By request, we have founded the \u201cFriends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence\u201d<\/strong> in the summer of 2024 as part of our Anniversary Year with theme of Bridges<\/a>.\u00a0 As a bridge, this group will serve as a gathering point to welcome donors, contributors, volunteers, visitors, and others for special events, activities, previews, and more.<\/p>\n Update<\/em>: For our Meetings<\/strong> especially for the Friends (since October 2024), please see:<\/p>\n Princeton University Art Museum, Claude Monet (1940-1926), Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge, 1899. Oil on canvas. Object y1972-15 From the Collection of William Church Osborn, Class of 1883, trustee of Princeton University (1914-1951), president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1941-1947); given by his family. Image via https:\/\/artmuseum.princeton.edu\/collections\/objects\/31852.<\/p><\/div>\n As an informal group, the Friends of the RGME<\/strong> can interlink with the different categories that we have of engaging in the activities and mission of the RGME.\u00a0 The Friends<\/strong> are open to our Trustees, Officers, Advisors (or Consultants), Honorary Invited Associates, Volunteers, Visitors, and others. For example:<\/p>\n Paying attention to the Friends opens more ways to interact with our Donors and Contributors, if wished, as we seek to express our appreciation and recognition for them. For example, we prepare webpages in their honor, to distinguish between the forms of “Donation in Funds” and “Donation in Kind”, such as pro-bono contributions.\u00a0 Our custom is to respect the distinction between “Donations” and “Contributions”.\u00a0 For all these forms of support, we are grateful.<\/p>\n Some people belong, by virtue of their forms of support for our work and activities, in both categories.<\/p>\n You might join the Friends of the RGME, too, without having a habit already of participating in our activities in one or other ways, or in a combination of ways.<\/p>\n RGME Logo in Color.<\/p><\/div>\n You see, when it formed as a nonprofit educational corporation in 1999, by request, the RGME chose the version “Without Members”. There are two options for nonprofit educational organizations:\u00a0 “With Members” and “Without Members”.\u00a0 Weighing the options, and taking advice, we chose carefully.\u00a0 We do not have “Members” as such, but people can belong in our community by various other names and functions.\u00a0 The years have shown the merits of our choice, at least for us as an organization.<\/p>\n Nonprofit educational organizations “With Members” customarily have annual subscriptions or dues (in several tiers), and Membership has the time-stamp of the duration of the dues paid, such as for a full year (calendar year, academic year, etc.).\u00a0 You might be familiar with them.<\/p>\n Because the RGME has limited resources, with a very modest endowment and no paid staff or the other assets of a large and well-endowed organization, it advances with its activities and mission mainly by being powered by volunteers (including its Director).\u00a0 Not having “Members” in the official sense means that we do not restrict ‘membership’ or participation in our work and activities to paid-up people for a specific duration.<\/p>\n Although there are disadvantages to subsisting mostly by volunteer donations, as we do without such “Membership Dues”, there are also benefits.\u00a0 A principal advantage is the ability to welcome Friends to join us without checking a paid Membership List.\u00a0 We may remind you about appeals for donations, such as for an Annual or Anniversary Appeal, but it is not the same ‘requirement’ as a membership fee might be.\u00a0 This choice to be ‘Without Members’ in the technical sense for nonprofit educational organizations has suited us, whereas other organizations “With Members” have their reasons and strengths.<\/p>\n This is why we do not have “Members” in the usual sense, but we do have Trustees, Advisers, Honorary Invited Associates, Volunteers, and other tiers of participation.\u00a0 And now, because we were asked, we have “Friends”.<\/p>\n We believe that the Friends of the RGME can bring together, if they wish, different parts of our audience and participants, by special, ‘curated’, events and other ways.<\/p>\n Apart from organizational meetings or the like, our scholarly events and celebrations are open to a wider audience.\u00a0 At some of them, such as our sponsored sessions at conferences hosted by other institutions, attendance is open to registrants for those conferences.\u00a0 In contrast, our own events, including our online events, are customarily open to you without such restrictions of attendance fees or subjects of interest.<\/p>\n For example, the “Episodes” for our online series “The Research Group Speaks” explore a wide range of subjects and adopt a varied approach, with presentations, roundtables, interviews, demonstrations, and more.\u00a0 Their informal, but structured, style can encourage a welcoming approach to the experience of the encounter with the materials under discussion, both for the speakers and the audience.<\/p>\n As that series continues to explore more subjects, and invites specialists, students, teachers, and friends to talk about their interests, with scope for Questions & Answers with discussion and constructive feedback, it is possible that our explorations might include some subjects of interest to you.<\/p>\n We invite you to see for yourself.<\/p>\n For now, there are no dues nor duties for the Friends.\u00a0 Anyone might join, with an interest in the RGME and what it does.\u00a0 You don’t have to be an expert in one or other of the subjects that we explore, research, discuss, or publish.\u00a0 You don’t have to pass a test to attend our events or join our celebrations.<\/p>\n Several people have already joined the Friends of the RGME, as soon as we decided to form its place in our constellation of activities.\u00a0 As we give shape to the Friends<\/strong>, we gather its ‘members’ \u2014 remember, we don’t have ‘Members’, but there are other ways to belong, including by joining the Friends.<\/p>\n And so, we begin to plan activities especially for you as a group of ‘Friends’ within the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence.<\/p>\n For example, the new year of 2024 offers an ideal opportunity to hold something special of interest \u2014 in some form \u2014 to our wide audience of specialists, teachers, students, book-lovers, collectors, and many others.\u00a0 Because the new year represents an anniversary year for the RGME, we look forward to celebrating with our Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In 2024, we celebrate twice over.\u00a0 That is, we not only mark 35 years<\/strong> as an international scholarly society founded in England in 1989, but also celebrate 25 years<\/strong> as a nonprofit educational corporation incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in New Jersey in November 1999 and based in Princeton since October 1994.<\/p>\n We believe that anniversaries are worth celebrating.\u00a0 Here are examples from our Anniversary Years in 2009, 2014, and 2019.<\/p>\n Here are some plans for 2024.<\/p>\n Would you like to join the Friends of the RGME? It is simple!<\/p>\n Before we can set up an online way to register, you could ask to join it and sign up for its special mailing list.<\/p>\n Do you have questions or suggestions? Please contact<\/p>\n Would you like to contribute to our activities? See, for example:<\/p>\n We welcome participation in various ways, by donations in funds and in kind, contributing to our activities and the furtherance of our mission, and joining our events and parties.<\/p>\n Welcome!<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Please leave your Comments or questions here, Contact Us<\/a>, or visit<\/p>\n Princeton University Art Museum, Claude Monet (1940-1926), Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge, 1899. Oil on canvas. Object y1972-15 From the Collection of William Church Osborn, Class of 1883, trustee of Princeton University (1914-1951), president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1941-1947); given by his family. Image via https:\/\/artmuseum.princeton.edu\/collections\/objects\/31852.<\/p><\/div>\n *****<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome to The Friends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence [Posted on 28 October 2024, with updates] By request, we have founded the \u201cFriends of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence\u201d in the summer of 2024 as part of our Anniversary Year with theme of Bridges.\u00a0 As a bridge, this group will serve as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19027,"parent":17,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18394"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19962,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18394\/revisions\/19962"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Who are the Friends?<\/h3>\n
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The Organization and People of the RGME<\/h2>\n
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Our Events and Activities as Gathering Places<\/h3>\n
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Who Can Join “The Friends of the RGME”?<\/h2>\n
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Join the Friends<\/h2>\n
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