RGME Activities
Accomplished in 2024
and
Planned for 2025
— Summary and Prospects —
Companion
for the 2025 Anniversary Appeal Letter
See:
2025 Annual Appeal

China, Beipanjiang/Duge Bridge Under Construction in 2016 to link the province of Guizhou and Yunnan. Photograph: HighestBridges HighestBridges, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
[Posted on 6 January 2025]
2024 Activities
Theme for the Year = “Bridges”

China, Hebei Province, Anji or Zhaozhou Bridge (Ānjì Qiáo, ‘Safe Passage Bridge’), built by the architect Li Chun from 595 to 605 AD, during the Chinese Sui Dynasty. It is the world’s oldest fully-stone, open-spandrel, segmental arch bridge. Photograph: Zhao 1974, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.\
In 2024, we undertook a variety of activities and projects in support of our mission, including the following:
• Hosting Episodes 15–18 of our online presentation series, “The Research Group Speaks”, on a wide variety of subjects and materials (January–December)
Episode 15 (January, online)
“Women Writers from the Medieval to Post-Modern Periods”
Speakers: Jaclyn Reed, Hannah Goeselt, Linda Civitello
Presider: Mildred Budny
Episode 16 (June, online)
“Trailblazing the Medieval Digital Humanities“: An Interview with Jesse D. Hurlbut”
Interviewer: Mildred Budny
Episode 17 (September, online)
“RGME Retrospect and Prospects: Anniversary Reflections”
Speakers: Celia Chazelle, Eleanor Congdon, Dana Delibovi, Hannah Goeselt,
Zoey Kambour, Ann Pascoe–van Zyl
Presider: Mildred Budny
Episode 18 (December, online).
“Women as Makers of Books”
Speakers: Jaclyn Reed, Hannah Goeselt, Linda Civitello, and Mildred Budny
Presider: Justin Hastings

Dallas, Texas, Bridwell Library, Ashendene Song of Songs (1902), illuminated by Florence Kingsford and bound by Katharine Adam. Title page and opening of text. Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
• Holding a special Anniversary Symposium to thank our retired WebMaster (February, 1 day, online):
“MANUSCRIPT (HE)ART: 2024 Anniversary Symposium in Thanks to Jesse Hurlbut” (RGME WebMaster Emeritus)
Co-Organized by Jessica L. Savage and Katharine C. Chandler
- 2024 Anniversary Symposium in Thanks to Jesse Hurlbut: Program
- 2024 Anniversary Symposium in Thanks to Jesse Hurlbut: Plan
- with 64-page illustrated Symposium Booklet available for download
• Holding our online Spring and Autumn Symposia (Parts I–II) centering our 2024 Project “Between Past and Future” with a focus on Special Collections (April and October)
— with Illustrated Booklets

2024 Spring Symposium Program: Cover
Part I. Spring Symposium at Vassar College
“Between Past and Future: Building Bridges between Special Collections and Teaching for the Liberal Arts” (19–21 April, hybrid)
Part II. Autumn Symposium
“At the Helm: Spotlight on Special Collections as Teaching Events” (24–26 October, online)
• Sponsoring and Co-sponsoring a suite of Activities at the 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS) (May, in-person, online, hybrid)

Ada Bridge pylon, Belgrade, Serbia. Photograph Petar Milošević (1 August 2021). Image via Wikimedia Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
1) Co-sponsoring three Conference Sessions
Co-sponsors: Postal History at Kalamazoo, POMONA, and Societas Magica
Organizers: David W. Sorenson, David Porreca, Phillip Bernhardt-House, Mildred Budny
- “Alchemical Manuscripts, Early Printed Books, and Other Materials”Co-sponsored with the Societas Magica
Organizer: David Porreca - “Letters, Couriers, and Post Offices:
Mail in the Medieval World”Co-sponsored with Postal History at Kalamazoo
Organizer: David W. Sorenson - “Retrospect and Prospect for P.-O.M.o.N.A. . . .
As the Curtain Falls (A Roundtable)”
Co-sponsored with P.-O.M.o.N.A.
(Polytheism-Oriented Medievalists of North America)
Organizers: Phillip Bernhardt–House and Mildred Budny
See:
- 2024 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Call for Papers
- 2024 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Program
- 2024 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Report
2) Holding our annual Open Business Meeting at the ICMS (May), with a published Agenda and Annual Report available for download
- Business Meetings
- 2024 Open Business Meeting
- 2024 Open Business Meeting Agenda
- 2024 Annual Report for Business Meeting
3) Hosting a celebratory Anniversary Reception at the ICMS,
co-sponsored with the Societas Magica

