Valuing the Premodern Fragment (RBS-Mellon Symposium)

Date: 22 September 2017 – 23 September 2017
Time: Times vary
Location: Marquette University
Presented by: The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in Critical Bibliography at Rare Book School and the Dean's Office of the Klinger College of Arts and Sciences, Marquette University

This symposium will examine the different kinds of value that pre-1800 textual fragments possess, accrue and/or produce in and through their fragmentary nature. It will also examine the intellectual value with which we imbue the fragment, when we argue that it is or is not representative of a historical record, when we debate whether it testifies to extreme scarcity or extreme abundance, when we argue whether it does, fails to, or should perform the work of memorializing a “lost” moment.

Featuring manuscript historians and art historians from outside Marquette as well as members of Marquette’s own English, Theology, and History Departments and a special presentation of rare books and materials from Raynor-Memorial Libraries Special Collections and University Archives, this promises to be an exciting and engaging event to which everyone is warmly welcome. Registration is not required.