Job announcement: Elizabeth A.R. Brown Archivist, University of Pennsylvania Libraries

The Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts at the University of Pennsylvania is seeking to hire the inaugural Elizabeth A. R. Brown archivist. The archivist will work with scholars and colleagues at Penn and around the world to establish, catalog, and develop a central repository of archives, project files, working papers, and born-digital materials belonging to medievalists and professional organizations. This new, permanently endowed position has been enabled through the extraordinary generosity of the late Elizabeth (Peggy) A. R. Brown, and is of major significance to the field of medieval studies in North America. It also represents an exciting opportunity to work with a dynamic group of archivists, librarians, and medievalists active at Penn, at the Kislak Center, and at the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies.

Find the full posting here. 

Job summary

The Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts seeks an enthusiastic processing archivist to work with curators and processing staff to lead a new Penn Libraries initiative to acquire process, and make available the archives assembled by scholars in medieval studies and of professional organizations that advance the field. Situated in the Kislak Center for Rare Books, Manuscripts and Special Collections, the Elizabeth A.R. Brown archivist will be a member of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscripts Studies (SIMS) team and the Archives and Manuscripts Processing Unit. The archivist will arrange and describe analog, digital, and hybrid archival collections, create EAD finding aids using ArchivesSpace in order to provide access to collections, and will contribute posts to the Kislak Center blogs and other social media. The archivist will work with the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Texts and Imaging (SCETI) to ensure that selected material is digitized according to established best practices so that they are made available to a global community of scholars in a timely fashion. The processing archivist will work with fellow archivists within the Penn Libraries and across campus to improve workflows, policies and practices in an effort to respond to and anticipate the evolving needs of the archival profession and the Penn Libraries’ vision of responsibly and ethically promoting access to collections.

Job Description

Job Responsibilities

  • Physically process analog and hybrid archival collections of medieval studies scholars and the records of relevant professional organizations; arranging the material and rehousing for permanent archival storage. 
  • Describe collections, creating EAD finding aids, via ArchiveSpace. 
  • Write blog posts & participate in activities or events for the Kislak Center in order to promote collections and raise awareness to Penn faculty and students and the wider research community.
  • Serve on Elizabeth A.R. Brown Medievalist Archive Advisory Committee, which is charged with identifying, assessing, and coordinating the acquisition of new collections in accordance with the Penn Libraries and Kislak Center’s policies and procedures.
  • With the Kislak Center’s Born Digital Archivist and the Digital Preservation Librarian, accession, preserve, process, and make accessible natively digital collections, including electronic drafts of scholarly work, professional email, audiovisual assets, accumulated data sets, and other documentation.
  • Serve as an associate member of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS) team, contributing archival expertise to a broad range of conversations about the Institute’s programs and collections-based initiatives.
  • Supervise student and temporary staff processing assistants.
  • Perform onsite assessments and preliminary triage on collections in situ, traveling to homes, offices, etc., and attending relevant scholarly gatherings to discuss potential acquisitions.
  • Work with Special Collections Processing Center, University Archives, and Katz Center staff to improve workflows, policies, and best practices and develop methodologies to reduce backlog and/or enhance accessibility; including participation in large-scale agile processing and collections management projects that increase accessibility to distinctive collections.
  • Perform additional duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

  • Master of Science, MLIS, Master of Arts, and 3 to 5 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
  • A minimum of 3 years’ experience processing analog and digital archival collections.
  • Expert knowledge of DACS, EAD, XML, MARC and ArchivesSpace.
  • Experience using born-digital processing hardware (Forensic Recovery of Evidence Device) and software (Archivematica, Archive-It, BitCurator, and others).
  • Reading knowledge of French and/or Italian and/or Latin and/or Spanish.
  • The ability to work both independently and with others in a collaborative work environment
  • Demonstrated ability to manage time and complete projects efficiently and effectively
  • Fluency with Microsoft Office software, in particular Excel
  • Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills
  • Willingness to promote collection material through social media and events
  • A commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

  • Demonstrated interest in and/or knowledge of medieval studies
  • Knowledge of Alma (Penn’s integrated library system)
  • Experience with agile processing and/or innovative methods for reducing backlog
  • Evidence of high level initiative and self-motivation

Application Requirement

A Cover Letter and Resume/CV are required to be considered for this position. Please upload your Cover Letter where it asks you to upload your Resume/CV; multiple documents are allowed.

