Pre-conference Workshop for Graduate Students:
“Interacting with Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts”

On Saturday, July 27 and Sunday, July 28, there will be a pre-conference workshop for graduate students on the theme “Interacting with Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts.” Facilitated by Drs. Claire Breay (British Library), Bernard Meehan (Trinity College Dublin), and Timothy Graham (University of New Mexico), the workshop will provide graduate students with an in-depth orientation to Anglo-Saxon manuscript studies, incorporating discussion of new directions and technological innovations in the field. There will be places in the workshop for around a dozen graduate students. Participants must be members of ISAS. There is no charge for attendance at the workshop, and participants will receive a waiver of the ISAS conference registration fee as well as free on-campus housing during the workshop and conference, covering the nights of Friday, July 26 through Friday, August 2.

Individual sessions at the workshop will center on such topics as the materiality of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts; paleographical and codicological links between the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic worlds; the application of advanced technology to the study of the St. Cuthbert Gospel, the oldest intact Western European book; the impact of digital innovations in manuscript studies; how to engage the public in manuscript studies; and manuscript evidence for the early modern origins and development of Anglo-Saxon studies.

The deadline for receipt of applications for the workshop is Friday, March 29. A complete application will consist of (1) a letter of intent (1–2 pages) in which the applicant outlines his or her academic background, research interests, and how the workshop will benefit the applicant’s professional development; (2) a curriculum vitae; and (3) a letter of recommendation from a faculty advisor, sent under separate cover. The letter of intent should include a statement that the applicant is a member of ISAS. All application materials should be sent via email to ISAS President Timothy Graham at tgraham@unm.edu. Acceptance notifications will be sent out by April 15.

The Workshop Facilitators

Claire Breay is Head of Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts at the British Library, London. She joined the staff of the British Library in 1998 after receiving her Ph.D. in History from the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. She was instrumental in securing the British Library’s purchase of the St. Cuthbert Gospel in 2012; she is the co-editor, with Bernard Meehan, of The St. Cuthbert Gospel: Studies on the Insular Manuscript of the Gospel of John, and she has played a leading part in the Library’s initiative to digitize all its Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. She was co-supervisor of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with the University of Leicester on “Understanding the Anglo-Saxons: The English and Continental Manuscript Evidence” and is a member of the project team for the Leverhulme Trust International Network on Insular Manuscripts, AD 650–850. She was Curator of the British Library’s recent major exhibition, Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War.

Bernard Meehan served as Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin from 1983 until his retirement in 2016 and is a Research Fellow of the Trinity Medieval History Research Centre. He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Edinburgh. He is the current Chair of the Association for Manuscripts and Archives in Research Collections and serves on the Editorial Board of Peritia: Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland. An expert on manuscripts of the Insular and early Anglo-Saxon period, his publications include The Book of Durrow: A Medieval Masterpiece at Trinity College Dublin (1996), The Book of Kells (2013), and The Book of Kells: Official Guide (2018). He is a contributor to the catalogue of the British Library exhibition, Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War.

Timothy Graham is Distinguished Professor of History and Director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of New Mexico, and currently serves as the President of ISAS. He received his M.Phil. in Renaissance Studies from the Warburg Institute, University of London, and his Ph.D. in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic from the University of Cambridge. He held research positions at the University of Manchester and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, from 1980 to 1994 before moving to the United States to take up positions at Western Michigan University (1995–2002) and the University of New Mexico (since 2002). An expert on the early history of Anglo-Saxon studies, he is the editor of The Recovery of Old English: Anglo-Saxon Studies in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (2000) and co-author of Introduction to Manuscript Studies (2007). In 2016 he received the Medieval Academy of America’s CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies.