• News
    • News & Views
    • RGME Activities for 2024 and 2025
    • Around & About with the RGME
    • Reviews
    • Highlights
  • Blogs
    • Manuscript Studies
      • Manuscript Studies: Contents List
    • International Congress on Medieval Studies
      • Abstracts of Congress Papers
        • Abstracts of Papers Listed by Author
        • Abstracts of Papers Listed by Year
  • About
    • Mission
    • Who We Are
      • Officers, Associates & Volunteers
      • RGME Committees
      • Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
    • Policies & Statements
      • RGME Privacy Policy Statement
      • RGME Intellectual Property Statement & Agreements
    • People
      • Mildred Budny — Her Page
      • Adelaide Bennett Hagens
    • Activities
      • Events
      • Congress Activities
        • Sponsored Conference Sessions (1993‒)
          • Panels at the M-MLA Convention (from 2016)
        • Co-sponsored Conference Sessions (2006‒)
    • History
      • Seals, Matrices & Documents
      • Genealogies & Archives
    • Contact Us
  • Bembino
    • Multi-Lingual Bembino
  • Congress
    • Sponsored Conference Sessions (1993‒)
    • Co-sponsored Conference Sessions (2006‒)
    • Abstracts of Congress Papers
      • Abstracts Listed by Author
      • Abstracts Listed by Year
    • Kalamazoo Archive
    • Panels at the M-MLA Convention (2016-2019)
      • Abstracts of Papers for the M-MLA Convention
      • Panels at the M-MLA Convention (from 2016)
  • Events
    • RGME Activities for 2024 and 2025
      • 2023 Activities and 2024 Planned Activities
    • Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia & Symposia (1989–)
      • Seminars on ‘The Evidence of Manuscripts’
      • Symposia on ‘The Transmission of the Bible’
      • The New Series (2001-)
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Program: The Roads Taken
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Registration
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Registration Open
      • RGME Symposia: The Various Series
      • The Research Group Speaks: The Series
      • Meetings of the Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
      • RGME Online Events
    • Abstracts of Papers for Events
      • Abstracts of Papers for Seminars on ‘The Evidence of Manuscripts’
      • Abstracts of Papers for Symposia, Workshops & Colloquia
    • Receptions & Parties
    • Business Meetings
    • Photographic Exhibitions & Master Classes
    • Events Archive
  • ShelfLife
    • Journal Description
    • ShelfMarks: The RGME-Newsletter
    • Publications
      • “Insular, Anglo-Saxon, and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge” (1997)
        • Mildred Budny, ‘Catalogue’
        • The Illustrated Catalogue (1997)
      • The Illustrated Handlist
      • Semi-Official Counterfeiting in France 1380-1422
      • No Snap Decisions: Challenges of Manuscript Photography
    • History and Design of Our Website
  • Galleries
    • Watermarks & the History of Paper
    • Galleries: Contents List
    • Scripts on Parade
    • Texts on Parade
      • Latin Documents & Cartularies
      • New Testament Leaves in Old Armenian
    • Posters on Display
    • Layout Designs
  • Donations and Contributions
    • RGME Donor Promise
    • 2023 End-of-Year Fundraiser for our 2024 Anniversary Year
    • 2019 Anniversary Appeal
    • Orders
  • Links
    • Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases: A Handlist of Links
    • Handlist of Resources for Manuscript Studies and Fragmentology
    • Manuscripts & Rare Books
    • Maps, Plans & Drawings
    • Seals, Seal-Matrices & Documents

  • News
    • News & Views
    • RGME Activities for 2024 and 2025
    • Around & About with the RGME
    • Reviews
    • Highlights
  • Blogs
    • Manuscript Studies
      • Manuscript Studies: Contents List
    • International Congress on Medieval Studies
      • Abstracts of Congress Papers
        • Abstracts of Papers Listed by Author
        • Abstracts of Papers Listed by Year
  • About
    • Mission
    • Who We Are
      • Officers, Associates & Volunteers
      • RGME Committees
      • Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
    • Policies & Statements
      • RGME Privacy Policy Statement
      • RGME Intellectual Property Statement & Agreements
    • People
      • Mildred Budny — Her Page
      • Adelaide Bennett Hagens
    • Activities
      • Events
      • Congress Activities
        • Sponsored Conference Sessions (1993‒)
          • Panels at the M-MLA Convention (from 2016)
        • Co-sponsored Conference Sessions (2006‒)
    • History
      • Seals, Matrices & Documents
      • Genealogies & Archives
    • Contact Us
  • Bembino
    • Multi-Lingual Bembino
  • Congress
    • Sponsored Conference Sessions (1993‒)
    • Co-sponsored Conference Sessions (2006‒)
    • Abstracts of Congress Papers
      • Abstracts Listed by Author
      • Abstracts Listed by Year
    • Kalamazoo Archive
    • Panels at the M-MLA Convention (2016-2019)
      • Abstracts of Papers for the M-MLA Convention
      • Panels at the M-MLA Convention (from 2016)
  • Events
    • RGME Activities for 2024 and 2025
      • 2023 Activities and 2024 Planned Activities
    • Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia & Symposia (1989–)
      • Seminars on ‘The Evidence of Manuscripts’
      • Symposia on ‘The Transmission of the Bible’
      • The New Series (2001-)
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Program: The Roads Taken
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Registration
        • 2019 Anniversary Symposium Registration Open
      • RGME Symposia: The Various Series
      • The Research Group Speaks: The Series
      • Meetings of the Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
      • RGME Online Events
    • Abstracts of Papers for Events
      • Abstracts of Papers for Seminars on ‘The Evidence of Manuscripts’
      • Abstracts of Papers for Symposia, Workshops & Colloquia
    • Receptions & Parties
    • Business Meetings
    • Photographic Exhibitions & Master Classes
    • Events Archive
  • ShelfLife
    • Journal Description
    • ShelfMarks: The RGME-Newsletter
    • Publications
      • “Insular, Anglo-Saxon, and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge” (1997)
        • Mildred Budny, ‘Catalogue’
        • The Illustrated Catalogue (1997)
      • The Illustrated Handlist
      • Semi-Official Counterfeiting in France 1380-1422
      • No Snap Decisions: Challenges of Manuscript Photography
    • History and Design of Our Website
  • Galleries
    • Watermarks & the History of Paper
    • Galleries: Contents List
    • Scripts on Parade
    • Texts on Parade
      • Latin Documents & Cartularies
      • New Testament Leaves in Old Armenian
    • Posters on Display
    • Layout Designs
  • Donations and Contributions
    • RGME Donor Promise
    • 2023 End-of-Year Fundraiser for our 2024 Anniversary Year
    • 2019 Anniversary Appeal
    • Orders
  • Links
    • Catalogs, Metadata, and Databases: A Handlist of Links
    • Handlist of Resources for Manuscript Studies and Fragmentology
    • Manuscripts & Rare Books
    • Maps, Plans & Drawings
    • Seals, Seal-Matrices & Documents