RGME @ 2024 IMC at Leeds: Poster 2 set in RGME Bembino, with border.
• Sponsoring an Inaugural Session at the International Medieval Congress (IMC) at the University of Leeds (July, hybrid)
2024 Congress Theme = “Crisis”
- “Building Bridges ‘Over Troubled Waters’ ”
Call for Papers
Program
Report
Co-Organizers: Ann Pascoe–van Zyl and Michael Allman Conrad
• Co-sponsoring “Medieval Women’s Networks: Exploring Tools and Techniques for Digital Analysis”. (October, 2 days, online)
A Pair of Interactive Public Workshops co-organized by Kathy Krause and Laura Morreale and co-sponsored by:
-
University of Missouri, Kansas City: Center for Digital and Public Humanities Logo
- the University of Missouri Kansas City
- Digital Medievalist
- Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
- An Anonymous Private Donor
• Sponsoring the 2024 Autumn Symposium (October, 2 days, online)
“At the Helm: Spotlight on Special Collections as Teaching Events”
- 2024 Autumn Symposium
- Symposium Booklet
- Symposium Report

Poster 2 for RGME 2024 Autumn Symposium. Set in RGME Bembino. Image: Coventry Patmore, Amelia: An iIyll (1878), title page, illuminated by Bertha Patmore. Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, University of Delaware Library, Musuems and Press.
• Returning to In-Person Visits to Collections, with an Invited Visit to the Collection of Steven M. Lomazow, M.D., in Collaboration with the Student Friends of the Princeton University Library (SFPUL) (November, 1 day, hybrid)

Dr. Lomazow on Screen and in the Room. Photography by Mildred Budny.
• Carrying out the 2024 year-long Project “Between Past and Future: RGME Spring & Autumn Symposia in 2024 for Teaching in the Liberal Arts with Original Sources, at Vassar College and Beyond”, funded by The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, through its Research Libraries Program (January–December). See:
This Project built upon the 2023 Pilot Project for “Building the Plan for Recording, Structuring, and Accessing the RGME Library & Archives” through a year-long
• Welcoming new part-time Interns to our work and activities, with support by this year’s funded Project. Their work contributes to the organization, accomplishment, and follow-up for the events, especially the pair of Spring and Autumn Symposia which form the centerpiece of the Project.
This year’s position of Intern Executive Assistant/Associate to the RGME Director is filled as 1) Hannah Goeselt as Intern Executive Associate and 2) Zoey Kambour as Intern Executive Assistant. For the Spring Symposium in hybrid format, Student Interns at Vassar College helped both the in-person and the online features.
• Forming, by request, the Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (June). With this new organization within the RGME, we create new forms of engaging with our community. There is no fee to join the Friends.
• Beginning a new series of Meetings of the Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence (from October, online)
• Designing a Logo for the Friends through a process of collaboration. The suggested designs have evolved in stages through conversations and feedback at our Friends’ Meetings. For example, these conversations inspired us to turn to the motif of a claddagh ring (or fáinne Chladaigh in Irish), with hands clasping our official logo (oval, chevron, stars, and keys with openwork hearts) and bearing our colors on sleeves and cuffs, along with our stars.

Logo (2024) of the Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
• Creating a Favorite Recipe Competition for the Friends of the RGME, with Prizes, starting with recipes for Lemonade and similar antidotes to the Lemons that Life might throw our way. With entries already in hand, the first Prizes are ready to award, together with special Award Certificates and lemon-patterned wrapping paper.

“Garden Lemon” by Madmad1234 CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
There is still time to send in your entries, and not only for Lemonade (or the like), as we will move to further Competitions for other forms of recipes to populate and to nourish an RGME Cookbook of Favorite Recipes, Lemonade Included.
• Launching a new series of RGME Workshops on “The Evidence of Manuscripts [Etc.]” (from November; online)
Harking back to our first series of events as the RGME, in the series of RGME Seminars on “The Evidence of Manuscripts” (1989–1994), this new series brings forward for collective study (‘crowdsourcing’ and collaboration) the original specimens as witnesses in our own RGME Special Collections and the RGME Lending Library.
For information about these Workshops, see:
• Conducting our 2024 Anniversary Survey, both online and via a Word Document for those without access to Google Workspace.

