The Reformation of the Book: 1450-1650

Testimonials from participants in two previous NEH seminars similar to "Tudor Books and Readers: 1485-1603 "      

Print PDF copy of "Reformation of the Book" testimonials       


Matthew Heintzelman: "When I was invited to participate in the 2009 NEH Summer Seminar on the "Reformation of the Book, 1450-1650," I was delighted at the opportunity to work with rare books, visit research libraries (the Bodleian, British Library and several Oxford libraries), and learn about late medieval manuscripts and early printing (at the Printing Museum in Antwerp and elsewhere). However, on top of all these benefits lay the added bonus of being in conversation with other scholars who had overlapping but not identical interests. The experience of visiting these sites with colleagues from around the country deepened my understanding of what I was seeing, while the readings and group discussions provided a framework for future considerations of these unique materials. I continue to use my experiences from 2009 to inform my presentations to classes visiting our library, find new paths of research from what I saw in Oxford, London and Antwerp, and collaborate with my newly found colleagues at conferences."

  • Dr. Matthew Heintzelman is Curator of the Austria/Germany Study Center at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, St. John's University, Collegeville, MN. He was a seminar participant in 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Ronald Patkus: “The seminar provided a unique opportunity for me to conduct research in some of the world's greatest collections and also to exchange ideas with a wonderful group of colleagues engaged in similar work; this combination of inquiry and discussion was highly stimulating and fruitful for me and the entire group, and I would urge other interested scholars to consider the possibility of participating in future offerings.”

  • Dr. Ronald Patkus is Head of Special Collections and Adjunct Associate Professor of History at Vassar College. He teaches classes on the History of the Book and the Reformation and was a seminar participant in the 2007.  During the seminar he produced a blog to record some of his travels and experiences.

Meg Roland: “The NEH seminar, ‘Reformation of the Book,’ was an amazing scholarly and collegial experience.  The opportunity to work at various libraries in Oxford and at the British Library brought a new depth to work that I had started on late medieval and early modern maps in literary and popular printed texts.  I learned so much from the other participants and now count them among my colleagues and friends.  As a medievalist, it was particularly enriching to spend time with early modernists and to extend past my usual period.  I will be collaborating on a panel next year with another seminar participant at the Renaissance Society of America and, as a result of my work in the seminar, have been invited to participate in an upcoming conference on geography and literature to be held at UCLA in 2009.  The NEH seminar was a great impetus for me to take my work in new directions.  It was intellectually stimulating and, at the same time, so much fun.”

  • Dr. Margaret Roland is Chair of the English Literature and Writing Department at Marylhurst University, OR. She was a seminar participant in 2007.  During the seminar, she created a blog that chronicles both scholarly and social aspects of the seminar. They include book history and production as studied by participants while in Antwerp and Oxford as well as time spent in pubs or along the river Thames.  In addition, there are posts related to a weekend sojourn to sites related to Malory's Le Morte Darthur, including Winchester, Glastonbury, and Stonehenge.

 

Chris Warner: “In my career, the NEH seminar on ‘The Reformation of the Book’ was a uniquely enriching experience that has continued since to be a major influence on my scholarship and teaching. The superb design of the program made the six weeks continuously invigorating, with seminar discussions, museum and library tours, and rare book workshops alternating with substantial personal research time so that new ideas and leads could be almost immediately pursued and new discoveries could be almost immediately shared. By this means my own and others’ projects were taken in sometimes surprising but always fruitful directions, and the seeds of future projects were planted. I cannot strongly enough recommend this summer seminar.”

  • Dr. J. Christopher Warner is Professor of English at Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY, and the author most recently of John Bale’s Catalogue of Tudor Authors: An Annotated Translation of Records from the Scriptorum illustrium maioris Brytanniae . . . Catalogus (1557-1559). He was a seminar participant in 2009, during which he worked on a monograph-length study of Tottel’s Miscellany in the Marian book market.

 


            The following blogs were produced by participants in the
            2007 & 2009 "Reformation of the Book" NEH Summer                         Seminars for College and University Teachers:

            http://www.reformationofthebook.blogspot.com/
            http://printingbooksandmaps.blogspot.com/
            http://sommersteuer.wordpress.com/

            Return to "Tudor Books and Readers"