Log in

Archives

Featured Posts

Episode 21. “Learning How to Look”
A “Beatus Manuscripts” Project
2025 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Program
2025 RGME Visit to Vassar College
2025 International Medieval Congress at Leeds: RGME Program
Two Leaves in the Book of Numbers from the Chudleigh Bible
Delibovi on Glassgold on Boethius: A Blogpost
Ronald Smeltzer on “Émilie du Châtelet, Woman of Science”
A Latin Kalendar Leaf for February from Northern France
2025 Spring Symposium: “Makers, Producers, and Collectors of Books”
Starters’ Orders
The Weber Leaf from the Saint Albans Bible
Workshop 4. “Manuscript Fragments Compared”
Episode 20. “Comic Book Theory for Medievalists”
Episode 19: “At the Gate: Starting the Year 2025 at its Threshold”
2025 Annual Appeal
Favorite Recipes for Lemonade, Etc.
RGME Visit to the Lomazow Collection: Report
2024 Autumn Symposium: “At the Helm”
Medieval Women’s Networks
A Latin Vulgate Leaf of the Book of Numbers
The RGME ‘Lending Library’
Florence, Italy, Ponte Vecchio from Ponte alle Grazie. Photo: Ingo Mehling, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Episode 17. “RGME Retrospect and Prospects: Anniversary Reflections”
2024 Anniversary Symposium: The Booklet
2024 International Medieval Congress at Leeds: Program
Jesse Hurlbut at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Photograph Jesse Hurlbut.
Episode 16: An Interview with Jesse D. Hurlbut
To Whom Do Manuscripts Belong?
Kalamazoo, MI Western Michigan University, Valley III from the side. Photograph: David W. Sorenson.
2024 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Report
2024 Spring Symposium at Vassar College
Puente de San Martín: Bridge with reflection over the River Targus, Toledo, Spain.
2024 Grant for “Between Past and Future” Project from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation Research Libraries Program
2024 Anniversary Symposium in Thanks to Jesse Hurlbut: Program

You are browsing the Blog for Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

Memoirs

July 23, 2024 in Announcements, Bembino, Manuscript Studies, Memoirs, Research Group Speaks (The Series), RGME Recollections, RGME Symposia, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

Remembering
Those Who Have Gone Before

[Posted on 22 July 2024]

In our 2025 Anniversary Year, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence reflects on people who have gone before us and whom we wish to recollect as companions or mentors, advisers, colleagues, and friends contributing to the origins, history, and growth of our organization across the years.

Part of that process has yielded the formation of our own nonprofit educational publishing house.  Our books and booklets in printed form and digital formats include Memoirs, to which we add this year.

1. Oleg Andreevich Grabar

The first of these Memoirs appeared quietly in 2015 as a 4-page booklet.  It offers a Memorial for Oleg Grabar, art historian and archaeologist:

In Memory of
Oleg Andreevich Grabar
[Олег Андреевич Грабар]
(3 November 1929 – 8 January 2011)

Composed by Leonid A. Beliaev, the text was published first in Russian. By request, it was translated from the Russian into English, set in multi-lingual RGME Bembino, provided with a photograph by permission, and laid out as a booklet corresponding with our RGME Style Manifesto.

Although Oleg did not participate in RGME activities, he generously gave advice for our research over several years while our Director worked as a part-time research assistant for his colleague Giles Constable (see below).  The translation and publication of the English version of the Memoir in Russian were carried out for its author, an RGME Associate, at the request and with the assistance of a long-term supporter and advisor of the RGME.  Note that the RGME font Bembino supports the Cyrillic font appropriate for portions of the text of the published Memoir.

The booklet can freely be downloaded:

  • Memorial for Oleg Grabar.

