Deadline for applications:  12pm 16 May 2013
Six-month or 12-month Fellowships to be held from January 2014 to September 2015.

The Centre for Research in Arts, Social Societies and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge and the Early Modern Studies Institute (EMSI) at the University of Southern California / Huntington Library invite applications for Visiting Fellowships in Early Modern Visual and Material Culture, to be held between January 2014 and September 2015. These fellowships are part of the collaborative programme Seeing Things: Early Modern Visual and Material Culture  CRASSH / EMSI will appoint up to four fellows over the period (two fellows for twelve months each or 4 fellows for six months each). Fellows will spend half of their fellowship at CRASSH and half at the Huntington Library, San Marino.

During their residencies in each institution, fellows will be expected to conduct research on a topic in early modern (1400-1800) visual and material culture and to participate in the life of CRASSH / EMSI.  There are no geographical restrictions on research topics, but proposals related to the special collections and museum holdings of Cambridge and the Huntington will be particularly welcome.

In addition to carrying out independent research, fellows will be expected to deliver at each institution a master class for early career researchers and graduate students, on a topic of their choice.

The British Library has been successful in applying for a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) award from the AHRC. This award covers six doctoral studentships each year for three years, from 2013-2016.

Each studentship will be jointly supervised by a member of the British Library curatorial staff and an academic from a UK Higher Education Institution, as with the existing CDA scheme. The HEI will administer the studentship, receiving funds from the AHRC for fees and to cover the studentÿÿs maintenance. The British Library will provide additional financial support to cover travel and related costs in carrying out research of up to £1,000 a year.

One of the 9 potential research topics is ‘Digital transformations in medieval illuminated manuscripts’. The closing date is Friday 22 March. Find out more and apply at: http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/highered/hecollab/collabdoctpar/index.html

(deadline 18 March 2013)

PhD Studentship, University of York (3 years, from September 2013; AHRC-funded) (ref: PhD1)

The student will be based at the University of York in the Department of English and Related Literature, under the supervision of Dr Kevin Killeen (co-editor of Pseudodoxia within the Browne edition). As part of the AHRC-funded edition of The Complete Works of Sir Thomas Browne (8 vols, OUP 2015-2019; general editor, Prof Claire Preston), the student will interact extensively with the eleven editors, two post-doctoral researchers, and a second doctoral student in contributing to its intellectual, analytical, and textual framework. The student may be expected to contribute, as directed, to background research on the edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemica. Enquiries are welcome. Please contact either Dr Kevin Killeen ( kevin.killeen@york.ac.uk) or Prof Claire Preston (c.e.preston@bham.ac.uk), specifying ‘PhD1’.

PhD studentship, University of Birmingham (3 years, from September 2013; AHRC-funded) (ref: PhD2) Co-supervised by Prof Claire Preston (Birmingham), the general editor of the AHRC-funded Browne edition, and Dr Andrew Zurcher (Cambridge), co-editor of Browne’s correspondence, the student will be formally attached to the Birmingham Department of English and additionally supported by the Centre for Reformation and Early-Modern Studies, and by Cambridge’s Centre for Material Texts. As part of the AHRC-funded edition of The Complete Works of Sir Thomas Browne (8 vols, OUP 2015-2019), the student will interact extensively with the eleven editors, two post-doctoral researchers, and a second doctoral student in contributing to its intellectual, analytical, and textual framework. The student may be expected to contribute, as directed, to background research on the volume of Browne’s letters that forms part of the edition. Enquiries are welcome. Please contact either Prof Claire Preston (c.e.preston@bham.ac.uk) or Dr Andrew Zurcher (aez20@cam.ac.uk), specifying ‘PhD2’.

Click here for further particulars and application procedures for PhD1 and for PhD2.

Colloquia at CRASSH, University of Cambridge: 24-25 May 2013 and

The USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, Huntington Library, San Marino, California: 27-28 September 2013

Call for graduate / early career participants

 Studies in the visual and material culture of the early modern world have recently focused on the concrete materiality or ‘thingness’ of things.  But why is it that certain early modern things endured while others did not?  Was it because of the intrinsic properties of their materials or other reasons: use and abuse, cultural or religious value, chance or neglect?  How should we study those artefacts that have not survived, or which have endured in an imperfect state: the broken, incomplete, cast off and lost things of the early modern world?