New York, Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.769, fol. 305v, detail. Regensburg, Germany, 1360. Image © Morgan Library, New York, via https://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/215/143938
The Report of its results has been prepared by Hannah Goeselt and Zoey Kambour. It will be published in the next issue of the RGME eNewsletter, ShelfMarks.
• Beginning to plan an Anniversary Anthology with highlights of RGME Publications, such as blogposts and abstracts or reports of presentations for our events over the years.
A new ShelfLife Advisory Committee guides this work.
• Opening a new Page on our website to announce the activities, projects, and publications of RGME People other than for RGME events. Inviting suggestions for items to include, we call this electronic Bulletin Board
• Building our resources and seeking a financial safety-net for our nonprofit educational organization powered principally by volunteers, we launch the next long-term Appeal for support in funds and in kind.
- 2024 Anniversary Appeal (from November 2023)
- 2024 Anniversary Endowment Appeal (from March 2024)
- 2025 Annual Appeal via our website (from November 2024)
- Fundraising campaigns via RGME on MightyCause
- Annual Appeal for 2025 on MightyCause (from November 2024)
On-Going Projects and New Projects Launched in 2024
• Continuing with our program of Publications, including our Website, Social Media, Booklets, etc.
The work involves providing updates and blogposts for our website, preparing email circulars for our emailing list, and publishing Program Booklets, Symposium Booklets, Report Booklets, Posters (for our Symposia, Sessions and Activities at the 2024 ICMS and IMC, etc.), and other texts, in digital and printed forms. See:
- Publications
- International Congress on Medieval Studies (blog) for our activities for outside conferences
- Manuscript Studies (blog): Contents List
• Welcoming Guest Bloggers to contribute, as before. This year a new Guest Blogger, our Associate Georgi Parpulov, presented conscientious reflections on
• Preparing an Anniversary Anthology
• Advancing with the next version of our own multi-lingual digital font Bembino, by requests, to add fonts to the languages supported — now with Elvish for Tengwar.
- Bembino (Version 1.5 so far)
- Multi-Lingual Bembino
The first full-length book using Bembino as its font was published this year for our Associate Reid Byers’ catalogue of a collection and exhibition:
- Reid Byers, Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished, and Fictive Books Found Only in Other Books (Oak Knoll Press, 2024)
• Providing, by request, a special version of Bembino, called BembinoWP for Word, to function with Microsoft Word.
• Forming new RGME Committees (unpaid) to guide our expanding activities, projects, and organizational responsibilities:
RGME Task Force Committee for Records Management (from 2024 as a Committee; 2023 as an Ad-Hoc Task Force for the RGME Library & Archives to guide and oversee the 2023 Pilot Project on “Building the Plan for Recording, Structuring, and Accessing the RGME Library & Archives”, funded by the 2023 Grant, as above)
RGME Oversight Committee for Oversight and Financial Responsibility (from 2024)
RGME Executive Committee to review and advise on the RGME ByLaws (from 2024)
ShelfLife Advisory Committee to plan and guide the work of preparing an Anniversary Anthology (from 2024)
These Advisory and Executive Committees work in tandem with our other Committees. See
• Drafting, revising, and adopting further documents for Policies & Procedures and guiding our multiple activities and responsibilities as a nonprofit educational corporation. For example:
- Statements of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for our
Editorial Committee (Version 1.0) and
Website Advisory Committee (Version 1.0).
• Welcoming our new Honorary Invited Associates:
Renate Blumenthal–Kosinzki, Antony R. Henk, Beppy Landrum Owen, Mark Samuels Lasner, Anna Siebach—Larsen, and Anne Rudloff Stanton. See:
• Reporting changes in our Board of Trustees, as we honor the retirement of Robert Mathiesen as Trustee, now Trustee Emeritus, and elect a new Trustee, Justin Hastings
• Hosting RGME Anniversary Celebrations: Receptions, Parties, and “Anniversary Highlights”, as at the 2024 ICMS in May and for our Episode 17 in September.
• Preparing our 2025 Activities. See below.
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“Study on a Medieval Bridge” at Amares, Braga District, Portugal. Image by Pedro Nuno Caetano (2019) via Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons 2.0 Generic.
2025 Planned Activities
Theme for the Year: “Thresholds and Communities”
For 2025, we continue with ongoing series of activities and publications and also launch new ones.
