Manuscripts come to us across hundreds of years, and many undergo myriad mediations as they traverse deep time. What are some common modifications people have made to manuscripts? How did they do this? And how were manuscripts created in the first place?

Come and look at some of the manuscripts held at Penn that have been cut up, remixed, rewritten, and rebound. Hear Penn experts discuss these texts, including an overview of the materials and practices through which manuscripts were made initially. Then, take a pair of scissors and cut your own from paper print-outs drawn from the OPenn repository. Speakers will include Dr. Whitney Trettien, Associate Professor of English, Michael Carroll, Assistant Director of the Fisher Fine Arts Library, and Dot Porter, SIMS Curator of Digital Humanities.

Through crafting our own collages, codices, and cut-outs, this two-hour workshop encourages us to learn through enacting as we explore how manuscripts have been created and recreated across time by human beings.

Making [and Remaking] Texts: Past, Present, and Future was a workshop originally conceived and organized by the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies Graduate Fellow 2023-2024 Julia Pelosi Thorpe in February, 2024. Making [and Remaking] is scheduled to align with the 17th Annual Lawrence J. Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age which has the theme Circulations, and the Movement of Books exhibit on display in the Goldstein Gallery August 30-December 13, 2024. The workshop is hosted and supported by the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies.

Please contact Dot Porter (dorp@upenn.edu) with any questions.