- John J. Burns Library
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Ave
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 - 617-552-0105
Christian Y Dupont
Boston College, Library, Department Member
- Library history, Philosophy, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Luc Marion, Edmund Husserl, Phenomenology, and 40 moreJean-Paul Sartre, History of Library and Information Science, Special Collections, Rare Books And Manuscripts (Library Science), United States History, Libraries and Culture, Gilded Age and Progressive Era, Corpus Linguistics, Languages and Linguistics, Academic Librarianship, Communication Of Memory In Archives, Libraries And Museums, Collaboration Of Archives, Libraries And Museums, History of Florence, Dante, Memory Institutions, Italy (History), History Of Rare Book Libraries, Education for rare book librarianship, History, 19th Century (History), Archival Studies, History of Archives, U.S. Intellectual History, 19th (American History), History of Universities, Italian Literature, Risorgimento, Dante Studies, History of Christianity, History of Ideas, History Of Information, European History, Translation Studies, Archival science, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Charles Eliot Norton, Dante Club, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Phenomonology, and Jean Héringedit
- I have spent most of my career as a special collections librarian and administrator, beginning with reference and cur... moreI have spent most of my career as a special collections librarian and administrator, beginning with reference and curatorial positions at the University of Notre Dame, where I also completed my doctoral studies in theology and philosophy. Along the way, I received a master of information science degree from Indiana University. I subsequently held appointments as director of special collections at Syracuse University and the University of Virginia.
In September 2014, I was appointed Burns Librarian and Associate University Librarian for Special Collections at Boston College. In February 2022, my role was expanded to include not only leadership and management of the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections, and archives, and contributing to the overall management of the BC Libraries, but also leading and coordinating the strategic acquisition, budgetary management, and maintenance of BC Libraries' general collections.
Prior to my appointment at Boston College, I worked with Atlas Systems, a Virginia-based library software development company, to develop and promote Aeon, the premier online user request workflow management system for special collections and archives. Aeon facilitates and enhances researchers' experience of special collections libraries and archives by extending their engagement with their services to the online environment.
I have held leadership roles and remain actively involved in several professional organizations, particularly the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. Since May 2014, I have been serving as Secretary and Librarian for the Dante Society of America.
My primary research interests relate to the history of libraries and collecting. My most recent publications and presentations concern the formation of institutional collections relating to Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy and their role in the reception of Italian literature in the United States. I have also edited my dissertation on the reception of phenomenology in French philosophy and religious thought for the Phaenomenologica series published by Springer under the auspices of the Husserl Archives in Louvain. In conjunction with my curatorial work at Boston College, I regularly speak and publish on Irish Studies topics. In addition, I occasionally present and publish on topics pertaining to the management of special collections libraries and archives.
Other interests and projects are reflected in the listing of my books, papers, talks, and presentations as well as in my curriculum vitae. I invite you to contact me about any interests we share in common.edit
Africa Commons is a new initiative aimed at mitigating threats to cultural heritage while facilitating access. It will develop methods for rapid, low-cost scanning by personnel without formal training. It will use automated tools to... more
Africa Commons is a new initiative aimed at mitigating threats to cultural heritage while facilitating access. It will develop methods for rapid, low-cost scanning by personnel without formal training. It will use automated tools to extract and enrich descriptive metadata from scanned materials and enhance it over time. Scans and accompanying metadata will be uploaded and rapidly indexed on an innovative digital discovery and asset management platform optimized for metadata of varying types and qualities. The result will be a comprehensive, dynamic discovery service focused on African voices, freely accessible in Africa, and on license in other parts of the world. Initial content partners are being identified through a survey of libraries, archives, and museums in Southern Africa. The project is being developed under the auspices of the National University of Lesotho Library in partnership with Coherent Digital and Sabinet.
Research Interests:
A call to massively externalize user data and collections data in order to build a library and archives that is truly of the web, by the web, and for the web.
Research Interests:
In 2006, Rare Book School director Terry Belanger invited Christian Dupont to give a talk about his experiences and “advices” as the newly appointed director of special collections at the University of Virginia. He naturally turned to... more
In 2006, Rare Book School director Terry Belanger invited Christian Dupont to give a talk about his experiences and “advices” as the newly appointed director of special collections at the University of Virginia. He naturally turned to Thomas Jefferson, and drew upon his “Decalogue of Canons,” a series of ten aphoristic expressions of practical wisdom—some more common, some more obscure—like “take things always by their smooth handle.” Applying this maxim to his own career soon led Christian to join a library software development company to create the first automated system for managing special collections library services. And now it has led him back. In his talk, Christian will reflect on what he has learned about life and libraries and whether Mr. Jefferson would approve.
Following a six-year stint with Atlas Systems, the leading provider of time-saving solutions for libraries, Christian was recently appointed as Burns Librarian at Boston College. Formerly director of special collections at the University of Virginia and Syracuse University, he embarked on his service to libraries while completing his doctorate in theology at the University of Notre Dame. His research and publication interests range widely from Dante to continental philosophy and the history and management of libraries.
Following a six-year stint with Atlas Systems, the leading provider of time-saving solutions for libraries, Christian was recently appointed as Burns Librarian at Boston College. Formerly director of special collections at the University of Virginia and Syracuse University, he embarked on his service to libraries while completing his doctorate in theology at the University of Notre Dame. His research and publication interests range widely from Dante to continental philosophy and the history and management of libraries.
Research Interests:
A one-hour series of eight video presentations on assessment principles and practices for academic libraries that I created while I worked as Aeon Program Director for Atlas Systems. Although access to the videos requires a subscription... more
A one-hour series of eight video presentations on assessment principles and practices for academic libraries that I created while I worked as Aeon Program Director for Atlas Systems. Although access to the videos requires a subscription to the Atlas Video Training Library, the transcripts and accompanying slides can be freely downloaded as .zip files.
Research Interests:
Over the past decade, special collections and archives have become an increasingly important focus of academic and research libraries thanks to the pioneering ―Exploring Hidden Collections‖ survey conducted by Judith Panitch in 1998 and... more
Over the past decade, special collections and archives have become an increasingly important focus of academic and research libraries thanks to the pioneering ―Exploring Hidden Collections‖ survey conducted by Judith Panitch in 1998 and the subsequent formation of ARL‘s Special Collections Working Group. Special collections have responded by undertaking large-scale projects to process backlogs, digitize materials for scholarly access and enjoyment, and conduct more instructional outreach for students. Nevertheless, in the current climate in which ARL libraries are examining their value and impact with an eye toward defining their return on investment, special collections and archives are not well-prepared to define the value they contribute because they lack standardized performance measures and usage metrics.
In this paper, we propose strategies for overcoming this impasse by shifting from collection-centric to user-centric approaches to defining metrics for special collections and archives, and by identifying appropriately precise measures that can be consistently and widely applied to facilitate cross-institutional comparisons. We explore, for example, the potential benefits of employing a ―reader-hour‖ in place of the commonly used ―reader-day‖ metric, and correlating it with item usage data in order to gauge the intensity of special collections reading room use. We also discuss attempts to assess the impact of instructional outreach through measures of student confidence in pursuing research projects that involve original documents as primary sources. Defining suitable metrics will enable special collections and archives to better assess and articulate their value propositions in the context of the rapidly evolving landscape of research libraries.
