Memory/Reason/Imagination:

Librarians and Scholars—Past, Present, and Future
A Symposium in Honor of Daniel Traister
  • Program
Engraved title page (modified) from Francis Bacon, Of the Advancement and Proficience of Learning (Oxford, 1640)
Engraved title page (modified) from Francis Bacon, Of the Advancement and Proficience of Learning (Oxford, 1640)

March 30-31, 2012

In honor of Dr. Daniel Traister on the occasion of his retirement, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries will host a symposium examining the worlds of librarians and scholars, and how these worlds intersect with and influence each other. Themes to be addressed by symposium speakers will include: 

  • History of Collections and Collecting: Encyclopedism vs. Curiosity
  • Epistemology and Its Classifications in Libraries
  • History of Librarianship/Portraits of Librarians
  • The Role of the Librarian: Scholar and/or Professional
  • Changes and Continuities in the Digital Age: Textual Conversion, Reading Practices, and Knowledge

Crossing disciplines and time periods, these themes reflect some of the broad interests that Dan has brought to his own work at institutions including the New York Public Library and the University of Pennsylvania. Dan has shared his insights with colleagues and students at those institutions as well as at Rare Book School, where for many years he taught courses and influenced a new generation of librarians. In addition, he has published many articles and reviews on scholarly and library-related topics.

Conference Sponsors
The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation
School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania
Department of English, University of Pennsylvania
Wendy Wilson & Bruce McKittrick, and Bruce McKittrick Rare Books
Mary H. and Lawrence W. Pollack
Jay and Jean Kislak
University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Speakers and Session Chairs

John Bidwell (Morgan Library), Martin Burke (Graduate Center, City University of New York), Rachel Buurma (Swarthmore College), Roger Chartier (Collège de France, University of Pennsylvania), Rosemary Cullen (Brown University), Joan DeJean (University of Pennsylvania), James English (University of Pennsylvania), Lynne Farrington (University of Pennsylvania), James N. Green (Library Company of Philadelphia), Andrea Immel (Princeton University), Zachary Lesser (University of Pennsylvania), Jack Lynch (Rutgers University), David N. McKnight (University of Pennsylvania), Kathy Peiss (University of Pennsylvania), John Pollack (University of Pennsylvania), H. Carton Rogers (University of Pennsylvania), Michael T. Ryan (Columbia University), Alice Schreyer (University of Chicago), Jacob Soll (Rutgers University), Peter Stallybrass (University of Pennsylvania), Michael F. Suarez (University of Virginia), Simran Thadani (University of Pennsylvania), Cathy Turner (University of Pennsylvania).

  • Friday, March 30, 2012

    4:00PM: Welcome: H. Carton Rogers, Vice Provost and Director of Libraries

    4:15PM: Session 1: Digital Pasts, Digital Futures
    James English (chair)
    Rachel Buurma, Digital Pedagogies and the Aesthetics of Research
    Zachary Lesser, An Error and an Emendation: Q1 Hamlet and Google Books
    Peter Stallybrass, "Digital Technologies and Slow Reading"

    5:30-6:45PM: Keynote address: Roger Chartier
    In the Library Sings the Bird: Collections, Theories, and Scholarship
    Introduction: John Pollack

    7:00PM: Claudia Cohen Hall
    Reception for registered attendees

  • Saturday, March 31, 2012

    8:00-9:00AM: Registration & continental breakfast (Meyerson B-1 lobby)

    9:00AM: Welcome: David N. McKnight, Director, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

    9:05-10:30AM: Session 2: Professional Histories
    Michael T. Ryan (chair)
    Rosemary Cullen, S. Foster Damon: The Wanderings of an Intellectual Nomad
    Kathy Peiss, The Ethics of Acquisition in World War II
    Alice Schreyer, Bibliographers and Buildings: Defining Research Libraries

    10:30-11:00AM: Coffee break

    11:00AM-12:30PM: Session 3: Epistemologies
    Martin Burke (chair)
    James N. Green, Memory, Reason, Imagination: A Scheme for the Classification of Libraries
    Jack Lynch, So Help Me God: William Henry Ireland and the Truth
    Jacob Soll, Accounting and the French Origins of Political Accountability: Research from the UPenn Rare Books Collection

    12:30-2:00PM: Lunch (on your own)

    2:00-3:30PM: Session 4: Institutions/Collectors/Collections
    Joan DeJean (chair)
    John Bidwell, A Museum of Madness: Man Booker Prize Novels at the Morgan
    Lynne Farrington, Hidden Collection, Hidden Collector: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Charles Walts Burr
    Andrea Immel, Extraordinary Ordinary Objects: Collecting Manuscripts by Children

    3:30-4:00PM: Coffee break

    4:00PM: Keynote address: Michael F. Suarez
    Tales from Shakespeare: Censure, Censorship, and the Circulation of Texts
    Introduction: Simran Thadani

    5:00-6:00PM: Summary discussion
    Cathy Turner (moderator)
    Daniel Traister, Roger Chartier, Michael F. Suarez, participants and audience

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