At the International Congress on Medieval Studies
1993‒1995, 1997, and 2003‒
[Originally published on the first website of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence on 11 August 2006, with updates both there and here.]
Since 1993, the Research Group has sponsored Sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies held at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo. Between 1995 and 2003, the Research Group concentrated on other endeavors, including the annual series of Symposia on “The Transmission of the Bible” from 1995 to 2000, our incorporation as a nonprofit educational corporation in 1999, and a set of co-sponsored Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia & Symposia at various institutions, starting in 2001.
Since 2003, the Research Group has resumed its sponsorship of sessions at the Congress. Since 2006, the Research Group also co-sponsors sessions there with other scholarly organizations, listed as our Co-Sponsored Conference Sessions. Accordingly, the Sponsored Conference Sessions are listed in their own group.
The programs for each year’s Sessions, both Sponsored and Co-Sponsored, and for other events accompanying them (photographic exhibitions or receptions), appear in our Kalamazoo Congress Archive, as indicated in the links provided here.
Since 2007, we publish on our website the Abstracts of Papers and Responses, as their authors allow. The Abstracts may be accessed through the reports of their individual Sessions or through the indexed Lists of Abstracts of Conference Papers either By Author or By Year.
Since 2011, we produce Posters for our Sessions, distributed at the Congress and then (since 2014) posted on our website in the reports for our activities at each Congress. In the first year, we created an illustrated Poster for one of our Sessions. By the second year, we prepared Posters for each of our Congress Sessions, sponsored and co-sponsored. This practice then extended to our Symposia at other locations (for example, 2013 and 2014). In 2015, with the launch of our redesigned website, a Gallery exhibits the designs of our RGME Posters on Display.
In 2015, for the first time, we produced an illustrated Program Booklet for one of our Sponsored Sessions, similar to the booklets for our Symposia and Colloquia in recent years. Distributed at the events and, after the events, in printed (pdf) form on our website (since 2014), these booklets contain information about the event, its subject, and scope, along with Abstracts of the Papers.
Sessions Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
In the early years of our Sponsored Sessions, the logo of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence appeared in its first, monochrome, version. Following 1999, the year of our incorporation as a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation, the logo appeared in another, colored version, as an alternate rather than as a replacement.
1992 (27th International Congress) and Earlier: The Prequel
Our post on 1992 Congress: The “Prequel” surveys activities at the 1985‒1992 Congresses leading to the Research Group’s participation officially at the 1993 Congress and Beyond.
1993 (28th International Congress)
- “Insular, Anglo-Saxon, and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge”
organized by Mildred Budny
- “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Manuscript Studies”
organized by Timothy Graham
Sessions at the 1993 Congress and Photographic Exhibitions
1994 (29th International Congress)
- “Imaging Manuscripts for the Twenty-First Century: Photographs and Beyond”
organized by Mildred Budny
- “Anglo-Saxon Studies, 1540‒1720, Parts I and II”
organized by Timothy Graham
Sessions at the 1994 Congress and Photographic Exhibitions
1995 (30th International Congress)
- “Rediscovering and Reconstructing Lost Manuscripts”, organized by Mildred Budny
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1997 (32nd International Congress)
At the 1997 Congress, the Research Group hosted a set of Receptions to celebrate the appearance in print of the Insular, Anglo-Saxon, and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art: An Illustrated Catalogue, co-published with Medieval Institute Publications.
- “Cast & Crew Parties” and Book-Signings for “The Illustrated Catalogue”
Receptions at the 1997 Congress
[Update: With the transfer of distribution of this set of volumes from Medieval Institute Publications to the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, following a change of direction in 2015, you can order this illustrated publication directly through a special Promotional Offer.]
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2003 (38th International Congress)
- “The Imperfect Art: Editing Medieval Texts”
organized by Roy M. Luizza
We examined a further, expanded consideration of this theme later in the same year:
“Innovations for Editing Texts” Colloquium 2003, with some of the same participants and others.
This year marked the first appearance of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence as a nonprofit educational corporation. With our suitably “colorized” logo to celebrate our relocation to the United States. “Red, White, and Blue, Because We Are True” = the unofficial motto of this new version of the logo in living color.
2004 (39th International Congress)
- “Medieval Manuscripts as Teaching Texts, Then and Now”
organized by Sharon M. Rowley
2005 (40th International Congress)
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“Under-Appreciated Masterpieces: Illuminating The Wonders of the East in the Beowulf Manuscript”
organized by Asa Simon Mittman and Susan M. Kim
2006 (41st International Congress)
- “The Manuscripts of Gerald of Wales”
organized by Asa Simon Mittman and Brian Golding
Sessions at the 2006 Congress including the first of our Co-Sponsored Sessions
2007 (42nd International Congress)
- “Getting Medieval: Medieval Monstrosities and their Ill Repute”
organized by Jennifer A. Smith
Sessions at the 2007 Congress with the first year of Abstracts of Conference Papers published on our website
2008 (43rd International Congress)
- 1. “Bark at the Rune: Transforming the Medieval Werewolf”
organized by Jeff Massey
- 2. “Heads Will Roll: Decapitation Motifs in Medieval Romance”
organized by Jeff Massey and Larissa Tracy
2009 (44th International Congress)
- “Margins of Error: On the Self-Correcting Medieval Manuscript”
organized by Jeff Massey
2010 (45th International Congress)
Sessions at the 2010 Congress (Co-Sponsored)
2011 (46th International Congress)
- “Medieval Writing Media: Papyrus, Parchment, Paper, and Beyond”
organized by Eleanor A. Congdon
2012 (47th International Congress)
- “Material and Craft Aspects of Manuscript Production”
organized by Sean Winslow
- “Medieval Writing Materials: Manufacture, Use, and Trade”
organized by Mildred Budny and Eleanor A. Congdon
2013 (48th International Congress)
- “Current Issues in Middle English Palaeography”
organized by A.B. Kraebel
- “The Making of Medieval Manuscripts: Analyzing the Materials and Methods of Scribes, Compilers, and Artists”
organized by Sarah J. Biggs
- “Medieval Writing Materials: Texts, Transmission, and the Manifestation of Authority”
organized by Mildred Budny
2014 (49th International Congress)
- “Medieval Writing Materials: Surfaces, ‘Fixtures’, and Enclosures”
organized by Mildred Budny“Individual Style or House Style? Assessing Scribal Contributions, Artistic Production, and Creative Achievements”
organized by Mildred Budny
2014 Congress Announced and 2014 Congress Accomplished
[Photography onsite at the Congress © Mildred Budny]
2015 (50th International Congress)
- “Making It or Faking It? The Strange The Strange Truths of ‘False Witnesses’ to Medieval Forms”
organized by Mildred Budny and Sarah M. Anderson
- “Predicting the Past: Dream Symbology in the Middle Ages”
organized by Valerio Cappozzo,
with an illustrated Program Booklet available here.
