The Call for Papers<\/a> for our 4 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions describes their range and aims. Here we announce a specialized Call for Papers for 1 of our 4 sponsored and co-sponsored Sessions:\u00a0 “Seal the Real”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 2019, the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence celebrates its 20th year as a nonprofit educational corporation and its 30th year as an international scholarly organization.\u00a0 We have a tradition of celebrating landmark Anniversaries, both for our organization, with organizations which which we share anniversaries, and for other events, as described, for example, in our 2014 Anniversary Reflections<\/a>.\u00a0 We build upon this year’s multiple celebrations in designing future activities.<\/p>\n This coming year, 2020, we prepare events at the Congress and elsewhere, as customarily, so as to represent, to explore, to promote, to celebrate, and to advance aspects of our shared range of interests, fields of study, subject matter, and collaboration between younger and established scholars, teachers, and others, in multiple centers.<\/p>\n Glimpses of our co-sponsored Receptions<\/a> at the Congress appear in the souvenirs of our <\/a>Celebrations<\/a> and in the Reports for the individual Congresses (<\/a>2016<\/a>, <\/a>2015<\/a>, and <\/a>2014 Anniversary<\/a>).<\/a><\/p>\n 2017 Business Meeting Agenda<\/p><\/div>\n The Agendas<\/strong> for our Open Business Meetings<\/a> are available for your inspection and perusal:<\/p>\n These 1-page statements serve as concise Reports for our Activities, Plans, and Desiderata.<\/p>\n These publications, like most of our <\/a>Publications<\/a>, are FREE, but we welcome donations, both in funds and in kind, for our nonprofit mission, with the option of tax-deduction for your <\/a>Donations<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n Judgment of Arbitration by Philip I, Count of Savoy, of 28 May 1275 This session explores the presentation and attestation of documentary records in the medieval and early modern periods, in the long transition to the modern custom of signatures as autographs \u2014 as distinct (partly) from earlier ‘signatures’ often made by proxy, whether by cross-signs, names inscribed by others on behalf of the signatory, personal or official seals, or other forms.\u00a0 The fields of consideration include forgeries (‘signatures’, seals, and questionable documents), reported records of documents perhaps otherwise lost (as in cartularies, chronicles, and other narratives), and the occasional preservation of fingerprints upon the records themselves.<\/p>\n The time-honored human determination to establish recognized \u2014 that is, effective \u2014 modes of authenticating intentions and actions by individuals and institutions alike underpins the historical transmission (or disruption, willful and otherwise) of formal records of agreements, sales, transfers, decisions over grievances and feuds, and other impactful official arrangements across the centuries. Examining case studies for this session, we encourage multiple approaches, subject matters, and methodologies for analyzing the strategies adopted (successfully or otherwise) in the pursuit of such a quest for authentication.<\/p>\n The desire effectively to express identity and authenticity as a matter of record may well resonate with many participants.\u00a0 The Session considers aspects of the historical traditions, improvisations, inventions, and (it may be) occasional failures of earlier centuries in such a quest.\u00a0 Perchance we might learn instructively from the past.<\/p>\n An example of the quest appears among our blogposts: Join our session and explore the discussion.<\/p>\n Organized by<\/p>\n Mildred Budny Please send your proposals to director@manuscriptevidence.org<\/a> by 15 September 2019.<\/p>\n Equestrian Wax Seal of Philip I, Count of Savoy, <\/p>\n<\/div>\n *****<\/p>\n Please send your proposals for papers, along with the completed Congress Participant Information Form<\/a>, to director@manuscriptevidence.org<\/a>, to reach us on or before 15 September 2019<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Please Contact Us<\/a> with your questions and suggestions.<\/p>\n For our nonprofit educational mission, with tax-exempt status, donations in funds and in kind (expertise, materials, time) are welcome<\/a>.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n For updates, please visit this site, our News & Views<\/a>, and our Facebook Page<\/a> .<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Call for Papers Session Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies (7\u201310 May 2020) Deadline for Proposals:\u00a0 15 September 2019 With the achievement of our Activities at the 2019 International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), as announced in our 2019 Congress Program, we\u00a0prepare the program for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1383,423,3,678,1],"tags":[1630,368,1632],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=11954"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12194,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11954\/revisions\/12194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Logo](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Heavy-LOGO1-150x138.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/a>As usual, we aim to publish the Program for the accepted Papers, once the Call For Papers has completed its specified span. We will publish the Abstracts for these Papers as the preparations for the Congress advance and as their Authors permit. Abstracts for previous Congresses appear in our Congress Abstracts<\/a>, conveniently Indexed both by Year<\/a> and by Author<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
Background and Foreground<\/h3>\n
![\"Agenda](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/RGME-Business-Meeting-Agenda-2017-on-9-May-2017-with-border-116x150.png\")
<\/a>\n
\n
Call for Papers<\/h4>\n
Seal the Real:\u00a0 Documentary Records, Seals & Authentications<\/h4>\n
![\"Judgment](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_4843-1-1275-Charter-with-Seal-and-Guide-cropped-300x232.jpg\")
with Brown Wax Seal
and with Docketing in French. Photograph by Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n
\nCuriouser and Curiouser<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/4151.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
\nA New Jersey Nonprofit Educational Corporation
\n46 Snowden Lane
\nPrinceton
\nNew Jersey 08540<\/p>\n![\"Equestrian](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_4845-1-1275-Charter-Seal-squared-1024x1024.jpg\")
Affixed to his Judgment of Abritration, 28 May 1275. Photograph by Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Bk-of-Hours-verso-bottom-foliage.png\")
<\/p>\n