*****

2. Vivien Anne Law

For our blog on Manuscript Studies, in 2014 our Director, Mildred Budny, provided a blogpost called Memorials.  Principally it shares recollections of friend, colleague, and long-time RGME participant (first as Associate of our international scholarly organization in England and then as Trustee of our non-profit corporation), Vivien Anne Law (1954–2002). This forms part of a larger report or Memoir responding, in part, to the opportunity to examine and advise on Vivien’s archives in late 2005 at the request of her widower, Sir Nicholas Shackleton (1937–2006).

Our Director’s paper for our 2002 Colloquium at the British Museum in London in March (a month after Vivien’s death) is dedicated to her memory, as well as that of another, dear, friend and mentor.

  • 2002 Colloquium on “Shaping Understanding: Form and Order in the Anglo-Saxon World (400–1100)”.
Vivien Law in her Garden in Cambridge, England,June 1996 Photograph © Mildred Budny

Vivien Law in her Cambridge Garden in June 1996 (Photograph © Mildred Budny)

*****

3. Giles Constable

Also for our blog Manuscript Studies, this year we posted a set of recollections about of Giles Constable (1 June 1929 — 17 January 2021), friend, colleague, mentor, and RGME Associate and Honorary Trustee.  These recollections do not comprise an obituary as such, because Giles often and firmly expressed his wish for no such thing, nor any Memorial Service or Festschrift for him in his honor.

Instead, after an interval of mourning, we record appreciation for his contributions as a presence and guiding force for our organization since its early years in the United States, following the move of our principal base from the United Kingdom to Princeton, New Jersey, in October of 1994.

  • Recollections for the 2024 RGME Anniversary Year, Part 1. Giles Constable.
Giles Constable reading in his office at the Institute for Advanced Studies. Photograph by Mildred Budny.

Giles Constable reading in his office at the Institute for Advanced Studies. Photograph by Mildred Budny.

Also, his generous encouragement of our work for manuscript studies by long-term loans or gifts made it possible closely to examine, over time, groups of original specimens of medieval manuscripts, manuscript fragments, documents, seals in metal or wax, early printed materials, bindings, and associated records.  The work included conservation, photography, research, seminars, display, and publication in our blog and other forms.

Discoveries abounded, and found expression in those publications as well as in various of our RGME events. For example:

  • 2014 Seminar on Manuscripts and Their Photographs, held at the Index of Christian Art of Princeton University in its Seminar Room.

*****

5. Patrick Wormald

Now, in preparation for our Episode 17. “RGME Retrospect and Prospects: Anniversary Reflections” in September 2024, our RGME Associate and Trustee David Ganz offers a Memoir of our RGME Associate Patrick Wormald (1947–2004).

Coffee Break at the 2002 British Museum Colloquium.

Patrick Wormald at the 2002 Colloquium

*****

In Memoriam

See also RGME Officers, Associates, and Volunteers: In Memoriam.

Another Memoir composed by our Director in booklet format, published in a limited edition:

  • “The Guessing Game:  A Memoir of My Uncle Bob, Robert Roger McEwan (1918‒2007)” (Princeton, New Jersey:  Milly Budny Designs, 2017)

*****

Others?

Are there others whom you wish to remember?  Please let us know.  Would you like to contribute a Memoir of some kind about someone you recall with appreciation and seek to record?

For example, you could Contact Us or write to the [email protected] with your requests or suggestions.

*****

Episode 17 of “The Research Group Speaks”

As part of our anniversary celebrations, the RGME prepares an Episode in our online series “The Research Group Speaks” to consider our past, present, and future.

  • Episode 17. “RGME Retrospect and Prospects: Anniversary Reflections”

It will, for example, offer recollections of people who have loomed large in our history, and whom we remember with affection, admiration, and gratitude.  Among them are Giles Constable, Vivien Law, and Patrick Wormald (see above).  Please join us.

To register:

  • Episode 17. Retrospect and Prospects: Anniversary Reflections
    Saturday 21 September 2024, 1:00–2:30 EDT (GMT-4) online via Zoom

See you there?

*****

Tags: Giles Constable, Memoirs, Oleg Grabar, Patrick Wormald, Vivien Law
No Comments »

Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (November 1993)

October 22, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Uncategorized

“Professionals’ Views of Manuscript Writing: A Workshop”
Parker Library, 1 November 1993

Page 1 of Invitation Letter for Workshop on 1 November 1993 at the Parker Library on 'Professionals' Views of Manuscript Writing'

Page 1 of Invitation Letter for 1 November 1993

Page 2 of Invitation Letter for Workshop on 1 November 1993 at the Parker Library on 'Professionals' Views of Manuscript Writing'

Page 2 of Invitation Letter for 1 November 1993

In the Series of Seminars and Workshops on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
2-page Invitation in pdf with 1-page RSVP Form

The previous Workshop in the Series considered

“British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius A.iii”
The British Library
9 August 1993

Face to Face

This special occasion brought together manuscript scholars, practising calligraphers inspired by medieval manuscripts, and some of the manuscripts themselves.  What’s not to love?

Show&Tell Op:  Bury Bible, Eadmer’s manuscripts, Missal of Saint Augustine’s Abbey, and some other beautiful books:  Meet Your Fans!  To seek Your Autographs is What We Do!  P.S.  We know what Your Handwriting Looks Like.

Read On, Dear Reader.

[First published in 22 October 2016, as Mildred Budny reviews the event and its setting among the many events and activities of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence

Update: A Research Group Seminar the next year examined challenges of manuscript fragments, including some specimens on loan from the collection of our Associate Toshiyuki Takamiya:

  • Medieval Manuscript Fragments (19 August 1994).

More than 2 decades later, the Takamiya Collection moved to the Beinecke Library at Yale, where it finds a welcoming home.