Call for Papers for RGME Sessions at the 2015 Congress
RGME Events at the 2015 International Congress on Medieval Studies Announced
RGME Events at the 2016 International Congress on Medieval Studies Accomplished.
2016 (51st International Congress)
- “Parchment or Paper? Choosing the Writing Medium in the Era Before the Printing Press”
organized by Mildred Budny and Eleanor A. Congdon
= Year 5 in our Series on Medieval Writing Materials at the Congress
2016 Congress Call for Papers
2016 Congress Planning
2016 Congress Program
2016 Congress Report.
2017 (52nd International Congress)
At the 2017 Congress, the selection of proposals by the Congress Committee required us to concentrate upon Co-Sponsored Sessions, while the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence continued to co-sponsor a Reception and to hold its Open Business Meeting, as described in the 2017 Congress Report.
2018 (53rd International Congress)
At the 2018 Congress, the Research Group sponsored 2 Sessions:
- Manuscript (Trans)formations: Transmission and Reception
organized by Derek Shank and Justin Hastings
- Alfonso X’s Libro de los juegos: Big Results from Small Data
organized by Linde M. Brocato
2019 (54th International Congress)
At the 2019 Congress, the Research Group sponsored 1 Session:
- In the Absence of Manuscript Evidence: Considering Lacunae in Manuscript Studies
organized by Justin Hastings and Derek Shank
2020 (50th International Congress) — Cancelled; Rescheduled for 2021
- “Seal the Real, 1–2: Documentary Records, Seals & Authentications”
organized by Mildred Budny
2021 (51st International Congress)
- “Seal the Real, 1–2: Documentary Records, Seals & Authentications”
organized by Mildred Budny
Part I: Signed & Sealed
Part II: × Marks the Spot
2022 (52nd International Congress) — in preparation
- Medieval Writing Materials: Processes, Products & Case Studies
organized by Mildred Budny
- Pressing Politics: Interactions between Authors and Printers in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
organized by David Porreca and Linde Brocato
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Information about the International Medieval Congress appears on its website. The Congress website publishes the full Call for Papers for the 2016 Congress online during the span of the Call, then removes its access, so we have to maintain vigilance to catch the dead digital links as they arise. After the completion of a Congress, nowadays, its “Schedule” becomes archived together with the Congress “Corrigenda” (updated in sequence), so that our links for those resources in timely fashion also have their ShelfLives. We perform the updates as possible.
We invite you to watch our site and theirs for preparations for future events.
As they take shape, the Program and Abstracts for Sessions and Co-Sponsored Sessions appear in our Blog on the International Congress on Medieval Studies and on our Page devoted to Congress Activities there. The Congress Activities include Sessions, Exhibitions, Business Meetings, and Receptions.
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Published Abstracts of Papers
Starting with the 2007 Congress, we publish on our website the Abstracts of most of the Papers and Responses presented in our Sessions, sponsored and co-sponsored. The Abstracts are accessible through the links for each Congress Year, as indicated above, in our Congress Archive, and the Indexes of Papers By Author and By Year.
The Abstracts of some papers presented at our earlier Sponsored Sessions are published in the Old English Newsletter, for which some issues are available online. They represent these Sessions, in part or in full.
- Volume 38.3 (Spring 2005), page 122
- Volume 36.3 (Spring 2003), A 25–26
- Volume 28.3 (Spring 1995), A-23–24
- Volume 27:3 (Spring 1994), A-23–24 and A-40–43
- Volume 26:3 (Spring 1993), A-24–26
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Program Booklets Published by
the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
In 2015, we published our first illustrated Program Booklet for a Sponsored Session, resembling the Program Booklets for our Symposia, Colloquia & other Events. Entitled “Predicting the Past”, this Booklet, which explores “Dream Symbology in the Middle Ages”, is available for download via our 2015 Congress Report.
In 2016, we extended this practice to a pair of our Co-Sponsored Sessions at the Congress. That Booklet is available via the 2016 Congress Report.
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Session Papers Published by
the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
With its expanded website, the Research Group has begun to publish papers from its Sponsored Sessions.
The first such paper is by David W. Sorenson from the 2014 Congress. It carries the same title as his already-published 2014 Abstract, which summarizes the contents and approach. You may download his published paper (2016), with his own design and layout, freely here.
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