RGME Symposia: The Various Series

The Series of RGME Symposia

Several Series, Same RGME

[Posted on 12 October 2023, with updates]

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 Bembino

2016 ‘Words & Deeds’ Symposium Poster.

Over its history, the RGME has held several different series of RGME Symposia, among its variety of scholarly events or activities.  The variety ranges from masterclasses, roundtables, and exhibitions; through seminars, workshops, and colloquia; to sponsored or co-sponsored sessions at conferences. On the range, see:

Like the other events, the Symposia have taken place in various centers, hosted by institutions of many kinds.

Before the Symposia

The earlier years of the RGME in the United Kingdom, as part of a major Research Project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, saw a regular stream of workshops and seminars devoted to subjects central or related in multiple ways to the work of the project.  The records for those events are surveyed on our website.  See, for example,

We also engaged in activities at conferences.  See, for example:

First Series:
Annual Symposia on “The Transmission of the Bible”
(1995–2000)

The tradition of RGME Symposia began soon after the move of the RGME, as an international scholarly society, from England (where it had been founded in 1989) to its new base in Princeton, New Jersey, in October 1994.

At the invitation of our Associate, Jane Rosenthal, it began with the first at Barnard College in 1995. This inaugural event turned into the series of Annual Symposia on “The Transmission of the Bible” (1995–2000). Others in the series followed, by turns, at Princeton University (1996 and 1999), Rutgers University (1997 and 2000), and Fordham University (1998). The series concluded with the fifth at Rutgers University.

This series took place in various centers in New Jersey and New York City, in this partly rotating

Carolingian Bible Symposium Announcement (1996)

1966 Symposium Poster

sequence of venues:

  • “The Bible and the Visual Arts” (Barnard College, 1995)
  • “The Carolingian Bible and Its Impact” (Princeton University, 1996)
  • “The Late-Antique Bible and Its Impact” (Rutgers University, 1997)
  • “The Bible and the Liturgy” (Fordham University, 1998)
  • “The Apocalypse in Word and Image” (Princeton University, 1999)
  • “Canterbury and the Bible” (Rutgers University, 2000)

On this full series, see:

Symposium Posters, Announcements, and Booklets

"The Bible and the Visual Arts" Symposium 1995

1995 Barnard Symposium Poster/Announcement/Program.

For these first Symposia, we produced brief Announcements in a developing pattern as one-page Posters or double-sided single sheets.

As time passed and the series acquired momentum and developed its pattern, these announcements acquired the form of a folded ‘menu’ or ‘triptych-style’ Booklet.  Soon in the series, the authors’ titles for their presentations were accompanied by very brief ‘Abstracts’ describing the subject, scope, and significance of the subjects.

From these early beginnings there emerged, over time, the custom of publishing Program Booklets for the Symposia.

As RGME Publications continued to emerge for various projects and events, the Symposium Booklets continued to set the standard for providing information about the program and the presentations of the event.  With this development came longer Abstracts (resembling the abstracts required for conference papers) and then, in time, accompanying illustrations; so, too, the front covers of the booklets acquired their own characteristic styles.  See, for example:

The “New Series” (2002–2020, at intervals)

Then, for a time, after the first series, we concentrated energies on other activities — such as sponsored and co-sponsored conference sessions, and the work to form our nonprofit educational corporation (from 1999 onwards) — until our Symposia (or Colloquia) resumed as a New Series on various subjects.  They took place variously at the British Museum (2002), The Ohio State University (2003), and Princeton University (2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2019–2020).

2001 Workshop Program Page 1An inaugural event, called a Workshop, at The College of New Jersey in 2001, at the invitation of our Associate, Celia Chazelle, paved the way for this New Series of RGME scholarly events which would stand outside our activities at the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies.  There followed several Colloquia, held in various centers in the United States and England.

For these events, the RGME provided Posters and Booklets, in various combinations.  That is, some events had booklets, and some had both booklets and posters.  Sometimes, an event would have two posters, in two versions according with the multiplicity of subjects, and sometimes with a first version as a Save-the-Date Poster and a second with a fuller Announcement (as reminder and refresher) as the event approached.

