Located in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, the Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities welcomes scholars of all levels who are working on projects at the intersection of BH+DH, providing space for collaboration and learning, for experimentation and creation. We host two sets of open hours every week, and many workshops that are available to everyone. A collaboration of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies and the Price Lab for Digital Humanities.
The Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities is located at:
623 Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, 6th floor
Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Learn more about book history, try out the tools of digital humanities practitioners, and speak with BH+DH partners during our weekly office hours. We will schedule office hours again starting in September 2026. If you have questions please contact Dot Porter.
Our Text Technologies Petting Zoo includes historical equipment for making text (e.g., typewriters, computers). Visit during office hours to learn more about it with Emily F. Brooks, Associate Director of the Price Lab for Digital Humanities.
While research visits with special collections should happen in the Kislak Center Reading Room, Vitale II offers support for group and virtual viewing, and personal imaging options. With the help of our staff and equipment, you can display objects in the room, on the large screen with the document camera, on the two side monitors with the ceiling camera, and to virtual audiences via video conferencing. We also provide support for video recordings. Starting in 2026, we will be offering access to a Multispectral Imaging System for Historical Artifacts (MISHA) for experimental use.
To view special collections in the Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities, email Dot Porter. Once you have scheduled a time, you can request the item using your Aeon research account.
The Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities welcomes partnerships with organizations and individuals working at the intersection of BH and DH. Groups can also reserve the space for events and workshops on related topics.
To discuss collaboration or reserve the space, email Dot Porter.
Learn about our ongoing events, activities, and working groups that celebrate and explore work at the intersection of libraries, book history, and digital humanities.
An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators.
The Manuscript Studies Interest Group (MSIG) is a regular meeting for people who want to get up close and personal with a variety of handwritten objects.
A team from the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS), Cultural Heritage Computing, and Research Data and Digital Scholarship (RDDS) is working to facilitate Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) to transcribe research materials from Penn Libraries’ digitized manuscript collections using AI technologies.
The History of Text Technologies is a series of workshops to be held in the Vitale II Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities during the 2026-2027 academic year.
Bringing manuscript culture, modern technology and people together.
Upcoming events hosted by the Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities. See all Penn Libraries events.
To welcome you to the 2026-2027 academic year, we're starting Coffee With A Codex on September 3rd with a special one-hour event featuring two large liturgical books with musical notation.
Are you sick and tired of work? Come have some fun and explore your creative side with CRAFTERNOONS!
Field trip time! On September 10, we'll be visiting Swarthmore College to take a look at their late 13th century Bible.
Come and make your own illuminated initial on parchment, using gold leaf and paint!
On September 17, curator Dot Porter will be joined by Judaica Special Collections Cataloging Librarian Louis Meiselman, who will show us an illuminated maḥazor (a Hebrew prayer book)
For the Manuscript Studies Interest Group on September 17, we'll look at books about music - treatises and song books - from across time and around the world.
Come write with quills, on paper and parchment!
On September 24, curator Dot Porter will be joined by manuscript scholar Lisa Fagin Davis. Together, they will bring out Ms. Oversize 54, a fragment of one membrane of a French 15th-century illuminated genealogical chronicle roll.
On October 1 (rescheduled from July 2), curator Dot Porter will bring out LJS 386, substantial sections from an illustrated treatise on the measurement of weight, with a historical introduction to theories of gravity and weighing in Greek and Arabic science.
Study a curated selection of historical collections and rare book manuscripts from the Kislak Center for Special Collections that explore the intersection of material archaeology, computational visuality, and natural knowledge in the pre-modern world. A workshop co-hosted by the Empire of AI Book Club and the History of Text Technologies workshop series.
Are you sick and tired of work? Come have some fun and explore your creative side with CRAFTERNOONS!
For the Manuscript Studies Interest Group on October 15, we'll investigate historical fashion from around the world. Hope to see you there!
Come learn about how you can "lock" your notes so only your friends can read them!
Come learn about what texts work better as rolls, which work better as books, and why.
Are you sick and tired of work? Come have some fun and explore your creative side with CRAFTERNOONS!
Come print some text on our Book Beetle tabletop press.
For the Manuscript Studies Interest Group on November 19, we'll look at documents relating to witchcraft and magic, broadly defined. Hope to see you there!
Some text work as bound books, but some do better as rolls or scrolls (what's the difference? Come and find out!). For the Manuscript Studies Interest Group on December 3, we'll look at a variety of rolls and scrolls from across time and around the world. See you there as we celebrate the end of the semester in the best way. With manuscripts!
Are you sick and tired of work? Come have some fun and explore your creative side with CRAFTERNOONS!