For slides used during our conference presentation, see:
http://independent.academia.edu/ChristianDupont/Talks/37213/_Whats_So_Special_About_Special_Collections_Or_Assessing_the_Value_Special_Collections_Bring_to_Academic_Libraries
In this paper, we propose strategies for overcoming this impasse by shifting from collection-centric to user-centric approaches to defining metrics for special collections and archives, and by identifying appropriately precise measures that can be consistently and widely applied to facilitate cross-institutional comparisons. We explore, for example, the potential benefits of employing a ―reader-hour‖ in place of the commonly used ―reader-day‖ metric, and correlating it with item usage data in order to gauge the intensity of special collections reading room use. We also discuss attempts to assess the impact of instructional outreach through measures of student confidence in pursuing research projects that involve original documents as primary sources. Defining suitable metrics will enable special collections and archives to better assess and articulate their value propositions in the context of the rapidly evolving landscape of research libraries.
For slides used during our conference presentation, see:
http://independent.academia.edu/ChristianDupont/Talks/37213/_Whats_So_Special_About_Special_Collections_Or_Assessing_the_Value_Special_Collections_Bring_to_Academic_Libraries
Research Interests:
"What’s So Special About Special Collections?” was the title chosen for the inaugural issue of the ACRL journal RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Cultural Heritage and a theme issue of American Libraries published later that... more
"What’s So Special About Special Collections?” was the title chosen for the inaugural issue of the ACRL journal RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Cultural Heritage and a theme issue of American Libraries published later that year in August 2000. In June 2001, ARL held a special collections symposium at Brown University that led the formation of a task force to engage the agenda that emerged from the symposium. Following the task force’s final report in 2006, a new ARL special collections working group was assembled and given a charge that included “contributing to the work underway within ARL to develop qualitative and quantitative measures for the evaluation of special collections.” This past fall, the working group partnered with CNI to host a two-day forum on special collections that opened with a panel titled “Why Are Special Collections so Important? Exploring the Value Proposition of Special Collections.” OCLC Research is currently completing the most comprehensive and detailed survey to date of special collections and archives; results will be published this summer. These two presentations will discuss current initiatives addressing the measure issues in special collections and university archives.
In our two-part paper presentation, Christian Dupont will begin by summarizing the key activities and accomplishments of the past decade of efforts to assess the role and contribution of special collections and archives to the academic library enterprise. More importantly, he will point to the significant work that remains to be done to define common practices and measures for assessing special collections and archival services. At present, for instance, there are no generally agreed upon methods for counting basic reading room circulation and reference transactions, much less metrics for evaluating their quality and impact. With little basis for comparing special collections and archives units across institutions, it is difficult to point to best practices and the types of strategic investments needed to implement them. Recent literature indicates that more resources are being devoted to processing and providing access to previously “hidden” collections and conducting instruction outreach programs. Nevertheless, few studies thus far have attempted to systematically analyze their impact. In discussing those that have taken formal approaches, such as a recent NHPRC-funded survey that measured user satisfaction with minimal archival processing techniques, Dupont will point to key areas where standard, guidelines and assessment methods need to be developed.
Elizabeth Yakel will discuss several methodologies of the Archival Metrics Project, such as the Repository of Archival Metrics (ROAM) initiative, designed to define and exchange benchmarking data among university archives and special collections. ROAM attempts to address the lack of effective metrics for special collections and archives in ARL Statistics, standards such as ANSI/NISO (Z39.7), and the International Council of Archives (ICA), International Standard for Describing Institutions with Archival Holdings (ICA-ISDIAH). Yakel will also discuss instruments that university archives and special collections can use to assess the learning and education impacts of their programs and the most recent research assessing the economic impact of government archives.
For the revised version published in June 2013 in Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, see:
http://academia.edu/485594/Whats_So_Special_About_Special_Collections_Or_Assessing_the_Value_Special_Collections_Bring_to_Academic_Libraries""
In our two-part paper presentation, Christian Dupont will begin by summarizing the key activities and accomplishments of the past decade of efforts to assess the role and contribution of special collections and archives to the academic library enterprise. More importantly, he will point to the significant work that remains to be done to define common practices and measures for assessing special collections and archival services. At present, for instance, there are no generally agreed upon methods for counting basic reading room circulation and reference transactions, much less metrics for evaluating their quality and impact. With little basis for comparing special collections and archives units across institutions, it is difficult to point to best practices and the types of strategic investments needed to implement them. Recent literature indicates that more resources are being devoted to processing and providing access to previously “hidden” collections and conducting instruction outreach programs. Nevertheless, few studies thus far have attempted to systematically analyze their impact. In discussing those that have taken formal approaches, such as a recent NHPRC-funded survey that measured user satisfaction with minimal archival processing techniques, Dupont will point to key areas where standard, guidelines and assessment methods need to be developed.
Elizabeth Yakel will discuss several methodologies of the Archival Metrics Project, such as the Repository of Archival Metrics (ROAM) initiative, designed to define and exchange benchmarking data among university archives and special collections. ROAM attempts to address the lack of effective metrics for special collections and archives in ARL Statistics, standards such as ANSI/NISO (Z39.7), and the International Council of Archives (ICA), International Standard for Describing Institutions with Archival Holdings (ICA-ISDIAH). Yakel will also discuss instruments that university archives and special collections can use to assess the learning and education impacts of their programs and the most recent research assessing the economic impact of government archives.
For the revised version published in June 2013 in Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, see:
http://academia.edu/485594/Whats_So_Special_About_Special_Collections_Or_Assessing_the_Value_Special_Collections_Bring_to_Academic_Libraries""
Research Interests:
This special themed issue of RBM treats various aspects of assessment in special collections and archives. It includes the following contributions: - Lisa R. Carter, "Articulating Value: Building a Culture of Assessment in Special... more
This special themed issue of RBM treats various aspects of assessment in special collections and archives. It includes the following contributions:
- Lisa R. Carter, "Articulating Value: Building a Culture of Assessment in Special Collections"
- Martha Conway and Merrilee Proffitt, "The Practice, Power, and Promise of Archival Collections Assessment"
- Emily R. Novak Gustainis, "Processing Workflow Analysis for Special
Collections: The Center for the History of Medicine, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine as Case Study"
- Joyce Chapman and Elizabeth Yakel, "Data-driven Management and Interoperable Metrics for Special Collections and Archives User Services"
- Anne Bahde and Heather Smedberg, "Measuring the Magic: Assessment in the Special Collections and Archives Classroom²
- Rachael Hu, "Methods to Tame the Madness: A Practitioner's Guide to User Assessment Techniques for Online Finding Aid and Website Design"
- Sarah M. Pritchard, "Afterword: Special Collections and Assessing the Value of Academic Libraries"
- Lisa R. Carter, "Articulating Value: Building a Culture of Assessment in Special Collections"
- Martha Conway and Merrilee Proffitt, "The Practice, Power, and Promise of Archival Collections Assessment"
- Emily R. Novak Gustainis, "Processing Workflow Analysis for Special
Collections: The Center for the History of Medicine, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine as Case Study"
- Joyce Chapman and Elizabeth Yakel, "Data-driven Management and Interoperable Metrics for Special Collections and Archives User Services"
- Anne Bahde and Heather Smedberg, "Measuring the Magic: Assessment in the Special Collections and Archives Classroom²
- Rachael Hu, "Methods to Tame the Madness: A Practitioner's Guide to User Assessment Techniques for Online Finding Aid and Website Design"
- Sarah M. Pritchard, "Afterword: Special Collections and Assessing the Value of Academic Libraries"
Research Interests:
Shifting financial landscapes are compelling libraries and their parent institutions to look more closely than ever at their “bottom line”: the unique value they contribute to scholarly research and teaching, student learning and lifelong... more
Shifting financial landscapes are compelling libraries and their parent institutions to look more closely than ever at their “bottom line”: the unique value they contribute to scholarly research and teaching, student learning and lifelong enrichment. What roles do special collections play in creating and delivering that value? How can those roles be measured, assessed, appreciated? An open “talk show” panel will involve attendees in a discussion focused on how the value of special collections can be more effectively articulated and demonstrated.
