Book Arts Lab History Event (2024) – for prospective History students

• In-person event
• Carleton Book Arts Lab, MacOdrum Library (234E & 234F) , MacOdrum Library , Carleton University
• 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6

• Contact
• Marc Saurette, marc.saurette@carleton.ca

Title: History in the Making: A Printing and Scribal Workshop for Potential History Majors

To register: https://admissions.carleton.ca/events/book-arts-lab-history-event/ (registration limited to prospective History students) – only 20 spots available

Come experience the secret history of medieval and early print books in a print-making and penwork workshop! Learn about the book-making techniques used in our medieval manuscripts and rare books. 

Organisers: Marc Saurette and Savannah Ranger

Description

To become a historian, you need to understand your sources. This workshop run by the Department of History  introduces students to the history of the book and will teach key techniques used to communicate information in medieval and early modern books. The goal is for you to see how print and digital books of today build on the technological innovations of the past two thousand years.

This workshop will be hands-on. In the morning, you will look at and handle medieval manuscripts and early-modern rare books and you will also typeset text and make prints on a hundred-year old Washington iron press. After a complimentary lunch in the residence Dining Hall and a quick campus tour, you can come back and try your hand at medieval-style penwork – imitating the difficult ink initials of fourteenth and fifteenth century scribes. Or spend more time examining and hearing about the manuscripts and rare books in Carleton’s Archives and Special Collections.

This workshop hopes to give students a sense of what the Bachelor of History offers at Carleton – it combines creativity with critical learning to let you explore the world of the past from Antiquity to the present day.

Students are welcome to come for the morning print-based activities or for the whole day.

Schedule

9:30 a.m. (ET) – Students meet in the lobby of MacOdrum Library and are welcomed at Book Arts Lab

9:45 a.m. (ET) – Activity One: Typesetting on the Vandercook Press

10:45 a.m. (ET) – Activity Two: Students print already  typeset page on Washington Iron Press

11:30 p.m. (ET) – Complimentary lunch in the residence dining hall

–       Coordinated with Recruitment

12:30 p.m. (ET) – General Campus Tour (leaving from the residence dining hall)

–       Coordinated with Recruitment

1:30 p.m. (ET) – Activity Three: Students try out quills and medieval penmanship

2:30 p.m. (ET) – Depart campus  

About the Organizers

Savannah Ranger is an honours History major in her final degree year. As part of her Honours Thesis Project, she is putting together an exhibition proposal that could be displayed in MacOdrum library. A key part of this proposal is developing an animating activity – a workshop – which would provide her with the opportunity to design and run a learning activity. She has taken classes in the book arts lab and is familiar with its opportunities, resources and potential.

Marc Saurette is the Undergraduate Supervisor of the History Department in charge of undergraduate recruitment. He is one of the original organisers/ supporters of the Book Arts Lab, frequent user and expert in the medieval book arts.