Oxford Medieval Manuscripts Group, Hilary Term 2025, Fridays 5pm (BST)

Hilary Term 2025 | Fridays 5 pm (unless otherwise stated) 

Organisers: Irina Boeru, Fergus Bovill, Ana Dias, Charly Driscoll, Antonia Delle Fratte, Elena Lichmanova, Mathilde Mioche, Celeste Pan, Klara Zhao 

For all enquiries, please write to: elena.lichmanova@merton.ox.ac.uk         

Week 1, 24 January 2025, 15:00                

Balliol Historic Collections Centre Visit  

Previous experience of handling medieval manuscripts is desirable

Limited places, write to the email above by 22/01/2025

Week 3, 7 February 2025, 17:15                 

The Queen’s College Library Visit 

Limited places, write to the email above by 1/02/2025

Week 4, 14 February 2025, ONLINE    

Reading Group: Interpretation and Meaning:

  • Beatrice Kitzinger, ‘Working with Images in Manuscripts’ (2020)      
  • Paula Mae Carns, ‘Making and Unmaking Love in the Macclesfield Psalter’ (2023)
  • Michael Camille, ‘Introduction’, in The Medieval Art of Love (1998)

Write to the email above to join.    

Week 5, 21 February 2025, Merton College, Hawkins Room                

Work-in-Progress Session

Emma Nelson, University of Manchester, Book Owners and Donors in Twelfth-Century Lincoln

Blanche Darbord, University of Cambridge, Alexander the Great and Chivalry in Plantagenet England

Week 7, 7 March 2025, Merton College, Mure Room    

Nancy Thebaut, History of Art Department and St Catherine’s College, Oxford, Learning to Look: (Mis)reading the Visitatio sepulchri, ca. 900-1050 

Murray Seminar: ‘Charles of Luxembourg as a visitor at the papal court in Avignon’, Dr Alexandra Gajewski, 21 January 2025 (5-6.30pm GMT)

  • Location: Birkbeck, 43 Gordon Square, Keynes Library and Online
  • Date and time: 21 January 2025, 17:00 — 18:30 GMT

When on 23rd May 1365 Emperor Charles IV arrived in Avignon accompanied by five hundred knights, he encountered a city that had changed substantially compared to the Avignon he saw on his visits in c.1340, 1344 and 1346, when he was still Margrave of Moravia. The Porte Saint-Lazare, through which the imperial procession probably entered, had not existed in the 1340s, new city walls had been built from 1357/58. The city’s churches had been rebuilt. The Papal Palace had been enlarged with a new entrance, a new staircase and new chapel in the 1340s; dazzling new wall-paintings adorned the walls, a new kitchen been built and polyphonic music had been introduced. Charles slept in Petit Palais whereas in 1340 he had stayed in the Livrée of Pierre de Rosiers. Although, there are only snippets of evidence for the earlier visits, Charles’s adventus in 1365 is reported in a number of sources, in particular in the chronicles by John of Reading and Jan Neplach, who probably based their reports on eyewitness accounts. By crossing the sources relating to Charles’s visits with the topographical and architectural evidence, this paper hopes to show that the documents throw light on the unfolding of the emperor’s visit, in a way that has not been previously understood, and, more broadly, that the walls, the religious topography and the enlarged Papal Palace were active parts in making Avignon a fitting stage for the greatest moment in the city’s history, the entry of the emperor.

Alexandra Gajewski is the Deputy Editor of The Burlington Magazine and a Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, London. She studied art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she obtained her Ph.D. on Gothic architecture in northern Burgundy. Her research ranges from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, with a focus on regionalism, monasticism, the role of women, and, especially, late medieval Avignon.

Please Book Here for the In Person

Please Book Here for the Livestream

British Archaeological Association Study Day: Coventry (Friday 21 March 2025), deadline 7 February 2025

Locations: St Mary’s Guildhall, Holy Trinity Church, St Michael’s Cathedral

Late medieval Coventry was the fourth largest city in England with a population of around 10,000. It rivalled the other regional capitals of York, Bristol and Norwich. Henry VI set up court in Coventry in the 1450s during the early part of the Wars of the Roses. Coventry’s wealth from the sale of wool and woollen broadcloth at this time helped pay for a building boom and investment in remarkable art and material culture. A surprising amount survives to this day and deserves closer attention.

St Mary’s Guildhall is one of the most important medieval guildhalls in the country. It is the former guildhall of Coventry’s Holy Trinity Guild, formed in 1392 when Coventry’s four most prestigious guilds amalgamated. St Mary’s lies in the heart of Coventry’s medieval quarter, adjacent to the ruined St Michael’s parish church, Holy Trinity Church and the remains of St Mary’s Priory, Coventry’s first cathedral.

We will visit St Mary’s Hall in the morning to discuss an impressive early sixteenth-century Flemish tapestry in its original location. The tapestry has recently been subject to multi-disciplinary study, with the results published in a book edited by Dr Mark Webb, who will lead the session. There will also be a unique opportunity to observe an infra-red survey conducted by Dr Constantina Vlachou-Mogire, Heritage Science Manager at Historic Royal Palaces. Abi Brown (MA) will present some rare and relatively unknown fifteenth-century wood carvings currently on display in the Treasury. Dr Heather Gilderdale-Scott will lead a session analysing the medieval stained glass in the Guildhall. 