  • an exhibition at the Library showcases highlights of this collection together with selected manuscripts in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: Making the Medieval English Book, on display from 1 September to 10 December 2017,
  • an associated conference on 6–7 October 2017 focuses on the scope of the collection, with contributions by numerous experts (including some Associates of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, among them Toshiyuki Takamiya himself): Conference, and
  • a published catalogue illustrates and describes the collection:  Raymond Clemens, Diane Ducharme, and Emily Ulrich, A Gathering of Medieval English Manuscripts: The Takamiya Collection at the Beinecke Library (Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, 2017).]

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Alexander R. Rumble, Book of Kells, Bury Bible, Corpus Christi College MS 2, Corpus Christi College MS 271, Corpus Christi College MS 3, Corpus Christi College MS 389, Corpus Christi College MS 4, Corpus Christi College MS 41, Corpus Christi College MS 86, Eadmer of Canterbury, Emiko Kinebuchi, Gareth Colgan, Gaynor Goffe, Gerald Fleuss, Missal of Saint Augustine's Abbey, Parker Library, Peter Kidd, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Toshiuki Takamiya
No Comments »

Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (September 1990)

October 4, 2016 in Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

“Corpus Christi College MS 139”
A Twelfth-Century Historical Miscellany

Invitation Letter to 'Corpus Christi College, MS 139' Workshop on 28 September 1990

Invitation Letter for 28 September 1990

The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
29 September 1990

In the Series of Seminars (and Workshops) on the Evidence of Manuscripts
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Invitation Letter (with no RSVP form or slip) in pdf

The previous seminar in the series considered
Sixteenth-Century Interventions in Anglo-Saxon and Related Manuscripts
Parker Library, 22 April 1990

[First published on 3 October 2016, with an update to add the diagram of sewing patterns]

*****

The Subject

The Invitation asks for collective help in guiding the course of the research work on one of the manuscripts selected for the Research Project proposal.  It invites the selected specialists

to join us for a workshop consultation concerning our MS 139, a twelfth-century composite manuscript which includes the unique medieval copy of the Historia Regum attributed to Symeon of Durham.  It also has an erased ex-libris inscription of the Cistercian abbey of Sawley, although it may not have been made there.

At present it is undergoing conservation and research while disbound.  This has provided a unique opportunity for examining and comparing the different sections of the manuscript, some of which originated separately.  Before it will be rebound in the autumn, we wish to discuss the evidence thus revealed with a team of specialists in various disciplines.  For example, we would like to consider how the evidence modifies the existing historiography of this important manuscript.  The script and decoration may help to determine the date and place of origin of the manuscript and its components more satisfactorily.  The character of the texts included in the manuscript might have further implications worth exploring.

We would very much value your presence in these discussions.  We hope that your expert knowledge might help provide some fresh evaluations of the evidence.  In this way we hope to ensure that the research on the manuscript will be of the maximum benefit for future scholarship.

Ruins of the Chapel of Salley / Sawley Abbey, Lancashire. Photograph by Chris Heaton via Wikipedia Commons.

Ruins of the Chapel of Salley / Sawley Abbey, Lancashire. Photograph by Chris Heaton via Wikipedia Commons.

The Logistics

The time-frame for “the consultation over the disbound manuscript” was planned to begin at 11 a.m. and “to work until about 4:40 p.m.  As for logistics:

Although we are unable to reimburse fares, we will provide a buffet lunch.  We might also, depending upon availability, be able to supply overnight accommodation in College free of charge on the 27th or 28th, if you require it.

Some participants chose to stay in College for one night or the other.

*****

Participants

Invitations were, in the first instance, sent to:

Bernard Meehan, Patrick McGurk, Christopher Brooke, Christopher Norton, Anne Lawrence, Derek Baker, Tessa Webber, Ian Doyle, Alan Piper, Martin Brett, David Rollason, Simon Keynes, Julia Crick

Most of them attended.  The Research Group Archives contain correspondence relating to the preparations and the follow-up of the “consultation workshop”.

Invitation Letter to 'Corpus Christi College, MS 139' Workshop on 28 September 1990

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Binding Stitching Patterns, Budny's Illustrated Catalogue, Composite Manuscripts, Corpus Christi College Ms 139, Historia Regum, manuscript facsimiles, Manuscript Photography, Parker Library, Sawley Abbey, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Symeon of Durham, Technical Drawings
No Comments »

Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (February 1993)

September 30, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Uncategorized

“Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 44:
The Corpus Canterbury Pontifical”
Parker Library, 27 February 1993

Invitation Letter Page 1 for 27 February 1993

Invitation Letter Page 1 for 27 February 1993

Invitation Letter Page 2 for 27 February 1993

Invitation Letter Page 2 for 27 February 1993

In the Series of Seminars and Workshops on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

2-page Invitation in pdf, with 1-page RSVP Form.

This Workshop followed the Workshops and other Events
of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
in Japan in November and December 1992.

