Building the Book: Makers, Teachers, Collectors

Date: 4 November 2022
Time: 8:30 a.m.–6 p.m. ET
Location: Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, New York, NY 10022
Presented by: RBS

Registration for attending the symposium in person at the Grolier Club has filled. However, you may click here to register for a live stream of the symposium.

A symposium, free and open to the public, held 4 November 2022 in person at the Grolier Club, as well as online, in conjunction with the exhibition Building the Book from the Ancient World to the Present Day: Five Decades of Rare Book School & the Book Arts Press

Co-chaired by Barbara Heritage & Ruth-Ellen St. Onge
Supported by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Grolier Club & Rare Book School

The symposium is scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. ET with optional breaks and social events throughout the day, including a coffee break (8:30–9:00 a.m.) and closing reception (5:15–6:00 p.m.). Click here for the full schedule.

The symposium will be live-streamed by the Grolier Club; registrants for the live-stream will receive further information from the Grolier Club closer to 4 November.

Join makers, teachers, and collectors for a holistic discussion about how books—and collections—are made. Books are unique resources forming the bedrock of our historical memory. This symposium will focus on the ways in which books are created, received, and interpreted, and on how these activities influence the way we consider the past, present, and future of our collective human history.

The symposium will open with a panel discussion with makers Amira Hegazy, Katherine Ruffin, and Gaylord Schanilec, who will discuss how they draw on established bookmaking techniques, and how those techniques have been influenced by recent digital technologies.

Next, it will feature a panel led by teachers Terry Belanger, Olivia Moy, and Kinohi Nishikawa, who focus on the history of the book and/or bibliography in their classrooms and courses. The discussion will explore why hands-on pedagogy with books is significant for students today, while highlighting some of the pedagogical techniques that our speakers use in working with students new to book history.

The third event, a roundtable on book collecting, including Lisa Baskin, Cheryl Beredo, and Soren Edgren, will touch on how collections help shape larger narratives about bookmaking and the longer history of the book. The presenters will also speak to the kinds of education and outreach that they have conducted with their collections.

The concluding event—a series of practice-oriented presentations led by Curtis Small, David Whitesell, and Heather Wolfe—will demonstrate how book historians, librarians, curators, and bibliographers use their knowledge of the physical features of books and related materials to uncover important histories about bookmaking and the spread of knowledge.

The symposium will end with a reception held on the second floor of the Grolier Club.

Visiting The Grolier Club

47 East 60th Street, New York, NY 10022212-838-6690, www.grolierclub.org
Hours: Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. ET
Admission: Exhibitions are open to the public free of charge.
Please note: facemasks are not currently required, but strongly encouraged.