Program Description: "Listen to the voyages of the Wisconsin Area Research Centers and Cornell University as these institutions boldly go where few archivists have gone before: beyond the final frontier of inter-institutional space to... more
Program Description: "Listen to the voyages of the Wisconsin Area Research Centers and Cornell University as these institutions boldly go where few archivists have gone before: beyond the final frontier of inter-institutional space to explore strange new worlds inhabited by interlibrary loan services. Learn how new guidelines from the Association of College and Research Libraries can help you develop policies and procedures to support responsible archival lending and digitization-on-demand services for enhanced research access to your unique collections."
My presentation focused on the revision of the ACRL/RBMS Guidelines for Interlibrary and Exhibition Loan of Special Collections Materials; see: http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/specialcollections
My presentation focused on the revision of the ACRL/RBMS Guidelines for Interlibrary and Exhibition Loan of Special Collections Materials; see: http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/specialcollections
Research Interests:
Although some academic libraries have successfully lent special collections materials for decades, most still consider it a controversial, even heretical practice. This session will familiarize attendees with newly updated ACRL Guidelines... more
Although some academic libraries have successfully lent special collections materials for decades, most still consider it a controversial, even heretical practice. This session will familiarize attendees with newly updated ACRL Guidelines for the Interlibrary Loan of Rare and Unique Materials and current best practices, including recommendations from the OCLC Research/RLG Programs "Sharing Special Collections" advisory group. Panelists will discuss model initiatives showing how special collections and interlibrary loan librarians can build trusting and collaborative relationships.
If you have access to the ACRL 2011 virtual conference, the following link will take you to the slidecast recording:
http://www.learningtimes.net/acrl/2011/when-worlds-collide-interlibrary-loan-and-special-collections/
If not, click the goeshow.com button below to download the complete PowerPoint presentation.
If you have access to the ACRL 2011 virtual conference, the following link will take you to the slidecast recording:
http://www.learningtimes.net/acrl/2011/when-worlds-collide-interlibrary-loan-and-special-collections/
If not, click the goeshow.com button below to download the complete PowerPoint presentation.
"The world of archives and special collections has traditionally been what those both inside and outside the field would call “isolated.” The description, though commonly apt, is not intentional. Few archivists want anything more than... more
"The world of archives and special collections has traditionally been what those both inside and outside the field would call “isolated.” The description, though commonly apt, is not intentional. Few archivists want anything more than increased access to, and greater use of, their collections. With this in mind, changes in resource sharing and the development of sophisticated tools and prescient systems and practices may offer far more to the archivist than meets the eye.
Toward that end, OCLC and Lyrasis are teaming to bring together resource sharing practitioners, systems and policy developers, archivists and librarians to share information, tackle questions and challenges, and initiate a broader discussion about access, dissemination, and cooperation. They will hold a FREE, one day conference May 17 at Mercer University in Macon.
Topics will include WorldShare (inheritor of Worldcat), metadata for cataloging, systems and tools, institutional repositories, statistics and copyright. Speakers from OCLC, Lyrasis, Atlas Systems, the Digital library of Georgia, among others will lead the discussion. Though initiated by the speakers, the discussion is meant to be as much of an open forum as possible."
Toward that end, OCLC and Lyrasis are teaming to bring together resource sharing practitioners, systems and policy developers, archivists and librarians to share information, tackle questions and challenges, and initiate a broader discussion about access, dissemination, and cooperation. They will hold a FREE, one day conference May 17 at Mercer University in Macon.
Topics will include WorldShare (inheritor of Worldcat), metadata for cataloging, systems and tools, institutional repositories, statistics and copyright. Speakers from OCLC, Lyrasis, Atlas Systems, the Digital library of Georgia, among others will lead the discussion. Though initiated by the speakers, the discussion is meant to be as much of an open forum as possible."
Research Interests:
Presentation and discussion of the pending revision of the ACRL/RBMS Guidelines for Borrowing and Lending Special Collections Materials for Research Use and Exhibition.
Researchers are learning more about archival and special collections materials through online finding aids, consortial databases, and WorldCat—but often the materials themselves are not available online and are housed at repositories some... more
Researchers are learning more about archival and special collections materials through online finding aids, consortial databases, and WorldCat—but often the materials themselves are not available online and are housed at repositories some distance away. OCLC Research launched a “Sharing Special Collections Project” in 2009 to explore streamlining procedures and developing good practices for lending archives and special collections materials. In addition, an Association of College and Research Libraries/ Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (ACRL/RBMS) task force has been charged with reviewing, updating, and merging the ACRL guidelines for interlibrary loan of rare and unique materials and lending of special collections materials for exhibition. This panel discussion will allow for sharing of ideas, concerns, and questions among panelists and session attendees about the general concepts as well as detailed practices for loaning archives and special collections. It will also include time for discussion of possible next steps to enable or facilitate loaning of special collections and archival materials in the western states.
The Ohio Connecting to Collections Survey identified inadequate storage space for cultural heritage collections as the Number One preservation problem statewide. This day-long workshop will provide ideas and best practices on how to... more
The Ohio Connecting to Collections Survey identified inadequate storage space for cultural heritage collections as the Number One preservation problem statewide. This day-long workshop will provide ideas and best practices on how to address space issues at your institution. Professionals from the library, museum, archives, and historical society and conservation communities will discuss how they evaluated space concerns at their institutions and the space planning methodologies and practices they have adopted. Featured speakers include Wes Boomgaarden, Associate Professor and Preservation Officer for The Ohio State University Libraries, who will provide the keynote, and national expert on facilities design for special collections Christian Dupont, providing practical advice on space and workflow.
"Presentation given as a candidate for the position of Director, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, August 18, 2005"
Research Interests:
Introductory essay, as guess editor, to selected proceedings from the 47th annual preconference of the Rare Books and Manuscripts section of the Association of College and Research Libraries held in Austin, Texas, June 20–23, 2006.
Research Interests:
The articles in this issue were all originally delivered as papers at the 47th annual preconference of the Rare Books and Manuscripts section of the Association of College and Research Libraries held in Austin, Texas, June 20–23, 2006.... more
The articles in this issue were all originally delivered as papers at the 47th annual preconference of the Rare Books and Manuscripts section of the Association of College and Research Libraries held in Austin, Texas, June 20–23, 2006. Christian Dupont served as program planning chair for the preconference.
Research Interests:
A response to "Religion and Intellectual Freedom," by Doug Archer, Indiana Libraries, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2000): 7-10.
Note: there are two files to download: the slides ... and the text! John Augustine Zahm, CSC, quietly assembled one of the greatest Dante collections in America for the University of Notre Dame around the turn of the twentieth century.... more
Note: there are two files to download: the slides ... and the text!
John Augustine Zahm, CSC, quietly assembled one of the greatest Dante collections in America for the University of Notre Dame around the turn of the twentieth century. Zahm’s efforts followed those undertaken by Daniel Willard Fiske for Cornell University, and by Charles Eliot Norton, George Ticknor, and others for Harvard. What common, or different motivations inspired these and additional Dante collecting enterprises for and by American universities? What do they contribute to our understanding of the reception of Dante in America then and now? What might the future of Dante collecting look like and contribute to our knowledge of Dante’s works and influence? This illustrated lecture will explore these questions and how they relate to and support trends in Dante scholarship.