After lunch, we will reconvene at the nearby Holy Trinity Church for a talk on the Doom painting by Dr Miriam Gill. We will then explore the remains of the stained glass from the medieval cathedral of St Michael’s.

Find out more about the timetabling for the day over on the BAA website.

Travel and practicalities:

Trains run regularly from London to Coventry and the fast train takes just under an hour. Coventry is also served by regular trains from Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester.

St Mary’s Guildhall is a 15 min walk from Coventry train station (see map below). There are regular buses (every 20 mins) that run from the station to the city centre (number 11, X30, 9 or 87). Holy Trinity Church is a 5 min walk from the Guildhall and well signposted. We will walk as a group from Holy Trinity Church to St Michael’s Cathedral (also a 5 min walk).

The cost of the day will be £25 for members. The event is free for students, for whom travel grants (to a maximum of £50) are also available.

Places are limited to 20, of which up to 10 are reserved for students.

To apply please e-mail studydays@thebaa.org by February 7th 2025. Please state in the email whether you are a member of the BAA or a student. All names will be entered into a ballot for the study day and the successful applicants will be notified by February 10th 2025. 

Essay competition: Church Monuments Society Essay Competition, deadline 31 January 2025

The Council of the Church Monuments Society offers a biennial prize of £500 called the Church Monuments Essay Prize, to be awarded with a certificate for the best essay submitted in the relevant year. The prize will only be awarded if the essay is considered by the judges to be of sufficiently high standard to merit publication in the peer-reviewed journal Church Monuments. Entries in addition to the winner may be considered for publication.

The competition is open only to those who have not previously published an article in Church Monuments. Entrants need not be members of the Church Monuments Society, but are recommended to familiarise themselves with Church Monuments: abstracts and indexes can be found on the website https://churchmonumentssociety.org.

The focus of the essay must be a monument/s in a church, churchyard or cemetery, of any period and location. Entries must be submitted in English.

The length (including notes) should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words, with a maximum of 10 illustrations.

The closing date for new entries is 31 January 2025.

Please contact the Hon. Journal Editor for a copy of the rules and the guidelines to contributors and/or for advice on the suitability of a particular topic.

Jonathan Trigg
jrtrigg@gmail.com

New Publication: ‘The Abbey Church of Cluny, The Context and Creation of the Surviving Great Transept’ by C. Edson Armi

At the end of the eleventh century, monks at Cluny commissioned the largest basilica in Christendom. Much has been written about the mother church of the Cluniac Order, with a focus on reconstructing missing parts of the church and making connections between Cluniac architecture and medieval culture. My approach is different in a number of ways — concentrating on the innovative and refined features of the surviving transept and placing them in a complex artistic context. It combines examination of archaeology, architecture and sculpture, interweaves analysis of aesthetics — light, space, articulation and decoration — with analysis of practicalities — function, construction and structure, and uncovers numerous sources of the building, piecing together influences from multiple directions. The photography is inclusive as well, documenting from various angles and distances, under different lighting conditions, the power and nuance of the monument.

Find out more about the publication on the publisher’s website.

New Publication: ‘The Visual Culture of al-Andalus in the Christian Kingdoms of Iberia’, edited by Inés Monteira

This book addresses the reception of Islamic visual culture by the northern Iberian kingdoms, by systematically comparing works of art from both sides and fleshing out their historical context.

This study includes figurative and iconographic motifs, architectural forms, and even the spolia from constructions and Arabic inscriptions that were embedded in Christian buildings. The Islamic visual culture of al-Andalus was often transformed as it was recreated by Christian hands, bringing to the fore various nuances in the relationship between the two religious communities. Artistic transfer was conditioned by social coexistence between Christians and Muslims—both in the caliphate al-Andalus and in the northern realms—and military conflict. To approach the different ways in which Andalusi visual culture was received in the northern kingdoms, while embracing the vast diversity of case studies available, this book is divided into three thematic sections: Reinterpretation, Appropriation, and Artistic Transfers.

Find out more about the book on the publisher’s website.

Fellowship: Jill Franklin Fellowship in Romanesque Architectural History, British Archaeological Association, deadline 31 December 2024

Applications are invited for the inaugural Jill Franklin Fellowship in Romanesque Architectural History at the British School at Rome. The fellowship is tenable for one month and must be taken in June 2025. The fellowship is a joint responsibility of the BSR and British Archaeological Association.

Find out more on the BAA website.