This pair of colloquia will examine the fragility and robustness of early modern objects, exploring not only the matter of their material, but also the transitory or forgotten ways in which they were experienced and used.  Reflecting on the sensory and temporal dimensions of artefacts, we will consider the effects upon them of memory, habit, and custom, exploring themes such as impermanence, decay, repair, and recycling.  While seeking to recapture the early modern contexts that determined ephemerality and durability, we will ponder also the unspoken gaps in museums, libraries and archives, and how these themes shape current scholarship.

The colloquia will be an opportunity for graduate students and early career researchers to present work-in-progress and to discuss their research with established local and international scholars.  Confirmed participants in the Cambridge colloquium include Prof. Peter Stallybrass (UPenn), Prof. Christine Göttler (Bern), Dr Niall Atkinson (Chicago), Dr Marta Ajmar (V&A), Prof. Jacob Soll (USC), Dr Jessica Keating (USC).  Funding for travel and accommodation is available to enable participants to attend the California meeting.

Those interested in participating in either colloquium should submit by Monday 25 March a 500-word abstract of their proposed topic, a CV, and a letter of support from their supervisor (if a graduate student) or an academic reference (if an early career researcher).  Applications will be reviewed by the colloquia organisers and the successful applicants notified by mid-April.  Preference may be given to those applicants willing and able to participate in both colloquia.

Applications should be in Word or PDF format and should be sent via email to Francé Davies: France.Davies@aha.cam.ac.uk.  Informal enquiries may be addressed to the programme Director, Dr Alexander Marr: ajm300@cam.ac.uk.

The colloquia have been organised under the aegis of the CRASSH-EMSI collaborative programme Seeing Things: Early Modern Visual and Material Culture, http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/page/1159/seeing-things.htm.  Seeing Things is generously supported by CRASSH, EMSI, the Dean Joan Schaeffer Fund of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, the Huntington Library, and a Cambridge Humanities Research Grant.

University of Oxford, 16-17 September 2013

The Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, based at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, invites proposals for conference papers. All papers that focus on early modern texts will be considered, but we particularly encourage proposals on digital research and editing methods and methodologies in early modern studies.

See http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/eebotcp/conferences/conference-eebo-tcp-201 3/ for more details.

Department of Manuscripts and University Archives (Special Collections Division)
Grade: 7, Salary Range: £27,854 – £36,298 p.a

This is an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated and proactive individual to work at the heart of one of the world’s major research libraries with an outstanding collection of western medieval manuscripts.

The successful candidate will lead the development of high quality reader-focussed services to support scholarship on the manuscripts, promoting them to the research community at local, national and international level. He/she with deal with all aspects of the care and administration of medieval manuscripts and will be outward-looking in developing innovative digital services alongside traditional methods to support the University in its teaching, learning and research and to make the medieval manuscripts accessible to the widest possible audience. He/she will have the necessary skills and enthusiasm to exploit the opportunities created by the Cambridge Digital Library (http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk) and to take a leading part in planning and implementing a new online catalogue of medieval manuscripts.

Informal enquiries are welcomed by Dr Patrick Zutshi, Keeper of Manuscripts and University Archives (tel: 01223 333149; email: Patrick.Zutshi@lib.cam.ac.uk). Further details can be downloaded from http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Vacancies/medieval_manuscripts.pdf or are available from the Librarian’s Office, Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DR, tel: 01223 747413; email: Charlotte.Ross@lib.cam.ac.uk.

Applications, in the form of a completed CHRIS/6 form (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/hr/forms/chris6/), a covering letter, curriculum vitae and contact details for three professional referees should be sent to the University Librarian either by post to Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR or electronically to Charlotte.Ross@lib.cam.ac.uk (but not both) by 5pm on the closing date, Monday 18 March 2013. Interviews are expected to take place in mid-April.

6-7 SEPTEMBER 2013 — THE WREN SUITE, ST PAUL’S CATHEDRAL, LONDON

Sponsored by the AHRC in its support of The Oxford Edition of the Sermons of John Donne, this is a conference which will reassess the ‘place’ of preaching in Early Modern Europe in all its aspects.