The previous Seminar held in England took place in Oxford and considered

“Research on Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Cambridge and Oxford”
Pembroke College, Oxford, 20 June 1992

*****

The Plan

Dated 20 January 1993, the 2-page Invitation Letter (shown here and downloadable here with the 1-page RSVP Form) provides the Menu for the Food for Thought.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Canterbury at Corpus' exhibition, 'Manuscript Studies' Blog, 'Matthew Parker in Cambridge' exhibition, Andrew Prescott, Budny's Illustrated Catalogue, Canterbury Cathedral, Catherine Hall, Corpus Canterbury Pontifical, Corpus Christi College MS 146, Corpus Christi College MS 163, Corpus Christi College MS 265, Corpus CHristi College MS 267, Corpus Christi College MS 270, Corpus Christi College MS 44, Corpus Christi College MS 79, Corpus Christi College MS 81, Ely Cathedral, John Parker, Matthew Parker, Nicholas Hadgraft, Palaeographical and Textual Handbook, Parker Library, R.I. Page, Richard Cox Bishop of Ely, Richard Emms, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence
No Comments »

Research Group Archives

September 24, 2016 in Events, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Manuscript Studies, Parker Library, Photographic Exhibition, Reception, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Uncategorized

Our Archives

[First published on 24 September 2016, with updates]

As our website (You are Here) records more and more of our activities, which continue to advance and to expand, we also present more elements from our organization’s archives. These elements take various forms, on paper, in photographs, in print, and in scanned materials.

Our Websites (2007‒)

Header for the RGME website

Our official website is a generous, long-term donation by our Webmaster, our Associate Jesse D. Hurlbut.  Designed and maintained by Jesse, it is updated by our WebEditor, Mildred Budny, with contributions by Guest Bloggers and Administrators.  It is one of our principal Publications, whose number continues to grow.

Our First Website (2007‒2014)

From the first, once we received a website (2007‒), it began to report our activities variously in progress and in preparation.  In a series of Pages, it published our Profile (formerly circulated only in print — as with the Profile dated October 1992 — but now online, with updates, starting with our Front Page).  With our Mission statement on the Front Page, this first website presented a series of Pages outlined in its sidebar.  It named our Officers, Associates, and Volunteers, described our various events, listed our Publications, and more.

That first website is archived in some “snapshots” by the Wayback Machine.

  • March 24, 2008
  • May 25, 2008
  • September 11, 2011
  • February 11, 2013
  • June 5, 2013
  • December 11, 2013
  • January 2, 2014
  • May 8, 2014
  • May 9, 2014
  • May 17, 2014
  • December 8, 2014
  • December 17, 2014

Thenceforth, the Wayback Machine has captured snapshots of our new website (You are Here), starting in June 2015.  For example:

  • June 24, 2015

In the transition between websites (2014), the first site (Drupal) remained active, as a site archived online and still accessible directly, while the second site (WordPress) was launched, albeit with some “teething problems”.

As preserved in a final snapshot via the Wayback Machine (December 17, 2014), the first site proclaimed its obsolescent state prominently at the top of the Front Page:

PLEASE NOTE:  OUR WEBSITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION.  We are upgrading and redesigning our website.  While we transfer materials from this site (our first website), to the new one, it is now available for viewing:  https://manuscriptevidence.org/wpme/).  The new site allows for images and other media, so that we can illustrate our activities and publish more of our materials.

Our Expanding Events

At that time in our history, when we could launch our first website in 2007, our principal activities in the form of scholarly gatherings focused upon Congress Activities (1993‒1995, 1997, and 2004‒), occurring at the annual International Congress of Medieval Studies (ICMS), held at Kalamazoo each May.

Soon, we resumed the tradition of other events as well.

For convenience, we have come to distinguish between these many  sponsored and co-sponsored “Congress Activities” (1993‒1995, 1997, and 2004‒), which take place at the ICMS, and our other “Events”, which occur elsewhere (1989–). More recently, to our Congress or Convention Activities, we added Panels at the M-MLA Convention (2016–).

Those Events take the forms notably of Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia, and Symposia (1989–).  Another group of Events comprises our Photographic Exhibitions and Masterclasses. They overlap in significant ways with our growing list of Publications, which appear in print and electronic forms.

By the time of our second website (You are Here), with the ability to add images and downloadable pdfs, we could report our current activities, record our history, illustrate our research, and extend our publications into digital forms.

Our Second Website (2014–)

Cover for the Report on 'Two Detached Manuscript Leaves containing New Testament Texts in Old Armenian' by Leslie J. French for the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, with a detail of Leaf I verso, column a lines 10-12, with the opening of Acts 23:12Snapshots of our second, redesigned website (You are Here) appear in the Wayback Machine.

  • June 24, 2015
  • August 1, 2015
  • October 20, 2015

And so on.  The archive presents 11 snapshots for 2016 and 6 for 2017. See manuscriptevidence.org there.  Thus the Internet Archive contributes (arbitrarily) to the records of our history outside our own sphere.  As of 28 April, 2020, the most recent snapshot was made for

  • August 8, 2019

With the upgrade and redesign of our website (launched in 2014), we could display more materials, in both images and downloadable pdfs. This opened the path to set up Galleries of Images, for example to show you the Posters for our Events and our Congress Activities, to exhibit examples of our Layout Designs, to display Photographs from our Events, Activities, and Research Discoveries, and to give you more of our Publications, including the Program Booklets for Events and Activities and the Booklets publishing some of our Research Discoveries.

Other Social Media

  • Research Group on Manuscript Evidence Page on Facebook (2011–).
    Set up and maintained principally by Mildred Budny.

Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia & Symposia (1989‒)

One of the first phases of the process of opening the Research Group Archives for our website focused upon the Early Years of our Seminars, Workshops, and Symposia, which occurred regularly as part of the collaborative Research Project at the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, from which the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence emerged. This “First Series” was principally dedicated to Seminars on “The Evidence of Manuscripts” (1989‒1995). Organized or co-organized by Mildred Budny, these events took place mainly at the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and occasionally at other centers in England, Japan, and the United States.

