{"id":6760,"date":"2016-06-09T21:44:55","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T21:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?p=6760"},"modified":"2025-10-30T03:51:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T03:51:47","slug":"2016-symposium-on-words-deeds-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/2016-symposium-on-words-deeds-report\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 Symposium on ‘Words & Deeds’ Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Detail<\/a>

Otto Ege Collection, The Beinecke Manuscript and Rare Book Library, Yale University. Photograph by Lisa Fagin Davis.<\/p><\/div>\n

‘Words & Deeds’ Symposium Report<\/h2>\n

With the smooth accomplishment of the Symposium on ‘Words & Deeds’ at Princeton University on 25\u201326 March 2016, it is time for the Report.<\/p>\n

As is our custom, the Save-the-Date Announcement<\/a> and the Poster(s) for the event, as well as the Program<\/a>, circulated ahead of time (both in paper and online), in stages as they called for updates.\u00a0 They did so, for example, as the Sponsors gathered in number, and as the event initially intended for a day’s span extended into one and one-half days, to accommodate the increasing number of Speakers, Panelists, and Sessions.<\/p>\n

[Note:\u00a0 We have now corrected the next link, for the Program Booklet.\u00a0 It should work correctly.\u00a0 If not, please let us know<\/em>.]<\/p>\n

The Program Booklet<\/strong><\/a>, containing both the Program and the Abstracts of Papers, made its debut, as is customary, on the day itself in print.\u00a0 In this case, the generous donation of so many images \u2014 some of which featured in our post announcing the event<\/a> \u2014 encouraged us to include a greater number and to extend across a larger number of pages than ever before for one of our Symposia.\u00a0 Extraordinary.<\/p>\n

Now we publish those materials online.\u00a0 In addition, the happy completion of the Symposium calls for a description of its character, account of certain changes in plan, and a celebration of its enthusiastic dedication of expertise and collegial discourse.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Words & Deeds<\/h1>\n

Actions Enacted, Re-Enacted & Restored<\/h3>\n

From Late-Antique Theater to the Legacy of Otto Ege
\nby way of, inter alia<\/em>, Saint-Denis and Gutenberg<\/p>\n

A Symposium of the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence<\/h3>\n

Friday & Saturday, 25\u201326 March 2016<\/span>
\n 106 McCormick Hall<\/span>
\n Princeton University<\/span><\/h4>\n

Sponsors<\/span><\/h4>\n
The Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
\nThe Department of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University
\nThe Index of Christian Art at Princeton University
\nJames Marrow & Emily Rose
\nBarbara A. Shailor
\nThe Samuel H. Kress Foundation
\nThe Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies<\/h5>\n

We report the accomplishment of the Symposium at Princeton University on 25 & 26 March 2016. Organized by our Director, Mildred Budny, this event launched our activities for 2016. Next in line come our Sessions and Activities<\/a>, both sponsored and co-sponsored, at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies in May. (Report here<\/a>.) Further activities for the year will follow. (For example, here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Setting the Stage<\/h3>\n

First, in the creation of the event, came the subject or theme, subject also to variation (as described in our Announcing Post<\/a>).\u00a0 Next came the appointed date(s) and venue.\u00a0 Then, in stages, came the Program (with a few changes for logistics), and with it the cast of expert contributors.\u00a0 This it grew beyond one day’s span.\u00a0 And then, on the days themselves, came the audience.\u00a0 Also, to accompany the nourishing Food for Thought on the Program menu, there appeared refreshments and sustenance in the form of food and drinks, fittingly to merit the stature of a Symposium.\u00a0 For all these gifts, we thank the hosts, sponsors, and contributors.<\/p>\n

There was even a birthday cake, for the first day of the Symposium coincided with the birthday of 2 participants.\u00a0 That the day was, this year, both Good Friday<\/a> in the Western Christian calendar and, as every year, the Feast of the Annunciation<\/a>, did not go unnoticed.\u00a0 (As in some other years, 1608 CE<\/a> included.) Much to think about.<\/p>\n

First came the call to Save the Date<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\"'Save<\/a><\/h3>\n

Showcasing the Materials<\/h3>\n

Next came the Posters.\u00a0 The plenitude and beauty of images contributed to the publicity for the Symposium made it a natural choice to produce not one, but two, Posters.<\/p>\n

\"Poster<\/a>\"Poster<\/a><\/p>\n

The Program of the Symposium circulated in stages, as it took firmer shape.\u00a0 First a Provisional Program, next the Program<\/a> in a 4-page booklet.\u00a0 Then, for the event itself, the Program Booklet was unveiled.<\/p>\n

