Hosted by: SIMS and Kislak Center
What exactly is parchment? What’s a quire? How do I read this funny script? Where does this book come from? Why do I need to know about collation structure? How was this handwritten artefact made and why does it matter? If you are curious about how you can integrate manuscript sources into your own scholarship, sign up for this free, informal workshop offered by the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS) at Penn Libraries, which will meet monthly throughout the 2026/27 academic year.
If you are looking to enhance your research skills and deepen your knowledge of pre-modern manuscripts, this opportunity is for you. Each session will be hosted by specialists at SIMS (Nicholas Herman, Amey Hutchins, Dot Porter, Lynn Ransom). The goal is to provide graduate students with specific skills needed to study and use pre-modern manuscripts for dissertation research and beyond.
The workshop will meet on select Thursday evenings from 5:00 to 7:00 pm in the Vitale II Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities (6th floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library). See the schedule below for details.
While the workshop is meant to be an informal gathering, a commitment to attend all sessions is encouraged. It is open to all Penn graduate students and to graduate students at other institutions by request. Please email sims-mss@pobox.upenn.edu with any questions.