View Toward the Entrance to the Parker Library in mid-1989 photograph © Mildred Budny

View Toward the Entrance to the Parker Library in mid-1989. Photograph © Mildred Budny.

Following the move of our principal base to the Princeton in 1994, we developed a wide-ranging further series of Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia, and Symposia.

First among them was the annual series of Symposia on “The Transmission of the Bible” (1995‒2000), held in turn at Princeton, Rutgers, and Fordham Universities.

There followed the The New Series of Symposia, Colloquia, Workshops & Seminars (2001–), held at a variety of centers, including Princeton University.

Poster for 'Crusading and the Byzantine Legacy" Session 1 of the RGME MEMS Sessions. Poster set in RGME Bembino.Poster for the Sponsored Session on 'Paper or Parchment' at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence. Poster laid out in RGME Bembino, with images supplied by David W. Sorenson. Reproduced by permission.Poster 2 for the 2016 'Words & Deeds' Symposium at Princeton University, with 2 images from the Otto Ege Collection, The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Photography by Lisa Fagin Davis. Reproduced by permission. Poster set in RGME BembinoWhile the Research Group continued its Congress Activities at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, with the addition annually (since 2014) of a Reception and an Open Business Meeting (and its handy 1-page Agenda, available on our website), we have also begun the tradition of Sponsored Panels at the Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association (2016‒).

Our Blogs (2014–)

As the redesigned website took fuller shape, and the work of presenting more of our archival evidence, the site could include 2 blogs.

Congress (2014–)

The blog for our Congress Activities reports the preparations for, and the accomplishment of, our sponsored and co-sponsored Congress Activities at the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies.  These include the Calls for Papers, the Programs of the Sessions and other activities at the year’s Congress, reports of the accomplished Congresses, and an occasional Report Behind the Scenes.

  • Sponsored Sessions
  • Co-Sponsored Sessions
  • Abstracts of Papers
  • Receptions & Parties
  • Open Business Meetings, with downloadable Agendas

An example of these fruits can be seen even when the Congress itself had to be cancelled, as our report not only shows the aims of the sessions but also publishes the Abstracts of the Papers which our contributors had planned for our sponsored and co-sponsored sessions for the 2020 Congress Program.

Duck Family at the 2007 Congress. Photography © Mildred Budny.

Duck Family at the 2007 Congress. Photography © Mildred Budny.

Manuscript and Other Studies

We also have a blog on Manuscript Studies (2014–).  Among other things, it showcases discoveries from our long-term, as well as recent, research.  See the Contents List for the blog, arranged mainly by subjects and materials.

Detail of an initial M on the verso of the leaf. Photography by Mildred Budny

M for ‘Manus’ (‘Hand’), Bouquets Included

There are appearances also by guest bloggers, who report on various subjects.

Interviews

A new series of Interviews, in various forms, reflects upon our origins and history as an organization, as well as our publications and activities.

  • Radio Star
  • Interview with Our Font and Layout Designer
  • Design and Layout of the Illustrated Catalogue

 

Gold stamp on blue cloth of the logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence. Detail from the front cover of Volume II of 'The Illustrated Catalogue'

*****

More is on the way. Watch this Space.

*****

Tags: Archives, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Parker Library, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence
No Comments »

Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (January 1992)

September 20, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

“Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials and Practices”
The Parker Library
11 January 1992

Invitation Letter for Seminar on 'Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials & Practices' on 11 January 1992

Invitation Letter for 11 January 1992

RSVP Form for Seminar on 'Anglo-Saxon Writing Materials & Practices' on 11 January 1992

RSVP Form for 11 January 1992

In the Series of Seminars on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Invitation in pdf, with 1-Page Invitation Letter and 1-page RSVP Form

The previous meeting of the seminar considered

“Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 383”
The Parker Library, 16 November 1991

[Published on 20 September 2016 by Mildred Budny]

The Plan

From the moment of the First Seminar in the Series, devoted to “Manuscript Illustrations as Evidence for Anglo-Saxon Life”, and taking inspiration from it, the subject for this Seminar emerged naturally, early in the Series, as part of a Research Project at the Parker Library designed to examine “The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts” and to integrate expertise in a variety of disciplines.

The Brandon Plaque. 9th-century Anglo-Saxon gold and niello. The British Museum, via Creative Commons.

The Brandon Plaque. © Trustees of the British Museum.

The design of the Project flowed, in no small part, from the work for a Ph.D. dissertation (University of London, 1985) which focused on an integrated study of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and was supervised by an archaeologist, David M. Wilson, the Director of the British Museum and author of the catalogue of Ornamental Anglo-Saxon Metalwork, 700–1100, in the British Museum (1964).  That authoritative catalogue contains some of the materials considered at the Seminar.

For the Seminar, the 1-page Invitation Letter (shown here and downloadable here, with the RSVP Form), dated 15 December 1991, lays down the cloth for the repast.

We will hold the next meeting of this seminar on Saturday, 11 January.