Recording the Plan:\u00a0 The Souvenir Booklet<\/h3>\n

In 24 pages, the illustrated 2016 Symposium Program Booklet<\/a> records the authors’ approaches to their chosen subjects. Throughout the history of our organization and its many scholarly events<\/a> or conference sessions<\/a>, the Research Group encourages our speakers to provide\u00a0 Abstracts with description of their subjects, themes, methods, results, and the like, so as to convey a sense of the materials (which may be household names in many realms, but not necessarily in all), their interest, and their significance, allowing the audience both at the event and elsewhere afterward to discern the scope of the presentation more specifically than the titles and subtitles ‘alone’ might allow.\u00a0 Our updated and expanded website allows for the wider publication of these Programs-with-Abstracts, so that we progress with the work of presenting in digital form the earliest phases in the archive. (As here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

As customary, the Booklet made its debut in printed form on the day.\u00a0 With the event accomplished, it now appears online in downloadable form.\u00a0 Those stages in publication may allow for corrections and refinements as appropriate.<\/p>\n

Here, they involve two minor refinements, with the update for one title consistently in its 2 appearances (in the Program and among the Abstracts) and the correction of a typographical error for another, in the move from the booklet as distributed in print at the event to the booklet published on our website and circulated in printed form after the event.\u00a0 Thus, the form of the Booklet records the event in the form which corresponds to the authors’ intentions, as it applies the final proof-correcting remedies.<\/p>\n

We thank the authors for their Abstracts, as well as their Papers.\u00a0 For the accompanying images and the permission to reproduce them, we warmly thank Brigitte Bedoz-Rezak, Mildred Budny, Raymond Clemens, Lisa Fagin Davis, Genevra Kornbluth, Barbara A. Shailor, the Otto Ege Family, and the Otto Ege Collection, Beinecke Manuscript and Rare Book Library, Yale University.<\/p>\n

The Booklet, like the Posters and the Save-the-Date Announcement, is set in our copyright font Bembino<\/a> and laid out according to the Research Group’s Style Manifesto<\/a>.\u00a0 We thank their compiler and designers.<\/p>\n

\"2016<\/a><\/p>\n

The CopyCat Editor<\/h3>\n

Acknowledging assistance for the work of compiling and editing the Booklet allows us, with permission, to cast the spotlight on its expert CopyCat Editor.\u00a0 While that work continued apace, there was the occasion to serve as caretaker for a splendid, finicky, Editorial Assistant.\u00a0 Or OverSeer.\u00a0 You might understand if I mention that, from time to time, she chose to Lay Down On The Job.\u00a0 #purringincluded<\/span>.\u00a0 And who could complain.\u00a0 Her ability to pin down the specifics of the editorial work, annotations included, is plain to see.\u00a0 We thank her guardians for permission to include her image here.\u00a0 A post for our blog on Manuscript Studies gives a light-hearted view of her contributions to the work of shaping, revising, and refining the editorial work:\u00a0 Center Fold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

Photography \u00a9 Mildred Budny<\/p><\/div>\n

Refinements to the Plan<\/h3>\n

One adjustment occurred in the Program, changing the plan as scheduled beforehand.\u00a0 Illness on the day prevented Karl F. Morrison from attending or presenting his paper.<\/p>\n

The record of Karl’s intentions for its essence stand as a place-holder in the Abstracts published in the Program Booklet.\u00a0 At the event, Mildred Budny read out the “False Start = First Steps” which Karl sent at first accompanying the text of his Abstract, as an earlier (or rather, more-or-less coeval) draft describing his reflections toward his paper as the plans for the Symposium expanded.\u00a0This preliminary Synopsis, along with its Completed Draft, appears here<\/a>, in a First in the history of our published Abstracts of Papers for Events<\/a>. We always welcome advances for our traditions.<\/p>\n

The full text of Sarah Celentano’s paper is now posted on Academia.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By request, plans advance for publishing some of the papers, perhaps as a group.<\/p>\n

Speakers, Moderators, Panelists<\/h3>\n

\"IMG_0603<\/a><\/p>\n

With the development of the planning for the event, so did the assignment of r\u00f4les for contributors settle into place according to their wishes.\u00a0 The list of Speakers here can serve also as an alphabetical Index<\/strong> of the Authors of the Abstracts, as published in the Program Booklet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Moderators<\/h4>\n

Charles E. Barber<\/a> (Department of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University)
\nCatherine Fernandez<\/a> (Index of Christian Art)
\nBeatrice Kitzinger<\/a> (Department of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University)
\nHenry Schilb<\/a> (Index of Christian Art)
\nBarbara A. Shailor<\/a> (Yale University)
\nAlan M. Stahl<\/a> (Firestone Library, Princeton University)<\/p>\n

