Digitizing the Medieval Archive

An International Conference

Centre for Medieval Studies – University of Toronto – April 25/26, 2014

David Greetham (The Graduate Center, CUNY)

Stephen G. Nichols (Johns Hopkins University)

Caroline Macé (KU Leuven)

Consuelo Dutschke (Columbia University Library)

Discussion about the digitization of archival fonds and library holdings pertaining to the Middle Ages boasts a wide profusion both in online settings and in real time. As the question of how medievalists may work within this digital environment becomes an increasingly more widely discussed topic, we invite scholars in the Humanities and Social Sciences to convene in Toronto to consider and discuss the possibilities of the digitized medieval archive.

There has been and continues to be considerable variation in the introduction, evaluation and continuation of digital storage. Digital technology has expanded and complicated the idea of the medieval archive. In bringing together the two concepts, digitization and archivization, we aim to address questions about the dissemination of and access to materials and research, but also such long-standing questions relating to the methodological and practical ways we carry out research and think about our material – thinking digitally about the Middle Ages.

This conference sets out to explore ways in which medievalists might harness the vast, digital possibilities for a cross-institutional and interdisciplinary medieval archive. Possible topics may include but are not limited to the following:

Implications of digital archives for the editing of medieval texts

Methodologies and/or ideologies behind archivization

The archivization of already existing digital databases

Digitized archives/collections as enabling or limiting research

The digital (re)construction of medieval collections

Compilation and order of medieval texts

Textual forms / reading methods

Fluidity of the medieval text and the Internet

The digital conglomeration of visual and narrative data

Digital visualization of medieval documents, art and literature

Please submit a short C.V. and abstracts of 250 words by November 1, 2013 for consideration.

digitizingmedievalarchive@gmail.com

digitizingmedievalarchive.wordpress.com