The subject will be:  Anglo-Saxon writing materials and practices.  We wish to look at the evidence for manuscript production in the Anglo-Saxon period, especially

1) the archaeological record of writing materials, tools, processes and book bindings;

2) the linguistic and literary evidence for writing and making manuscripts from both Old English and Latin sources; and

3) the evidence of the manuscripts themselves.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts', 'The Making of England' Exhibition (1991), 2002 British Museum Colloquium, Apotropaic, Brandon Plaque, British Library Additional MS 89000, British Museum, Budny's Illustrated Catalogue, Chester-le-Street, Christine Fell, Corpus Christi College MS 183, Corpus Christi College MS 23A, Corpus Christi College MS 286, Corpus Christi College MS 389, Corpus Christi College MS 41, Ernst Kitzinger, Flixborough, Kevin Leahy, King Athelstan, Leslie Webster, Lindisfarne, Manuscript Illustrations, Medieval Writing Materials, Parker Library, Saint Cuthbert's Coffin, Saint Cuthbert's Gospel, Saint Cuthbert's Pectoral Cross, Saint Cuthbert's Relics, Scribal Portraits, Scribal Practices, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Stonyhurst Gospel, Thomas Julian Brown, Vivien Law
1 Comment »

Research Group Events in Japan (November-December 1992)

September 17, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Photographic Exhibition, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

Logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence in Monochrome VersionResearch Group Visit to Japan
Seminar, Workshop, Lectures, and Symposium
November and December 1992

In November and December 1992, 4 members of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence visited Japan at the invitation of our Japanese Associates, Professors Shuji Sato and Tadao Kubouchi.  The visit included a Research Group Seminar, a Research Group Workshop, a Research Group Symposium, a Research Group Photographic Exhibition, and Lectures at various locations.  The visit was organised with the help of very many members of the Japan Society for Medieval English Studies and others.

Cover for "Selected Pages from Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Palaeographical and Textual Handbook" by Mildred Budny, Leslie French et al.The lectures, seminar, and workshop considered in depth specific subjects surveyed in the symposium; demonstrated the approach of the Palaeographical and Textual Handbook; and examined themes, challenges, and advances in Anglo-Saxon manuscript studies.  The photographic exhibition accompanied the seminar, workshop, and symposium.

A Set of Events, with Lectures and a Seminar, Workshop, and Symposium, took place at several centers in Japan in November and December 1992.

They formed an extension of the Research Group Series on “The Evidence of Manuscripts” (1989–1995)
held mostly at the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

The previous seminar in the Series considered

“Research on Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Cambridge and Oxford”
(with a Travelling Exhibition of Photographs)
Pembroke College, Oxford, 20 June 1992)

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Integrated Approach to Manuscript Studies', Abraham Whelock, Aoyama Gakuin University, Ælfric, Chuo University, Corpus Christi College Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 12, Corpus Christi College Ms 139, Corpus Christi College MS 144, Corpus Christi College MS 173, Corpus Christi College MS 173A, Corpus Christi College MS 173B, Corpus Christi College MS 178, Corpus Christi College MS 190, Corpus Christi College MS 201, Corpus Christi College MS 23, Corpus Christi College MS 383, Corpus Christi College MS 41, Corpus Christi College MS 422, Corpus Christi College MS 422B, Evidence versus Interpretation, Imperial Palace Kyoto, Japan Society for Medieval Studies, John Joscelyn, Kinkaku-ji Kyoto, Manuscript Art, Matthew Parker, Palaeographical and Textual Handbook, Parker Library, photographic exhibition, Photographic Exhibitions, Professor Shuji Sato, Professor Tadao Kubouchi, Robert Talbot, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, University of Tokyo at Komaba, Wulfstan
1 Comment »

Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (11 December 1993)

September 16, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Uncategorized

“Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 41:  A Workshop”
Parker Library, 11 December 1993

Invitation Letter Page 1 for Workshop on 'Corpus Christi College MS 41' on 11 December 1993

Invitation Letter Page 1 for 11 December 1993

Invitation Letter Page 2 for 11 December 1993

Invitation Letter Page 2 for 11 December 1993

In the Series of Seminars and Workshops on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

2-page Invitation in pdf with 1-page RSVP Form

The previous Workshop in the Series considered

“Professionals’ Views of Manuscript Writing”
1 November 1993

[First published in 15 September 2016, as Mildred Budny reviews the event and its setting among the many events and activities of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence]

*****

The Plan

Dated 12 November 1993, the 2-page Invitation Letter (shown here and downloadable here with the 1-page RSVP Form) provides the Menu for the Food for Thought.

We plan to hold a workshop on Saturday, 11 December, devoted to Corpus Christi College, MS 41:  the Corpus Old English Bede.  This large-format eleventh-century manuscript principally contains a copy of the Old English version of Bede‘s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, with a large cycle of decorated initials, including historiated initials depicting secular and religious subjects.  It also has numerous texts added in the margins and other available areas.  In Latin and Old English, the additions include liturgical, homiletic, poetic and other texts:  portions of a sacramentary, part of a martyrology, metrical and prose charms, a recipe, prayers, the beginning of Solomon and Saturn I, six anonymous homilies, two runic inscriptions and the bilingual donorship inscription recording Bishop Leofric‘s gift of the book to Exeter Cathedral.  There are many trials, sketches and drawings, including some supplied, retouched or retraced initials.  The multiple additions endow the book with the remarkable character of a combined “commonplace book” and sketchbook, forming a richly layered artifact.