John Augustine Zahm, CSC, quietly assembled one of the greatest Dante collections in America for the University of Notre Dame around the turn of the twentieth century. Zahm’s efforts followed those undertaken by Daniel Willard Fiske for Cornell University, and by Charles Eliot Norton, George Ticknor, and others for Harvard. What common, or different motivations inspired these and additional Dante collecting enterprises for and by American universities? What do they contribute to our understanding of the reception of Dante in America then and now? What might the future of Dante collecting look like and contribute to our knowledge of Dante’s works and influence? This illustrated lecture will explore these questions and how they relate to and support trends in Dante scholarship.
Research Interests: Dante Studies, History of the Book, History Of Rare Book Libraries, Dante, Collecting and Collections, and 9 moreLibrary history, Dante Alighieri, History of Collecting, Book Collectors, Collectors and Collecting, Book Collections, Book Collecting, Dante's Commedia, and University of Notre Dame history
As indicated by the subtitle of this brief yet ambitious talk, my aim is to sketch a comparison of how British and American contemporaries who observed the initial phases of the Risorgimento from their respective vantages responded to... more
As indicated by the subtitle of this brief yet ambitious talk, my aim is to sketch a comparison of how British and American contemporaries who observed the initial phases of the Risorgimento from their respective vantages responded to that movement, with its threefold aspirations for Italian independence, unification, and nationalism, particularly as those aspirations were presented by their proponents through their various, and even diverging interpretations of Dante. We shall find, perhaps not surprisingly, that British and American sympathies toward the Italian patriots who arrived on their shores in the early decades of the nineteenth century developed to a greater degree than understandings of their particular political situations and goals.
Research Interests: Dante Studies, Nineteenth Century British History and Culture, Dante, Risorgimento, Ugo Foscolo, and 8 moreExile Literature, Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture, Italian Risorgimento, History of Italian Risorgimento, Giuseppe Mazzini, reception of Dante, The Unification of Italy, and Gabriele Rossetti
Dante introduces himself as author and actor from the very beginning of his Commedia, and progressively asserts his individual moral identity, in what will become a plurivocal song. Yet Dante also felt fear, the fear of death, and the... more
Dante introduces himself as author and actor from the very beginning of his Commedia, and progressively asserts his individual moral identity, in what will become a plurivocal song. Yet Dante also felt fear, the fear of death, and the fear of dying. He displayed cowardice and was reprimanded for it by Virgil, his guide, who then kindled courage in his heart and led him through the infernal realm and on to the heavenly kingdom. This chapter attempts to ‘bracket’ the poetic particularities in order to bring their ‘intentional contents,’ or meanings, into clearer view. It discusses that Dante as narrator, and more so as a meta-narrator, wanted his readers to engage in their own acts of reflective self-consciousness, and notice, as he did, the intrinsic relationship between thinking and embodied feeling, and between lived experience and language-perhaps especially poetic language.
Research Interests:
Preface to the catalog of the Dante collection of Livio Ambrogio, presented by PrPh Rare Books, 2016.
Research Interests:
Nineteenth-century New England women became enthralled with Dante’s poetry much like their cultured counterparts in the Renaissance. Isabella Stewart Gardner, the foremost woman collector of Renaissance art in nineteenth- and early... more
Nineteenth-century New England women became enthralled with Dante’s poetry much like their cultured counterparts in the Renaissance. Isabella Stewart Gardner, the foremost woman collector of Renaissance art in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America, acquired a Pietà that Michelangelo drew for Vittoria Colonna, which features a cross with an inscription from Paradiso. Gardner read Dante with novelist Francis Marion Crawford and critic Charles Eliot Norton, who also advised her on Dante art and book purchases and led Dante reading groups for women. Other New England women discovered Dante even earlier, like Margaret Fuller, who read his works with her future brother-in-law William Ellery Channing in the 1830s. Unpublished diaries and notebooks of Katharine Maria Sedgwick from this same period record her study of Dante’s Inferno, his lyric poetry, her efforts to learn Italian and travels abroad, and Dantean allusions in her amorous correspondence with the dashing Italian revolutionary Giovanni Albinola.
An expanded version of this conference will appear in: Havely, Nick; Katz, Jonathan; and Cooper, Richard, eds. Dante Beyond Borders: Essays on Contexts and Reception by members of American, British and German Dante Societies. Cambridge, UK: Legenda, an imprint of Modern Humanities Research Association, 2021.
An expanded version of this conference will appear in: Havely, Nick; Katz, Jonathan; and Cooper, Richard, eds. Dante Beyond Borders: Essays on Contexts and Reception by members of American, British and German Dante Societies. Cambridge, UK: Legenda, an imprint of Modern Humanities Research Association, 2021.
Research Interests:
An essay for essay for the catalogue for "Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections," an exhibition held at the McMullen Museum of Art (Boston College), Houghton Library (Harvard University), and the Isabella Stewart... more
An essay for essay for the catalogue for "Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections," an exhibition held at the McMullen Museum of Art (Boston College), Houghton Library (Harvard University), and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, September 2016-January 2017.
Research Interests:
An invited talk presented at The Club of Odd Volumes, Boston, Massachusetts, on February 18, 2015.
Research Interests:
Review of a catalogue of an exhibition and a bibliography of books, pamphlets, periodicals, and other ephemeral literature published in Italian in the United States from 1830 through the end of Second World War.
Research Interests:
In his Percy Graeme Turnbull Lectures on Poetry, given at Johns Hopkins University in 1894, Charles Eliot Norton provided a culminating expression of his vision for rescuing moral virtue and culture from the threat of fin-de-siècle... more
In his Percy Graeme Turnbull Lectures on Poetry, given at Johns Hopkins University in 1894, Charles Eliot Norton provided a culminating expression of his vision for rescuing moral virtue and culture from the threat of fin-de-siècle materialism and articulated a powerful rationale for American Dante studies within the broader context of his aspirations for liberal educational reform.
Research Interests:
Harvard’s Dante Collection was the first such collection to be established at an American institution and the one that gave rise directly or indirectly to those that would follow. It sprang up from the roots laid down during the course of... more
Harvard’s Dante Collection was the first such collection to be established at an American institution and the one that gave rise directly or indirectly to those that would follow. It sprang up from the roots laid down during the course of the nineteenth century by George Ticknor, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and especially Charles Eliot Norton. Those roots nourished the reading and collecting of works by and about Dante, and brought forth translations, commentaries, and interpretative essays. These activities, in turn, were nurtured through the foundation of the Dante Society, which provided the impetus and the means to form a distinct Dante Collection in the Harvard College Library designed to support the burgeoning American interest in the poet’s works, life, and influence.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Now remembered chiefly as the first American to translate the whole Dante’s Commedia, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had a lifelong fascination with Italy that was not incidental to his popularity as a poet and international renown during the... more
Now remembered chiefly as the first American to translate the whole Dante’s Commedia, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had a lifelong fascination with Italy that was not incidental to his popularity as a poet and international renown during the nineteenth century. The essay considers Longfellow’s regard for Florence, where he sojourned unhappily as a student and more happily in later life with his family, in relation to other Italian cities. After considering Longfellow’s descriptions of Florence in his travel letters and poetry, focusing in particular on his sonnet, “The Old Bridge at Florence,” it turns to examine a late, unfinished work, a dramatic poem on the life of Michelangelo and the ambivalent feelings they shared toward Florence and Rome.