The sequence:

I. Workshops & Colloquia (2001–2003)

  • In the “New Series”, some of our Symposia (see below) include Workshops,
    for example at the Princeton University Art Museum and in Special Collections of Firestone Library at Princeton University

II. Symposia (2009 and 2013–) held at Princeton University

In 2020, our 2020 Spring Symposium scheduled for Princeton University had to be cancelled on account of the Covid pandemic, but we published its illustrated Symposium Booklet.

Symposium Booklets for the “New Series”

2016 Symposium Program Booklet, Cover Page, with RGME logo, Symposium title, list of sponsors, and description.

2016 Symposium Program Booklet, Cover Page.

Starting with “Identity and Authenticity” (2013), the Symposia are accompanied by Program Booklets which present the Program and the Abstracts of the Presentations.  Starting with “Recollections of the Past” (2014), the Booklets include illustrations.

Set in our multilingual digital font, RGME Bembino and laid out by our Font Designer, the Booklets are designed for distribution at the event itself, then released for circulation more widely in downloadable form.  (See the individual event for its downloadable publication.)

Even the cancelled Spring Symposium of 2020 has its completed Program Booklet, honoring the concerted intentions of our contributors for presentation at the event.

Interim (2021)

With Covid lockdown from early Spring 2020 onward, we waited until in-person events might resume, and turned our attention to other modes of scholarly activity.

Among them were more blogposts for our two blogs.

They address

1) “Congress Activities”, to announce our activities at the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies (and other conferences) and report their scholarly sessions,
and
2) “Manuscript Studies”, to report discoveries, observations, and reflections on manuscripts, related media, and other topics.

By this time, our Congress sessions had come to comprise both sponsored sessions and those co-sponsored with other organizations, starting with the Societas Magica.  For the range, see our:

Online Transition (2021–)

In 2021, we began to hold online activities.  Not only did they include the appearance of our sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, but also they adopted an online approach for our own meetings and events.  For them, a Zoom subscription was required; recurring donations made it possible.

After one year of cancellation in 2020, the Congress resumed first in wholly online form in 2021 and 2022, before transitioning to a partly in-person, partly online, semi-hybrid version in 2023, with a similar procedure for 2024.

Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga: The mid 15th-century Saint Vincent Panel. Image via Wikimedia via Creative Commons.

In 2022, we resumed our Symposia, albeit in online format, because we had turned to online activities in 2021.

With the creation of an online approach, we also expanded our activities with new series of events as well.  See:

The Online Series:
Spring and Autumn Symposia (2022–)

We expanded the pattern of renewal by holding a pair of Spring and Autumn Symposia in both 2022 and 2023.

The pairs in 2022 and 2023 took their overarching theme from the RGME Theme for the Year — itself an innovation, selected by the RGME Editorial Committee, formed in early 2022.

Then, with the 2022 Autumn Symposium, we resumed our tradition of publishing Illustrated Symposium Booklets for distribution at the event and beyond, in printed and digital form.  For the earlier Symposium Booklets (and the earlier form, as “Menus”), see

2022 Autumn Symposium Program Booklet, Front Cover (Page 1)

All these booklets, like many other RGME Publications, are available freely for download as pdfs on our website.

The Sequence

2020

2022

“Structures of Knowledge” (Spring)

“Supports for Knowledge” (Autumn)

2023

“From the Ground Up” (Spring)

“Between Earth and Sky” (Autumn)

Hybrid Version (2024)
2024 Spring Symposium at Vassar College

Save-the-Date Poster for 2024 RGME Spring Symposium at Vassar College. Poster set in RGME Bembino.

In 2024, the RGME Symposia will return to the in-person format with our 2024 Spring Symposium.  It will have online participation as well, in hybrid form.

While we continue to prepare the Program and refine some details, we begin to announce the event, with dates and information about the Symposium, so that people can mark their calendars and register.

We began our announcement of this Symposium with its Save-the-Date Poster.

Information about this Symposium had a preview in presentations for our 2023 Autumn Symposium.  See:

Next, as preparations advanced, we could announce the Program, with a second Poster and a 12-page illustrated Symposium Program.  See the updated Home Page for the Symposium:

2024 Autumn Symposium (online)

Plans emerge for the companion Autumn Symposium.  See:

*****

Suggestion Box

Please Contact Us or visit

Donations and contributions, in funds or in kind, are welcome and easy to give.

We look forward to hearing from you.

*****