Speakers<\/h4>\n

Elizabeth A.R. Brown<\/a> (The City University of New York Emerita)
\nMildred Budny<\/a> (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)
\nSarah Celentano<\/a> (Art and Art History Department, University of Texas at Austin)
\nRaymond Clemens<\/a> (Beinecke Library, Yale University)
\nGiles Constable<\/a> (School of Historical Studies Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study)
\nLisa Fagin Davis<\/a> (The Medieval Academy of America)
\nJessie Dummer<\/a> (Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, University of Pennsylvania Libraries)
\nPaula Gerson<\/a> (Department of Art History, Florida State University Emerita)
\nGenevra Kornbluth<\/a> (Kornbluth Photography)
\nKarl F. Morrison<\/a> (Rutgers University Emeritus)
\nKatherine Philbin<\/a> (Simmons College)
\nDot Porter<\/a> (Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies)
\nLynn Ransom<\/a> (Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies)
\nThomas G. Waldman<\/a> (Department of History, University of Pennsylvania)
\nAndrew Walker-White<\/a> (School of Arts and Science, Stratford University)
\nEric White<\/a> (Firestone Library, Princeton University)<\/p>\n

Panelists<\/h4>\n

Mildred Budny
\nCelia Chazelle<\/a> (Department of History, The College of New Jersey)
\nPamela Patton<\/a> (Index of Christian Art)
\nLynn Ransom<\/a> (Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies)
\nBarbara A. Shailor<\/p>\n

Exhibition Curator<\/h4>\n

Jessica Savage<\/a> (Index of Christian Art)<\/p>\n

The illustrated Exhibition Notes are included in the Program Booklet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some Speakers and Moderators joined the Round-Table Discussion, as did other Colleagues. As the discussion unfolded, Speakers, Moderators, and members of the Audience joined in the reflections, as well as the informal resolutions for further action and activity, especially for the future of manuscript studies overall.<\/p>\n

Round Up:\u00a0 The<\/h3>\n

Then, Giles Constable offered the eloquent Concluding Remarks, which reminded us of the unusual, refreshing characteristics of such Symposia and Colloquia as the Research Group organizes, mostly at short notice.\u00a0 Responding to the subject and the aim, contributors may present work-in-progress and\/or share in the Round Table, without years’ long preparation as such for the event \u2014 apart from their lifelong preparations to this point. Thus, it may be, the presentations in these Symposia could have a freshness of activity and directness of interest, unlike, say, some more formal and elaborate lectures of conferences organized years in advance.<\/p>\n

Both approaches, long-term and close-up, have their place in the progress of study, research, analysis, dissemination, and refinement.\u00a0 We happily recognized, through Giles’s clear exposition, the value of our approach, within its apposite and welcoming place.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

\"Initial<\/a>

Initial C<\/em> of Concede<\/em>. Detail from a leaf from ‘Otto Ege Manuscript 15’, the ‘Beauvais Missal’. Otto Ege Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Photograph by Lisa Fagin Davis. Reproduced by Permission<\/p><\/div>\n

Themes & Variations<\/h3>\n

As we announced ahead of time, and as it unfolded in action, our symposium fulfilled its intentions of engaging with the realms of documents, seals, seal matrices, and other means of authentications or attestations, regarding deeds in material forms as well as deeds in action. Chronicles, biographies, and other narratives (both real and imagined) shared a part in the story, too, along with illustrations of events and inscriptions in a variety of media. The interrelationship, or tensions, between words and events came into focus as well. The span for consideration welcomed a range of dates, languages, regions, materials, forms of activities, and interactions \u2013 harmonious or otherwise.<\/p>\n

Likewise, we addressed issues posed by objects which carry within the confines of their present borders most of the evidence, apparently, to reveal their purposes through words and\/or images. Such is the case, poignantly, given the vagaries of history (from whatever causes, natural or not), with fragments dispersed from former whole objects or groups of objects, from collections or sites to individual monuments.<\/p>\n

And so the Symposium and its discussions during the Sessions, refreshment Breaks, and Round Table focused on these and other predicaments, challenges, and opportunities.<\/p>\n

For example, some speakers considered the complex achievements of the Abbey of Saint-Denis<\/a> in its creation of an exceptional identity. Others celebrated the research and discoveries facing the study and recovery of manuscript remnants from the collection of Otto F. Ege<\/a>, especially the trove newly acquired from his descendants at the Beinecke Library<\/a> of Yale University. Approaches to assessing, representing, and understanding the material evidence of manuscripts in digital forms were surveyed in reports on new developments at The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As planned, the subjects for consideration ranged from the evidence for experiencing the theater in Late-Antiquity and the paradox of ‘deadly love’ in Western Christian Medieval liturgy, through amulets and sealed medieval deeds, to the lost Hortus deliciarum<\/em><\/a> (‘Garden of Delights’), the bronze doors of Abbot Suger<\/a> at Saint-Denis, and papal indulgences printed on the Gutenberg<\/a> press before the Gutenberg Bible<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Round Table<\/h3>\n

The Round Table discussion vividly explored experts’ experiences and views about these and related issues.\u00a0 Inspired by Barbara Shailor’s expressed concerns for consideration, we considered such challenges as<\/p>\n