Research Interests:
A talk presented on 27 February 2021 via Zoom and Facebook Live on the occasion of the 214th anniversary of Longfellow’s birth, co-sponsored by the Friends of Mt. Auburn Cemetery and Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National... more
A talk presented on 27 February 2021 via Zoom and Facebook Live on the occasion of the 214th anniversary of Longfellow’s birth, co-sponsored by the Friends of Mt. Auburn Cemetery and Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, with programming support provided in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
"As we celebrate the birth of America’s most famous poet, we also remember the legacy of Italy’s for the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death. Christian Dupont, Secretary-Librarian of the Dante Society of America, will discuss Longfellow’s travels in Florence. Although disillusioned by his first visit to Florence in his early twenties, the city of Dante’s birth nevertheless held a lifelong fascination for Longfellow, who became the first American to translate the entire Divine Comedy. Florentine scenes, such as the Ponte Vecchio, inspired some of his own poetry and his identification with Michelangelo, Florence’s famous sculptor."
"As we celebrate the birth of America’s most famous poet, we also remember the legacy of Italy’s for the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death. Christian Dupont, Secretary-Librarian of the Dante Society of America, will discuss Longfellow’s travels in Florence. Although disillusioned by his first visit to Florence in his early twenties, the city of Dante’s birth nevertheless held a lifelong fascination for Longfellow, who became the first American to translate the entire Divine Comedy. Florentine scenes, such as the Ponte Vecchio, inspired some of his own poetry and his identification with Michelangelo, Florence’s famous sculptor."
Research Interests:
Edited version of talk presented for a conference on Dante in the Nineteenth Century organized by Stephen Prickett. Also included here are the accompanying slides as well as an expanded version of the text that includes several sections... more
Edited version of talk presented for a conference on Dante in the Nineteenth Century organized by Stephen Prickett. Also included here are the accompanying slides as well as an expanded version of the text that includes several sections that it was not possible to include in the presented version due to time limitations.
Research Interests:
This presentation traces the historical circumstances of Longfellow's "Dante Club" and its impact on the formation of the Dante Society of America and American readership of Dante's Divine Comedy.
Research Interests:
An edited version of a previously unpublished manuscript by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana for the special Longfellow bicentennial issue of Dante Studies.
Research Interests:
During the 1930s and ’40s, Longfellow’s grandson and namesake, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana, and J. Chesley Mathews, a professor of English, jointly combed Longfellow’s journals, correspondence, and other sources to uncover the... more
During the 1930s and ’40s, Longfellow’s grandson and namesake, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana, and J. Chesley Mathews, a professor of English, jointly combed Longfellow’s journals, correspondence, and other sources to uncover the evidence that other scholars have drawn upon since.
Research Interests:
A revised and updated edition of J. Chesley Mathews, "Longfellow’s Dante Collection," ESQ: Journal of the American Renaissance 62 (Winter 1971) for the special Longfellow bicentennial issue of Dante Studies.
Research Interests:
Annual Dante Lecture
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Essay based on an invited paper given at the symposium, "'Quei battenti sempre aperti' -- Gli Acquaticci e Treia nella cultura marchigiana," Treia, Italy, November 4, 2000.
Research Interests:
"... a delightful account of zealous, personality-driven collection development that nearly broke the university financially but became among the most valuable and complete assemblages of Dantiana in the world. The neglect suffered by the... more
"... a delightful account of zealous, personality-driven collection development that nearly broke the university financially but became among the most valuable and complete assemblages of Dantiana in the world. The neglect suffered by the collection after Zahm's death in 1921 is devastating, revealing the nature of special collections as the labors of love that they are."
-- from a review of the "What is Written Remains" by Catherine R. Williams in "The Library Quarterly" Vol. 66, No. 2 (Apr., 1996), p. 231. (http://www.jstor.org/stable/4309124).
-- from a review of the "What is Written Remains" by Catherine R. Williams in "The Library Quarterly" Vol. 66, No. 2 (Apr., 1996), p. 231. (http://www.jstor.org/stable/4309124).
Research Interests:
The Opera del Vocabolario Italiano database is a powerful Web-based, full-text searchable electronic archive that currently contains some 1498 early Italian vernacular texts whose composition may be dated to prior to 1375. A simple HTML... more
The Opera del Vocabolario Italiano database is a powerful Web-based, full-text searchable electronic archive that currently contains some 1498 early Italian vernacular texts whose composition may be dated to prior to 1375. A simple HTML form interface enables users to conductb ibliographicaal nd concordance-styles earches across the entire textual corpus or a subset of documents specified by certain user-defined criteria. As a research tool, it provides unprecedented access to this foundational period in the history of the Italian language. The purpose of this article is to introduce and describe the functions of the OVI database, drawing examples from scholars in various disciplines who have employed it in support of their research and publications.
The OVI database may be freely accessed at:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/ARTFL/projects/OVI/
The OVI database may be freely accessed at:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/ARTFL/projects/OVI/
Research Interests:
Christian Dupont (Associate University Librarian for Collections and Burns Librarian, Boston College) considers the doodles in a notebook Brian Ó Nualláin kept as secretary for the 1943 Cavan orphanage fire tribunal, and which is included... more
Christian Dupont (Associate University Librarian for Collections and Burns Librarian, Boston College) considers the doodles in a notebook Brian Ó Nualláin kept as secretary for the 1943 Cavan orphanage fire tribunal, and which is included in the Flann O'Brien papers held at the John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
Research Interests:
Eleventh in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
Eleventh in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This installment presents typographer, designer and letterpress printer Jamie Murphy, founder of The Salvage Press.
Research Interests:
Tenth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
Tenth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This installment showcases the work of Dublin-born photographer Alen MacWeeney.
Research Interests:
Ninth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
Ninth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This installment reviews an exhibit installed at Boston College in Ireland in July 2019 of artworks inspired by Flann O'Brien that were created by David, Eddie, and Joanna O'Kane.
Research Interests:
Eighth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
Eighth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This installments looks at "Four Irish Nobel Literary Laureates," a sculpture created in 2012 by Rowan Gillespie that portrays W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, and Seamus Heaney.
Research Interests:
Seventh in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
Seventh in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This installment examines the doodles that Flann O'Brien drew in a notebook he kept as secretary for the public tribunal charged with investigating the fire that killed 35 children at the Poor Clares’ orphanage in Cavan in 1943.
Research Interests:
Sixth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
Sixth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This sixth installment considers recent acquisitions of original drawings and cartoons by Grace Gifford Plunkett.
Research Interests:
Fifth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
Fifth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This fifth installment focuses on a previously unknown embroidery designed and executed by Maud Gonne.
Research Interests:
Fourth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
Fourth in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This fourth installment compares two recent acquisitions of embroidered panels by designed by Brigid O'Brien and executed by Lily Yeats that interpret a verse by W.B. Yeats.
Research Interests:
Third in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
Third in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This third installment discusses paintings purchased for Boston College by members of the Eire Society of Boston from the 1950 traveling exhibition of contemporary Irish painting that the Society brought to Boston.
Research Interests:
Second in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
Second in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This second installment probes the irony of using funds from an Irish American Fenian club to buy a set of James Malton's views depicting Georgian Dublin.
Research Interests:
First in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special... more
First in a series of short articles for the Irish Arts Review that aims to put Irish arts in historical and social contexts by highlighting selected artworks and archival resources at the John J. Burns Library for rare books, special collections and archives at Boston College. This first installment examines the work of stained glass artist and illustrator Richard King (1907-1974), who was commissioned to create a stained glass installation for Boston College in 1951.