Plenary Lecture: Brian Cummings (York)

Confirmed Speakers: Hugh Adlington (Birmingham); David Colclough (Queen Mary); Joshua Eckhardt (Virginia Commonwealth); Katrin Ettenhuber (Cambridge); Lori Anne Ferrell (Claremont); Kenneth Fincham (Kent); Erica Longfellow (Oxford); Mary Ann Lund (Leicester); Peter McCullough (Oxford); Charlotte Methuen (Glasgow); Mary Morrissey (Reading); Jean-Louis Quantin (Sorbonne); Emma Rhatigan (Sheffield); Andrew Spicer (Oxford Brookes); Sebastiaan Verweij (Oxford); Philip West (Oxford)

All further conference details – including graduate bursaries to attend the conference – and information on booking will be posted on this site later: http://www.cems-oxford.org/donne

Call for Papers
The organisers welcome proposals (250-500 word abstracts) for further papers on any of the following aspects of sermon culture in Early Modern Europe: Roman Catholic preaching; architectural settings and auditories of preaching; sermons in manuscript and print; performance and delivery; sermon hearing, note taking, and commonplacing; production and reception of patristic and other theological works; rhetoric; and more.

Please send your proposals to Professor Peter McCullough and Dr Sebastiaan Verweij: peter.mccullough@lincoln.ox.ac.uk / sebastiaan.verweij@ell.ox.ac.uk

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 1 MAY 2013

A BOOK HISTORY RESEARCH NETWORK Study Day on Print and Manuscript Culture in British and European Towns and Cities

CENTRE FOR URBAN HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER — FRIDAY, 31 MAY 2013

PDF version of CfP here:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/urbanhistory/news/Text%20and%20Image%20in%20the%20City%20CfP.pdf/view

PAPERS ARE INVITED for this interdisciplinary Study Day from postgraduates, independent researchers and established scholars working on medieval to modern Britain or Europe. Topics might include but are not limited to:
* Intersections between urban cultural history and the history of books/prints/manuscripts/images
* How the culture of text or image has contributed to – and/or been shaped by – its primarily urban setting
* Urban texts and images: their creation, production, distribution and consumption/reception
* Popular print culture and ‘street literature’ (ballads, chapbooks, broadsides etc.)
* How texts and images disseminated urban ideas and culture into rural hinterlands
* Reading the ‘word city’ through newspapers, maps, posters, timetables and ephemeral texts/images
* Representations of urban space or modernity in text or image; urban ‘renaissance(s)’
* Innovative, radical and subversive uses of urban texts and images

The day will include a talk and display of prints by Sarah Kirby, Artist in Residence, Centre for Urban History

Please email proposals (300 words max) plus a brief biographical statement (60 words max) to John Hinks: jh241@le.ac.uk by 8 April 2013.

a one-day colloquium

University of Reading, 22 March 2013

Speakers include Eric Kindel, James Mosley, Clare Backhouse and Angela McShane.

The registration fee of £10 includes refreshments and lunch.

For further details, including a full programme and booking form, please visit Reading University’s Early Modern Research Centre website or contact Rebecca Bullard on r.bullard@reading.ac.uk.

The Faculty of English Language and Literature, in association with Balliol College, proposes to appoint a University Lecturer in English Literature and the history of the book 1450-1650 from 1 October 2013 or as soon as possible thereafter. The history of the book will be interpreted broadly, including (but not limited to) descriptive and analytical bibliography; textual scholarship and criticism; the social and cultural production, circulation and consumption of texts; and codicology. The appointee’s research need not have an exclusive focus on the history of the printed book. The successful candidate will be offered the A.C. Bradley-J.C. Maxwell Tutorial Fellowship in English Literature 1350-1660 at Balliol College. Salary will be on a combined University and College scale up to a maximum of £57,581 per annum.

Further particulars, including details of how to apply, can be downloaded here.

The closing date is 12.00 pm on Tuesday 5th March 2013.

Queries about the post should be addressed to Professor Daniel Wakelin: daniel.wakelin@ell.ox.ac.uk