Some are subject to funding, as we apply for grants and promote our appeals for donations.
• Continuing our Episodes on “The Research Group Speaks”, starting with
- Episode 19 “At the Gate” (18 January 2025)
• Advancing with our Workshops on “The Evidence of Manuscripts, Etc.”, starting with
Workshop 3 on “The Farrell Leaf and Survivors of the Saint Albans Bible” (12 January 2025)
Designed to work with the RGME Research Library, the RGME Lending Library, and other materials, along with our extended network of expertise, these Workshops continue in the early part of 2025 to work collaboratively on the Farrell Leaf and its context (as begun in Workshops 1–2 in 2024).
- A Latin Vulgate Leaf of the Book of Numbers (Part 1)
- Latin Vulgate Bible Leaf in the Collection of Jennah Farrell: Part 2
- The Latin Vulgate Bible Leaf in the Farrell Collection: Part 3. The Full Leaf
Next we move on to other original sources loaned to or owned by the RGME, such as 1) a leaf from Ege MS 14 recently loaned to the RGME Lending Library; 2) a hybrid volume comprising an early printed book covered with reused medieval musical bifolium; 3) various fragments from a Private Collection; and 4) more.
Forming the structure for an interactive course on manuscript studies, these Workshops set the stage for further research, explorations, and delight in a shared voyage of discovery. Just as the early series of RGME Seminars on the Evidence of Manuscripts laid the groundwork for the future activities of the RGME after the move of our principal base to the United States at the close of our Research Project at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, so this new series of Workshops on the Evidence of Manuscripts, Etc., might inspire further innovations and continuity.
• Holding Meetings of the Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, starting with
Meeting 4 on 27 January.
• Co-sponsoring the 2025 Digital Medieval Studies Institute (DMSI) in Cambridge/Boston (19 March 2025, in person). See:
• Preparing our 2025 Spring and Autumn Symposia on “Books, Thresholds, and Communities”
- Part I. “Makers, Producers, and Collectors of Books: From Author/Artist/Artisan to Library”
- Part II. “Readers, Fakers, and Re-Creators of Books: From Page to Marketplace and Beyond”
See:
• Co-sponsoring the 2025 Autumn Colloquium at the University of Waterloo
“Break-Up Books and Make-Up Books:
Encountering the Legacy of Otto F. Ege and Other Biblioclasts”
Friday to Sunday, 21-23 November 2023 (hybrid)
• Sponsoring and Co-Sponsoring Conference Activities
1) Sponsoring Sessions and our Open Business Meeting at the International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS) at Kalamazoo (May, in-person, online, or hybrid)
- 6 Sessions, Sponsored and Co-Sponsored, organized or co-organized by Cortney Berg, Mildred Budny, Zoey Kambour, Jaclyn Reed, Vajra Regan, and David W. Sorenson
- Open Business Meeting
- 2025 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Call for Papers
- 2025 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Program
2) Sponsoring a suite of Sessions and Roundtable Discussion at the the International Medieval Congress (IMC) at the University of Leeds (July, hybrid)
2025 Congress Theme = Worlds of Learning
- 3 Sponsored Sessions + Roundtable Discussion: “Manuscripts as Worlds of Learning”, co-organised by Mildred Budny, Phillip Bernhardt–House, and Hannah Goeselt
- Sponsored session on “Knowledge Games and Games of Knowledge”, organised by Michael Allman Conrad
- 2025 International Medieval Congress at Leeds: Call for Papers
- 2025 International Medieval Congress at Leeds: Program
• Holding In-Person Visits (IPVs) and Virtual Visits
Several are planned. Watch this space.
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You could help. We ask you please to make a Donation in Funds or in Kind for our nonprofit educational corporation powered principally by volunteers. Your donations and contributions are welcome, and they can go a long way, not least because all our fund-raising depends upon our own efforts and has no help from professional fund-raisers. Your donations may be tax-deductible to the fullest extent provided by the law.
We welcome Donations in Funds and Donations in Kind.
- Donations and Contributions
- Contributions and Donations
- Donations
- 2025 Annual Appeal
- Or download our Donation Form.
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Thanks
We thank you for your interest, advice, and support.

China, Hebei Province, Anji or Zhaozhou Bridge (Ānjì Qiáo, ‘Safe Passage Bridge’), built by the architect Li Chun from 595 to 605 AD, during the Chinese Sui Dynasty. It is the world’s oldest fully-stone, open-spandrel, segmental arch bridge. Photograph: Zhao 1974, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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