Research Interests:
Over the past 80 years, the John J. Burns Library at Boston College has developed the most comprehensive collections pertaining to Irish history, literature, culture, and music outside Ireland.
Research Interests:
This work presents an historical investigation of the early phases in the reception of the phenomenological philosophy of Edmund Husserl in France. Chapter 1 argues that Henri Bergson’s insights into lived duration and intuition and... more
This work presents an historical investigation of the early phases in the reception of the phenomenological philosophy of Edmund Husserl in France. Chapter 1 argues that Henri Bergson’s insights into lived duration and intuition and Maurice Blondel’s genetic description of action functioned as essential precursors. Chapter 2 details the reception of Husserl and his followers among three successive pairs of French academic philosophers: Léon Noël and Victor Delbos, Lev Shestov and Jean Héring, Bernard Groethuysen and Georges Gurvitch. Chapter 3 addresses the appropriation of Bergsonian and Blondelian phenomenological insights by Catholic theologians Édouard Le Roy and Pierre Rousselot. Chapter 4 examines applications of phenomenology by French religious philosophers and neo-Thomists. The principal finding is that philosophical and theological receptions of phenomenology in France prior to 1939 proceeded independently due to differences in how Bergson and Blondel influenced these respective spheres and to the different orientations of French philosophers and religious thinkers to Cartesian and Aristotelian/Thomist intellectual traditions.
Research Interests: Philosophy Of Religion, Max Scheler, Philosophical Theology, Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, and 22 moreJurgen Habermas, Continental Philosophy, Contemporary French Philosophy, Gilles Deleuze, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Lacan, Henri Bergson, Émmanuel Lévinas, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, Maurice Blondel, Thomism, Jean-Luc Marion, Ancient Philosophy, Religious Epistemology, Phenomenology of Religion, French phenomenology: Michel Henry, Jean-Luc Marion, Jean-Yves Lacoste and Emmanuel Levinas. Husserl and Heidegger., Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Philosophy of the Subject, Jacques Maritain, and History of Philosophy
This dissertation presents an historical investigation of the reception of phenomenology in France from 1889-1939. It examines anticipations of phenomenology in French thought as well as early encounters of French academic philosophers... more
This dissertation presents an historical investigation of the reception of phenomenology in France from 1889-1939. It examines anticipations of phenomenology in French thought as well as early encounters of French academic philosophers and religious thinkers with the phenomenological philosophies of Edmund Husserl, Max Scheler and Martin Heidegger.
In 2014, an edited version will appear as volume 208 in the Phaenomenologica series under the title: "Phenomenology in French Philosophy: Early Encounters." Please refer to the link below for publication information.
In 2014, an edited version will appear as volume 208 in the Phaenomenologica series under the title: "Phenomenology in French Philosophy: Early Encounters." Please refer to the link below for publication information.
Research Interests: Max Scheler, Philosophical Theology, Phenomenology, Jurgen Habermas, Continental Philosophy, and 17 moreContinental Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy), Contemporary French Philosophy, Gilles Deleuze, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Lacan, Henri Bergson, Émmanuel Lévinas, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Theology and Culture, Jacques Derrida, Maurice Blondel, Religious Epistemology, Phenomenology of Religion, French phenomenology: Michel Henry, Jean-Luc Marion, Jean-Yves Lacoste and Emmanuel Levinas. Husserl and Heidegger., Jacques Maritain, and History of Philosophy
The contributions of Alsatian philosopher and theologian Jean Hering (1890–1966) to the early reception of Husserl’s phenomenology in France have been recognized by Speigelberg, Monseu, and others. This essay probes and elucidates certain... more
The contributions of Alsatian philosopher and theologian Jean Hering (1890–1966) to the early reception of Husserl’s phenomenology in France have been recognized by Speigelberg, Monseu, and others. This essay probes and elucidates certain historical details to a greater degree than previous studies and also calls attention to the philosophical influences that Hering transmitted to his contemporaries, focusing in particular on his encounters with Emmanuel Levinas and Lev Shestov. It argues that while Hering’s role in facilitating the introduction of Levinas and others to Husserl was important, his more significant contributions consisted in analysing and correcting Levinas’s and Shestov’s appraisals of Husserl’s teachings.
Research Interests:
The Alsatian philosopher and theologian Jean Hering (1890-1966) played a pivotal role in introducing phenomenology to France during the late 1920s and beyond. An integral member of Husserl’s Göttingen circle of advanced students in... more
The Alsatian philosopher and theologian Jean Hering (1890-1966) played a pivotal role in introducing phenomenology to France during the late 1920s and beyond. An integral member of Husserl’s Göttingen circle of advanced students in phenomenology from 1909 through the outbreak of World War I, Hering later joined the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Strasbourg. There he continued his association with Husserl, who regarded him as one of his most faithful disciples. In 1925, Hering defended his pioneering thesis on phenomenology and religion, Phénoménologie et philosophie religieuse, published in Paris the following year. In the meantime, a French translation appeared of a critique Husserl’s early works by the Russian emigrant philosophical critic Lev Shestov, prompting Hering to counter with an essay in his defense. Shestov’s reply and Hering’s subsequent rebuttal furthered their debate and moreover awareness of Husserl’s phenomenology in France, which was otherwise being introduced through programmatic assessments of contemporary trends in German and French philosophy by Bernard Groethuysen and Georges Gurvitch. This paper situates Hering’s appraisals and employment of Husserlian phenomenology among these other interpretations and will also reflect on the significance of Hering’s role in facilitating personal encounters of other French-speaking philosophers like Emmanuel Levinas with Husserl.
Research Interests:
While recent studies have highlighted the importance of Strasbourg in the initial French reception of phenomenology in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the contemporaneous discussions of Husserl’s works in Marseille have been almost... more
While recent studies have highlighted the importance of Strasbourg in the initial French reception of phenomenology in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the contemporaneous discussions of Husserl’s works in Marseille have been almost entirely forgotten. Founded in 1926 by Gaston Berger, the Société d’études philosophique du sud-est organized a series of symposia on Husserl’s phenomenology between 1928 and 1929. Charles Serrus led the proceedings and subsequently edited them for publication in the society’s journal, Les études philosophiques. Husserl meanwhile accepted Berger’s invitation to become a corresponding member of the society and forwarded copies of his publications for its members’ library, including Formale und transzendentale Logik. Serrus’s reviews of this work as well Husserl’s Nachwort zu meinen Ideen zu einer Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie and Méditations cartésiennes were the first to appear in French. In his 1933 doctoral thesis, Serrus went on to critique attempts such as Husserl’s to establish a parallelism between notions of pure logic and pure grammar. In their stead, Serrus proposed in this and later works a logic founded upon an analysis of grammatical relations and their signifying intentions rather than on formalized propositions and predicative judgments. His approach was disparaged by Quine and other Anglo-American analytic philosophers but defended by Berger and French critics. In recovering the historical context of the debate, this paper will evaluate the originality and significance of Serrus’s alternative approach to resolving the epistemological crisis that threatened the European sciences at the time and continues to have ramifications in our day.
Research Interests:
The Antje Bultmann Lemke Seminar Room in the Special Collections Research Center of Syracuse University Library provides a classroom setting specifically designed for faculty interested in incorporating in-depth work with special... more
The Antje Bultmann Lemke Seminar Room in the Special Collections Research Center of Syracuse University Library provides a classroom setting specifically designed for faculty interested in incorporating in-depth work with special collections resources in their courses.
