Inaugural Residential Research Library Conference
Libraries, Learning and Religious Identities:
Britain, Ireland and the European Context, c.1100-c.1900
Hosted by Durham University and Ushaw
Organised by Durham University’s Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Tuesday 10 – Friday 13 September 2019
Call for Papers
Deadline for submissions: Sunday 6 January 2019
Proposals for papers and panels should be submitted to admin.imems@durham.ac.uk
Durham University, in collaboration with Ushaw and Durham Cathedral Library, is in the process of establishing a Residential Research Library, which will provide opportunities for visiting scholars to come to Durham to work on the rich collections of these three institutions. The formal launch of the RRL will take place in the autumn of 2019 and to celebrate the event Durham University and Ushaw are hosting a conference on the theme of Libraries, Learning and Religious Identities.
The library collections at Durham are rich and diverse. At the heart of them, however, are a remarkable group of libraries created by, and attached to, religious institutions. Part of the original endowment of the University was the library created by Bishop John Cosin and bequeathed to his successors as an endowed public library for local clergy and people of scholarly interests. Still housed in the building designed by Cosin to house it, the library celebrates the 350th anniversary of its opening in 2019. Among the collections of Durham Cathedral Library is the most complete surviving English monastic library. For the last few years the Cathedral and the University have been collaborating on a project to produce high quality digital images of all the surviving volumes belonging to the Priory Library in order to make this resource as widely available as possible. Ushaw College houses not only a nineteenth- and twentieth-century seminary library, but also copies of many of the books that would have belonged to Douai College, as well as the library of the English College at Lisbon.
It is appropriate, therefore, that the theme of the Inaugural Residential Research Library Conference, 'Libraries, Learning and Religious Identities: Britain, Ireland and the European Context, c.1100-c.1900.' The conference aims to take a broad and inclusive approach to its theme, exploring not only libraries as institutions, but also their social, intellectual and cultural contexts. Geographically, the conference aims to include Britain and Ireland, including the experiences of natives of the British Isles on the continent and institutions, such as the English Catholic colleges, established by exiles. Papers which illuminate the British and Irish context through the discussion of Europe are also welcome.
Some of the questions which we expect to be discussed during the conference are listed below, but this list is intended to be neither prescriptive nor exhaustive, and we would welcome proposals that adopt new perspectives on libraries, learning and religious cultures.
- What were the purposes of libraries? How did they change through the period?
- How were libraries constructed?
- How were libraries used?
- How important were libraries to the construction of religious knowledge?
- What role did libraries and their holdings play at key moments of religious change, such as the Reformation?
- How did libraries and their contents contribute to the construction of religious identities?
- How important were libraries and learning in sustaining the religious culture of minority groups?
- In what ways did libraries and their holdings acquire symbolic, cultural significance relative to religious identity?
- How can the skills, knowledge and methodologies of academics and specialist library staff be brought together to create and pursue new areas of knowledge?
PROPOSAL CRITERIA/FURTHER INFORMATION
Proposals (no more than 200 words) for papers of 20 minutes in length should be submitted to [e-mail address] by 15 December 2018. They should be accompanied by a short CV (one page), which includes contact details.
Proposals for a panel of three 20-minute papers are also welcome. Panel proposals should comprise:
- A cover sheet, detailing the title of the panel, a short summary of its scope (no more than 200 words), the names of the participants, and the name and e-mail address of the organiser (who will be the contact with the conference committee)
- A 200 word synopsis for each of the papers
- Short CVs (one page) of the presenters, the panel chair and the commentator (the chair and the commentator may be the same.
Proposals from postgraduate students are welcome.
Deadlines
Proposals for papers and panels should be submitted by 6 January 2019 to admin.imems@durham.ac.uk.
Replies to all submissions will be sent no later than the end of February 2019
Academic enquiries should be sent to admin.imems@durham.ac.uk