Much goes on between the covers.  Not all of it seemly.  For example, this manuscript sees fit to include an image of a hanged man.  Creepy.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: 'Commonplace Books', Bishop Leofric, Charms, Corpus Christi College MS 12, Corpus Christi College Ms 162, Corpus Christi College MS 190, Corpus Christi College Ms 191, Corpus Christi College MS 201, Corpus Christi College MS 326, Corpus Christi College Ms 357, Corpus Christi College MS 41, Corpus Christi College MS 411, Corpus Christi College MSS 419+ 421, Exeter Cathedral, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, Historiated Initials, Martyrology, Old English Bede, Parker Library, Prayers, Runic inscriptions, Sacramentary, Saint Michael, Scribbles and Sketches, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Solomon and Saturn I
No Comments »

Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (June 1994)

September 12, 2016 in Manuscript Studies, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence

“Marginalia in Manuscripts”
Parker Library
24 June 1994

Invitation Letter, Plus Marginalia, for 24 June 1994.

Invitation Letter, Plus Marginalia, for 24 June 1994

RSVP Form for 24 June 1994

RSVP Form for 24 June 1994

In the Series of Seminars on “The Evidence of Manuscripts”
The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Invitation in pdf, with 1-Page Invitation Letter and 1-page RSVP Form

The previous Seminar in the Series considered
“King Alfred and His Legacy”
(English Faculty Building, Oxford University, 20 April 1994)

[First published on 12 September 2016]

This seminar was “devoted to marginalia in medieval manuscripts.”  A complicated and fascinating subject.

Now, at the distance of more than 20 years, Mildred Budny reviews the event, with some highlights, and considers its annotated Invitation Letter as a case in point.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Annotations, Anthony Grafton, Ælfric's Colloquy, British Library Additional MS 32246, Corpus Christi College MS 100, Corpus Christi College Ms 108, Corpus Christi College MS 111, Corpus Christi College MS 153, Corpus Christi College MS 173B, Corpus Christi College MS 2, Corpus Christi College MS 223, Corpus Christi College MS 23, Corpus Christi College MS 286, Corpus Christi College MS 326, Corpus Christi College MS 389, Corpus Christi College MS 422, Corpus Christi College Ms 57, Graham Caie, Joyce Hill, Manuscript Marginalia, Manuscript studies, Omission-Insertion Signs, Parker Library, Pen-trials and scribbles, Plantin–Moretus Museum MS 47, Research Group Archives, Rohinie Jayatilaka, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence
No Comments »

Seminar on the Evidence of Manuscripts (August 1993)

September 11, 2016 in Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, Uncategorized

“British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius A.iii:
An Eleventh-Century Miscellany of Latin and Old English Texts
Owned by Christ Church, Canterbury”

The British Library, 9 August 1993

© The British Library Board, Cotton MS Tiberius A III, folio 117v. Frontispiece for the 'Rule' of Saint Benedict, showing Benedict and his Monks.

© The British Library Board, Cotton MS Tiberius A III, folio 117v

In the Series of Seminars on the Evidence of Manuscripts
The British Library, London

Invitation in pdf (3 pages including RSVP Form)

The previous Seminar in the series considered

“Corpus Christi College MS 201:
An Eleventh-Century Collection of Homiletic, Legal, and Other Texts”

in Latin and Old English
(Parker Library, 19 June 1993)

[First published on 11 September 2016 by Mildred Budny]

For the first time in this Series of Seminars and other forms of scholarly meetings, a Workshop took place at the British Library, London.  Customarily they were held at the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College in the University of Cambridge.  Already sessions in the Series had taken place in Oxford (20 June 1992 and 13 March 1993) and in Tokyo (November and December 1993).  Now the Series turned to the British Library, as the subject and the opportunity invited.

Invitation to Workshop on "Cotton MS Tiberius A.iii" at the British Library on 9 August 1993, Page 1

Invitation Letter Page 1

Invitation to Workshop on 'Cotton MS Tiberius A III' at the British Library on 9 August 1993.

Invitation Letter Page 2

Invitation to Workshop on 'Cotton MS Tiberius A III' at the British Library on 9 August 1993. RSVP Form.

RSVP Form

Organised by Mildred Budny, Malcolm Godden, and Andrew Prescott — all of whom issued the 2-page Invitation Letter — the Workshop at the British Library was designed to gather specialists and students, including some from abroad (Germany, The Netherlands, the United States), who would be attending the 6th biannual conference of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS). That conference took place on 1–7 August at Wadham College, Oxford.

Therefore we planned for “a Saturday before / after ISAS”, and entertained the possibility of holding the event in “Cambridge, Oxford, London”.  These logistical considerations are recorded at the head of a 1-page planning outline in the set of 3 undated pages of pencil notes by Mildred Budny within the file for this event in the Research Group Archives.

The selected Saturday suited the speakers whom we hoped to hear and a number of participants whom we hoped to include.  The stage was set.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: Abingdon Chronicle, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ælfric's Colloquy, Ælfric's Grammar, Bembino Digital Font, Biblioteka Narodowa MS I. 3311, British Library Cotton MS Claudius B.iv, Christ Church Canterbury, Cotton Collection, Cotton MS Claudius B IV, Cotton MS Faustina B III, Cotton MS Galba E IV, Cotton Tiberius A VI, Franciscus Junius, Interlinear glosses, John Obadiah Westwood, Manuscript Miscellany, Manuscript studies, Monasteriales indicia, Old English glosses, pre-photographic reproduction, Regula Sancti Benedicti, Regularis Concordia, Research Group designs, Royal MS 1 E vI, Saint Augustine's Abbey Canterbury, Seminars on Manuscript Evidence, The British Library
2 Comments »

« Older Entries
  • Top
©2024 Research Group on Manuscript Evidence.


is proudly powered by WordPress. WordPress Themes X2 developed by ThemeKraft.