The Lemke Seminar Room is equipped with state-of-the-art audiovisual technology to allow close examination of special collections materials. Technology includes a high-definition Wolfvision document camera that projects images onto a 65-inch high-resolution LCD display equipped with SmartPanel technology. Using SmartPanel, faculty can annotate images of rare items with digital ink and save the resulting image files for further review.
The Lemke Seminar Room is equipped with state-of-the-art audiovisual technology to allow close examination of special collections materials. Technology includes a high-definition Wolfvision document camera that projects images onto a 65-inch high-resolution LCD display equipped with SmartPanel technology. Using SmartPanel, faculty can annotate images of rare items with digital ink and save the resulting image files for further review.
Research Interests:
"Selected for the National Endowment for the Humanities "We the People" Bookshelf Program, 2010. (See: http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/20100413.html) -------------- The Declaration of Independence is the touchstone of American... more
"Selected for the National Endowment for the Humanities "We the People" Bookshelf Program, 2010. (See: http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/20100413.html)
--------------
The Declaration of Independence is the touchstone of American nationhood, the document that marks the beginning of our history as a people. Eloquently articulating the principles and sentiments that drove patriotic subjects of King George III to resistance and revolution, the Declaration has served as a sacred text for subsequent generations of Americans.
This volume asks us to reread and rethink our founding document. The Declaration as we now understand it--the stirring passages that define our democratic creed--is not the Declaration that Thomas Jefferson and his congressional colleagues drafted, nor the document that inspired or provoked contemporaneous readers and listeners at home and abroad.
Essays by four of the Declaration's leading students--David Armitage, Pauline Maier, Robert M. S. McDonald, and Robert G. Parkinson--make the historic text come alive, enabling us to hear what it had to say in its own time and what it might have to say to us today. Copiously illustrated with selections from the Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection at the University of Virginia and complemented by biographical sketches of the Declaration signers, this volume offers a rich resource for discovering the origin and influence of America's founding document.
--------------
From the preface: "The Declaration of Independence is a statement of conviction and intent. When Jefferson wrote that 'all men are created equal,' he, a slave master, knew perfectly how much had still to be done by those who would follow to attain such a society in fact not theory. But that is part of our strength, that we Americans are called on, one generation after another, to achieve the promise. We have a star to steer by." - David McCullough, author of 1776 and John Adams, and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
From the epilogue: "If we are to survive as a nation, it is critical that our citizenry know and understand the beliefs and tenets that underwrite the Declaration of Independence.... Its origins and influences have much to teach us, and I can think of no better way to pursue that study than through the Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection at the University of Virginia." - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor"
--------------
The Declaration of Independence is the touchstone of American nationhood, the document that marks the beginning of our history as a people. Eloquently articulating the principles and sentiments that drove patriotic subjects of King George III to resistance and revolution, the Declaration has served as a sacred text for subsequent generations of Americans.
This volume asks us to reread and rethink our founding document. The Declaration as we now understand it--the stirring passages that define our democratic creed--is not the Declaration that Thomas Jefferson and his congressional colleagues drafted, nor the document that inspired or provoked contemporaneous readers and listeners at home and abroad.
Essays by four of the Declaration's leading students--David Armitage, Pauline Maier, Robert M. S. McDonald, and Robert G. Parkinson--make the historic text come alive, enabling us to hear what it had to say in its own time and what it might have to say to us today. Copiously illustrated with selections from the Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection at the University of Virginia and complemented by biographical sketches of the Declaration signers, this volume offers a rich resource for discovering the origin and influence of America's founding document.
--------------
From the preface: "The Declaration of Independence is a statement of conviction and intent. When Jefferson wrote that 'all men are created equal,' he, a slave master, knew perfectly how much had still to be done by those who would follow to attain such a society in fact not theory. But that is part of our strength, that we Americans are called on, one generation after another, to achieve the promise. We have a star to steer by." - David McCullough, author of 1776 and John Adams, and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
From the epilogue: "If we are to survive as a nation, it is critical that our citizenry know and understand the beliefs and tenets that underwrite the Declaration of Independence.... Its origins and influences have much to teach us, and I can think of no better way to pursue that study than through the Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection at the University of Virginia." - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor"
Research Interests:
From the Seattle Museum of Art: http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?eventID=16554 This exhibition brings one of art history's greatest figures to Seattle for the first time. Drawn exclusively from the collection of... more
From the Seattle Museum of Art:
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?eventID=16554
This exhibition brings one of art history's greatest figures to Seattle for the first time. Drawn exclusively from the collection of the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, the show explores Michelangelo's complex personality and different aspects of his life and career. Centered around twelve original drawings by Michelangelo, the exhibition also features portraits of the artist, personal documents, and decorative arts from the Casa Buonarroti.
The primary focus of the exhibition is Michelangelo's preliminary work for the Sistine Chapel in Rome, including a selection of working drawings for the Sistine Ceiling and the Last Judgment. Together, these objects give modern viewers insight into the artist's working process, from sketches to finished studies. This exposure would have appalled Michelangelo, who burned many of his drawings hoping to sustain the idea that divine inspiration, not human labor, was responsible for his celebrated masterpieces.
The Casa Buonarroti was founded in 1612 by Michelangelo's great-nephew as a monument to his famous relative, on the site of the artist's former home. Housing original works of art, including the largest collection of Michelangelo's drawings in the world, it now acts as the protector of the artist's legacy.
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?eventID=16554
This exhibition brings one of art history's greatest figures to Seattle for the first time. Drawn exclusively from the collection of the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, the show explores Michelangelo's complex personality and different aspects of his life and career. Centered around twelve original drawings by Michelangelo, the exhibition also features portraits of the artist, personal documents, and decorative arts from the Casa Buonarroti.
The primary focus of the exhibition is Michelangelo's preliminary work for the Sistine Chapel in Rome, including a selection of working drawings for the Sistine Ceiling and the Last Judgment. Together, these objects give modern viewers insight into the artist's working process, from sketches to finished studies. This exposure would have appalled Michelangelo, who burned many of his drawings hoping to sustain the idea that divine inspiration, not human labor, was responsible for his celebrated masterpieces.
The Casa Buonarroti was founded in 1612 by Michelangelo's great-nephew as a monument to his famous relative, on the site of the artist's former home. Housing original works of art, including the largest collection of Michelangelo's drawings in the world, it now acts as the protector of the artist's legacy.
Research Interests:
From the University of Pennsylvania Press: http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14486.html Michelangelo Buonarroti was a very complicated being. Not only was he a multitalented artist—renowned equally as a sculptor, painter, and... more
From the University of Pennsylvania Press:
http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14486.html
Michelangelo Buonarroti was a very complicated being. Not only was he a multitalented artist—renowned equally as a sculptor, painter, and architect—he was also an impressive military engineer, student of Dante, and poet in his own right. What is more, his behavior was full of contradictions. He was renowned for his fiery temper and yet wrote tender love poetry. In spite of his legendary impatience, he committed himself to tasks that required years of sustained attention. He skimped on his own food and lodging, paying little attention to his own bodily needs, and yet created some of the most beautiful human figures ever imagined. He constantly complained about not having any money but amassed a considerable fortune that kept his family comfortable for two centuries. Though he enjoyed the reputation of being a solitary genius, he directed dozens of assistants, quarrymen, and stonemasons to carry out his work.
Still more Michelangelos were invented by others. The sixteenth-century artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari made him into an artistic savior, imagining that a gracious God had given the world Michelangelo to inspire and perfect the arts. His family transformed part of their home (the Casa Buonarroti) into a shrine to their famous forebear. In the twentieth century, novelists and movie producers have portrayed him as a tortured, manic genius.