RATIONALE

The fellowship has been established in memory of Jill Franklin (1945-2023), a scholar best known for her work on the architecture of the Augustinian canons, principally of the 11th and 12th centuries, and for her contributions to the study of Anglo-Norman architectural sculpture. Jill was a council member and fieldworker for the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, and joint author of the catalogue of paintings in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries. Though undertaking work at or for various institutions, Jill spent most of her career as an independent scholar.

The aim of the fellowship is to provide an opportunity to spend a month in Rome pursuing research into Romanesque architecture and allied arts (architectural sculpture, fittings and furnishings, monumental painting). Architectural history is here interpreted broadly, to encompass settlement and distribution patterns, institutional and documentary histories (monastic, episcopal, urban), as well as research into specific and/or groups of buildings. Romanesque is similarly interpreted loosely, and although the core chronological range is c. 1000-1200, applications that run into the 10th or 13th centuries will be considered. Proposals do not need to be specific to Rome or central Italy. Indeed, the purpose could be to enjoy a month’s thinking and writing time with access to first-class libraries in pursuit of a research objective whose geographical parameters lie outside Italy.

ELIGIBILITY

Applications are open to British and Commonwealth citizens, and/or those attached to a British or Commonwealth university. The Fellowship is primarily aimed at independent scholars, students undertaking research degrees and early career art/architectural historians. Academics for whom research is a requirement of their employment contract are ineligible.

DURATION AND BENEFITS

The fellowship lasts for the month of June 2025 (30 nights). The British School will provide bed and board at the BSR (Via Gramsci), together with full access to the School’s facilities. A modest pot of spending money (approximately €900) is also provided, though successful applicants are responsible for their own travel to and from Rome.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Applications are assessed by the British Archaeological Association, and are to be sent as email attachments to secretary@thebaa.org All applicants should provide a research proposal, a short CV (no more than one page A4) and the name and contact details of a referee. The closing date for applications is 31 December, 2024. Interviews with applicants will be held by Zoom in January 2025.

Online Lecture: ‘Inscribing Sacred Matter: Reading and Writing Inscriptions on Byzantine Relics’, with Brad Hostetler, 5 December 2024, 12:00 PM (EST)

The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture is pleased to announce the next lecture in our 2024–2025 lecture series.

  • December 5, 2024 | 12:00 PM (EST, UTC -5) | Zoom

Byzantium was replete with inscriptions. Buildings, wall paintings, mosaics, and portable objects alike were adorned with words that labeled iconography, documented patronage, and articulated prayers. Little is known about what the Byzantines did with this rich culture of epigraphy. Did they read these inscriptions once or repeatedly, and in which contexts? This talk brings together literary and material sources that speak to the act of reading and writing inscriptions in situ, focusing on those that were attached to relics and reliquaries. Episodes from saints’ lives, miracle tales, and histories reveal the ways in which the Byzantines engaged with their epigraphic culture. Far from being a passive feature of relics, it is argued that inscriptions were an essential component to the identification and veneration of sacred matter.

Advance registration required. Register: https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/inscribing-sacred-matter

Speaker: Brad Hostetler, Kenyon College

Brad Hostetler is Associate Professor of Art History at Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio). He specializes in the art and material culture of Late Antiquity and Byzantium, with a focus on text and image relationships.

Online Conference: ‘Refinement and/or Reduction Revisited: Gothic Art, Architecture and Culture, c. 1250 to 1350’, 6 December 2024, 10am-5pm (GMT)

This one-day conference organised by the Architecture, Space and Society Centre aims at an interdisciplinary reassessment of Gothic art and architecture between c. 1250 and 1350 in a broad European perspective. In this period of increased diversity of patrons and new technical facilities, the design options for artists and architects alike extended to a virtuoso refinement across media. At the same time new modes of reduction emerged, probably originating in economic, technical or programmatic tendencies of the time. The study day – an extension of a larger international conference on his subject held at Halle University in June – will examine this paradox and its cultural context on series of outstanding examples across Europe.

Speakers:

  • Lindy Grant (University of Reading), The Aesthetics of Ascetism: Louis IX and Court Culture after the Return from the 1248-54 Crusade
  • Tim Ayers (University of York), Less is More: The Chapter House of York Minster
  • Tom Nickson (The Courtauld), Two for One: Berenguer de Montagut, Manresa, and Catalan Gothic
  • Jana Gajdošová (Sam Fogg), Transforming Tradition: The Šivetice Rotunda and its Architectural Innovations 
  • Michalis Olympios (University of Cyprus), Architecture and Ritual at the Laon Cathedral Chapels
  • Alexandra Gajewski (Burlington Magazine/Institute for Historical Research), Becoming Papal Residence: Churches and Chapels in Avignon, from John XXII to Clement VI
  • Zoë Opacic (Birkbeck), Erfordia turrita: ‘Reduktionsgotik’ and Urban Refinement in Fourteenth-century Erfurt