply, please submit a statement of purpose, CV, and two letters of recommendation, to:

MAA/CARA Summer Scholarships
Medieval Academy of America
17 Dunster St., Suite 202
Cambridge, Mass. 02138
USA

Applications must be received by 6 May and will be judged by the Committee for Professional Development and the Chair of the CARA Committee. There will be between four and eight awards yearly, depending upon the number of worthy applicants and the cost of the summer programs.

 

ASSESSMENT IN MEDIEVAL LATIN

The Centre for Medieval Studies in Toronto continues to offer its Level One and Level Two Medieval Latin examinations to external students.  Examinations will be as follows: Level One, 18 April 2016 and 7 September 2016; Level Two, 20 April 2016 and 9 September 2016.  Fee for examinations: $50 (US) for non-Canadians, $50 (Can.) for Canadians.  For details and application forms, please visit the Centre’s website: medieval.utoronto.ca.  Note that admission into the Summer Medieval Latin Level One and Level Two courses will be decided on the basis of the April Level One Latin examination.

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Registration for the MAA’s Annual Meeting is Now Open

Boston Public Library, MS f. Med. 101, f. 1r detail, Christine de Pizan, Le livre des trois vertus

Boston Public Library, MS f. Med. 101, f. 1r detail, Christine de Pizan, Le livre des trois vertus

Registration for the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America is now open:
http://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/events/event_details.asp?id=649605#

The Program, hotel information, and additional details are available on the Annual Meeting website:

https://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/?page=Current_Meeting

Please contact the Medieval Academy of America with any questions about the Annual Meeting: info@themedievalacademy.org

We look forward to seeing you in Boston!
@MedievalAcademy
#MAA2016

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Jobs for Medievalists

Position Opening: Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarian at Bridwell Library Special Collections

Job Summary:

The Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarian is responsible for interpreting Bridwell Library’s rare books, manuscripts, ephemera and artifacts through public service, instruction, outreach and exhibitions.

The position curates exhibitions utilizing materials found in the library’s special collections including early manuscripts, incunabula, Bible and other sacred texts, church history and theology, and the history of the book.

The position also ensures access to the special collections through enhancing catalog records, collection management, and security.

Essential Functions:

* Provide effective and strong public service to faculty, students, and other researchers through reference and consultation services, classroom presentations, and exhibition tours.

* Prepare exhibitions including formulating exhibit themes, selecting items, researching, writing and editing texts, and drafting appropriate publicity. Work collaboratively with other staff regarding exhibition items, content, installation timelines and website presentation.

* Update records for the library’s special collections holdings including enhanced bibliographic descriptions of early manuscripts and printed works. Produce effective finding aids for specific collections as needed.

* Responsible for security in Special Collections areas and the proper handling and orderly storage of collections in his/her care. Consult with other library staff on the physical condition of special collections materials, including possible treatments and/or enclosures for specific items.

* Provide input to the Head of Special Collections on evaluating possible new acquisitions and/or donations.

* Train and supervise student assistants who provide support in services related to rare books and manuscripts.

* Responsible for collecting and reporting statistical data related to special collections.

* Collaborate with other Bridwell Library staff on areas related to public service and collection access.

* Keep abreast of national trends related to special collections by actively participating in professional development.

Education and Experience:
Master’s degree in library/information science from an ALA-accredited program is required. Subject expertise in an area relevant to the collection is preferred.

A minimum of three years professional library experience, with at least two years working in special collections, is required. Experience in public service is also required.

Experience in preparing exhibitions is preferred. Experience in cataloging rare books is desirable.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

Candidate must demonstrate a working knowledge of bibliography, book history and the book arts. Must also possess a working knowledge of at least one the following languages: German, French, Spanish, Latin, Hebrew or Greek.

Experience with OCLC and an online cataloging system is desirable.

Working knowledge of MARC, DCRM, RDA and rare book cataloging principles is a plus.

Candidate must demonstrate strong verbal and interpersonal communication skills to effectively communicate with a wide range of constituencies.

Must also demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively in writing.

A strong customer service orientation is essential.

Candidate must possess strong problem-solving skills with the ability to think collaboratively, strategically and creatively. Must also possess a commitment to professional development.

Candidate must possess strong time management, organizational and planning skills. Must also possess a strong focus on attention to detail. Strong project management skills are essential.

Candidate must demonstrate strong presentation skills with the ability to present clear and accurate information to small and large groups.

Must also demonstrate the ability to work independently, as well as part of a team.

Physical/Environmental Demands:

The position includes the ability to bend, reach above shoulders, handle objects (dexterity), push/pull, carry/lift 25-50 lbs. and sit for long periods of time.

Priority Consideration Date:

Priority consideration may be given to submissions received by December 14, 2015.

Deadline to Apply:

The position is open until filled.

To Apply: Please visit our website www.smu.jobs to access the online application. Click on Staff Career Opportunities and apply to Job ID#: 900883.

For full consideration a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, and contact information for three current professional references is required.  All documents should be combined into one document and uploaded as the applicant’s resume on the online application for this position.

Southern Methodist University is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas with seven degree-granting schools and approximately 11,000 students. SMU is a distinguished center for teaching and research located in a culturally rich city with a diverse population.

EEO Statement:  SMU will not discriminate in any program or activity on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression. The Executive Director for Access and Equity/Title IX Coordinator is designated to handle inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies and may be reached at the Perkins Administration Building, Room 204, 6425 Boaz Lane, Dallas, TX 75205, 214-768-3601, accessequity@smu.edu.

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The Camargo Foundation Fellowships

The Camargo Foundation, located in Cassis, founded by artist and philanthropist Jerome Hill more than 40 years ago, is a residential center offering programming in the arts and humanities.

It offers a contemplative environment to think, create, and connect. The Fellowship program proposes a 6, 8, and 11 week residential fellowships to scholars and leading thinkers in the arts and humanities working in French and Francophone cultures, including the Mediterranean region; as well as artists of all disciplines.

The Camargo Foundation welcomes applications for Fellowships in Fall 2016 (8 weeks) and Spring 2017 (6, 8 or 11 weeks). A monthly stipend of $ 800 US is available, as is coverage of basic travel expenses. Spouses, and children over six are welcome.

More information about the application: www.camargofoundation.org/toapply.asp

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