This exhibition catalog explores multiple facets of Michelangelo's life, art, and reputation. Beginning with portraits of the artist, examples of his literary works, printed editions of his poetry, and an example of modern music inspired by his sonnets, the catalog shows representative examples of his work as a military engineer, architect, anatomist, poet, painter, and sculptor. Lavishly illustrated, including five fold-out 11" x 14" pages, this book provides viewers an unprecedented opportunity to grasp the range of Michelangelo's ambitions and accomplishments, revealing a man and a myth that are even greater than we might have imagined.
http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14486.html
Michelangelo Buonarroti was a very complicated being. Not only was he a multitalented artist—renowned equally as a sculptor, painter, and architect—he was also an impressive military engineer, student of Dante, and poet in his own right. What is more, his behavior was full of contradictions. He was renowned for his fiery temper and yet wrote tender love poetry. In spite of his legendary impatience, he committed himself to tasks that required years of sustained attention. He skimped on his own food and lodging, paying little attention to his own bodily needs, and yet created some of the most beautiful human figures ever imagined. He constantly complained about not having any money but amassed a considerable fortune that kept his family comfortable for two centuries. Though he enjoyed the reputation of being a solitary genius, he directed dozens of assistants, quarrymen, and stonemasons to carry out his work.
Still more Michelangelos were invented by others. The sixteenth-century artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari made him into an artistic savior, imagining that a gracious God had given the world Michelangelo to inspire and perfect the arts. His family transformed part of their home (the Casa Buonarroti) into a shrine to their famous forebear. In the twentieth century, novelists and movie producers have portrayed him as a tortured, manic genius.
This exhibition catalog explores multiple facets of Michelangelo's life, art, and reputation. Beginning with portraits of the artist, examples of his literary works, printed editions of his poetry, and an example of modern music inspired by his sonnets, the catalog shows representative examples of his work as a military engineer, architect, anatomist, poet, painter, and sculptor. Lavishly illustrated, including five fold-out 11" x 14" pages, this book provides viewers an unprecedented opportunity to grasp the range of Michelangelo's ambitions and accomplishments, revealing a man and a myth that are even greater than we might have imagined.
Research Interests:
The 136th Annual Meeting of the Dante Society and a day-long symposium, “‘Come il baccialier’: Questioning and Professing Dante,” will be held at Boston College on Saturday, May 5, 2018. For details, please see the attached flyer and the... more
The 136th Annual Meeting of the Dante Society and a day-long symposium, “‘Come il baccialier’: Questioning and Professing Dante,” will be held at Boston College on Saturday, May 5, 2018. For details, please see the attached flyer and the Meetings and Events section of our website. Registration is not required and there is no fee for attending. The symposium is free and open to the public.
Research Interests:
"From the Seattle Museum of Art: http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?eventID=16554 This exhibition brings one of art history's greatest figures to Seattle for the first time. Drawn exclusively from the... more
"From the Seattle Museum of Art: http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?eventID=16554 This exhibition brings one of art history's greatest figures to Seattle for the first time. Drawn exclusively from the collection of the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, the show explores Michelangelo's complex personality and different aspects of his life and career. Centered around twelve original drawings by Michelangelo, the exhibition also features portraits of the artist, personal documents, and decorative arts from the Casa Buonarroti. The primary focus of the exhibition is Michelangelo's preliminary work for the Sistine Chapel in Rome, including a selection of working drawings for the Sistine Ceiling and the Last Judgment. Together, these objects give modern viewers insight into the artist's working process, from sketches to finished studies. This exposure would have appalled Michelangelo, who burned many of his drawings hoping to sustain the idea that divine inspiration, not human labor, was responsible for his celebrated masterpieces. The Casa Buonarroti was founded in 1612 by Michelangelo's great-nephew as a monument to his famous relative, on the site of the artist's former home. Housing original works of art, including the largest collection of Michelangelo's drawings in the world, it now acts as the protector of the artist's legacy."
Research Interests:
A response to "Religion and Intellectual Freedom," by Doug Archer, Indiana Libraries, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2000): 7-10.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Objective – The objective of this study was to examine and call attention to the current deficiency in standardized performance measures and usage metrics suited to assessing the value and impact of special collections and archives and... more
Objective – The objective of this study was to examine and call attention to the current deficiency in standardized performance measures and usage metrics suited to assessing the value and impact of special collections and archives and their contributions to the mission of academic research libraries and to suggest possible approaches to overcoming the deficiency. Methods – The authors reviewed attempts over the past dozen years by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) to highlight the unique types of value that special collections and archival resources contribute to academic research libraries. They also examined the results of a large survey of special collections and archives conducted by OCLC Research in 2010. In addition, they investigated efforts by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) dating back to the 1940s to define standardized metrics for gathering and comparing data about archival operations. Findin...
Research Interests:
The Alsatian philosopher and theologian Jean Hering (1890-1966) played a pivotal role in introducing phenomenology to France during the late 1920s and beyond. An integral member of Husserl’s Göttingen circle of advanced students in... more
The Alsatian philosopher and theologian Jean Hering (1890-1966) played a pivotal role in introducing phenomenology to France during the late 1920s and beyond. An integral member of Husserl’s Göttingen circle of advanced students in phenomenology from 1909 through the outbreak of World War I, Hering later joined the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Strasbourg. There he continued his association with Husserl, who regarded him as one of his most faithful disciples. In 1925, Hering defended his pioneering thesis on phenomenology and religion, Phénoménologie et philosophie religieuse, published in Paris the following year. In the meantime, a French translation appeared of a critique Husserl’s early works by the Russian emigrant philosophical critic Lev Shestov, prompting Hering to counter with an essay in his defense. Shestov’s reply and Hering’s subsequent rebuttal furthered their debate and moreover awareness of Husserl’s phenomenology in France, which was otherwise being introduced through programmatic assessments of contemporary trends in German and French philosophy by Bernard Groethuysen and Georges Gurvitch. This paper situates Hering’s appraisals and employment of Husserlian phenomenology among these other interpretations and will also reflect on the significance of Hering’s role in facilitating personal encounters of other French-speaking philosophers like Emmanuel Levinas with Husserl.
Research Interests: Philosophy, Phenomenology, Contemporary French Philosophy, Émmanuel Lévinas, Edmund Husserl, and 10 morePhenomenology of the Body (Philosophy), Roman Ingarden, Jean Héring, French Phenomenology, Lev Shestov, History of Philosophy, Herbert Spiegelberg, Göttinger Münchener Schule (Adolf Reinach, Jean Hering, and German and French Phenomenology
In his Percy Graeme Turnbull Lectures on Poetry, given at Johns Hopkins University in 1894, Charles Eliot Norton provided a culminating expression of his vision for rescuing moral virtue and culture from the threat of fin-de-siècle... more
In his Percy Graeme Turnbull Lectures on Poetry, given at Johns Hopkins University in 1894, Charles Eliot Norton provided a culminating expression of his vision for rescuing moral virtue and culture from the threat of fin-de-siècle materialism and articulated a powerful rationale for American Dante studies within the broader context of his aspirations for liberal educational reform.
Research Interests:
... Damian, which were sculpted respectively by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli and Raffaello da Montelupo. In 1524, Clement VII also gave Michelangelo a commission to design a library to be built in the San Lorenzo complex to house the... more
... Damian, which were sculpted respectively by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli and Raffaello da Montelupo. In 1524, Clement VII also gave Michelangelo a commission to design a library to be built in the San Lorenzo complex to house the valuable volumes collected by his ...