On behalf of Digital Scriptorium and the Peripheral Manuscripts Project, see the following CFP for a sponsored session at the 2027 International Congress on Medieval Studies, to be held at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May 13-15, 2027.
Manuscript Collecting in North America: Considering the Means, Motives, and Opportunities
Sponsored by Digital Scriptorium and the Peripheral Manuscripts Project
Regional and national efforts have recently increased the discoverability of the numerous medieval manuscript holdings found in North American collections. Such projects have made more–and better–data available about North American manuscripts, revealing complex histories of manuscript circulation on this continent. We invite papers that consider the many motivations that drove collectors, booksellers, and institutions to acquire and trade manuscripts, including economic, political, and social factors relating to the dispersal of libraries and collections in Europe and the Middle East, and the less savory aspects of the trade such as book-breaking, theft, and graft.
Proposals are due September 15, 2026, and can be submitted here.
Publishing in the Archives Profession 