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Kislak Center Upcoming Events

Lectures, symposia, and exhibitions presented and co-sponsored by the Penn Libraries’ Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

On View

Laurence Salzmann: A Life with Others

On exhibit August 28 - December 4, 2023. Curated by Jason Francisco, a visual artist tenured in the Film and Media Department at Emory University, this exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of the work of Laurence Salzmann (American, born 1944), whose collection was donated to the Penn Libraries in 2018. 

Two men wearing hats pass each other on a city street surrounded by graffiti-laden walls. Black and white photograph.Legible graffiti reads "the new
Oct 05
  • Event
  • Kislak
Open to the Public

Coffee with a Codex: Scientific miscellany

An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators. Everyone is welcome to attend.

  • October 5, 2023
  • 12:00pm - 12:30pm
  • Zoom
LJS 215, Scientific miscellany
Oct 12
  • Event
  • Kislak

Coffee with a Codex: Book of Hours with Dragons

An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators. Everyone is welcome to attend.

  • October 12, 2023
  • 12:00pm - 12:30pm
  • Zoom
FLP Widener 7
Oct 19
  • Workshop
  • Kislak
Open to Penn Students, Faculty, and Staff

Singing from the Sources: A Workshop on Manuscript-based Musical Performance with Cappella Pratensis

Members from the Netherlandish early music ensemble Cappella Pratensis will lead a discussion and workshop on the importance and use of medieval manuscript sources in modern early music performance. Participants will be encouraged to sing and sight-read along with the leaders. Registration is required as spaces are limited.

  • Thursday, October 19, 2023, 12:00 - 2:00 pm
  • 12:00pm - 2:00pm
  • Class of 1978 Pavilion, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, sixth floor
Singer using hand as mnemonic device for recalling notation.
Oct 19
  • Event
  • Kislak

Coffee with a Codex: Geometria

An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators. Everyone is welcome to attend.

  • October 19, 2023
  • 12:00pm - 12:30pm
  • Zoom
Page from LJS 194
Oct 20
  • Event
  • Kislak
Open to the Public

Collecting Sun Ra, Pioneer of Afro-Futurism Jazz

Collector and jazz historian John Szwed, in conversation with curator Samantha Hill, discusses the archive he assembled on the influential Philadelphia Jazz artist Sun Ra.

  • October 20, 2023
  • 12:00pm - 1:00pm
  • Zoom
Sun Ra, poster for Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra
Oct 24
  • Lecture
  • Kislak
Open to the Public

The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies & the Herbert D. Katz Center Distinguished Fellowship in Jewish Manuscript Studies Lecture

The Naked and the Hairy: Material Memory and Jewish Record-keeping in Early Modern Europe

Elisheva Carlebach, Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture, and Society at Columbia University, examines the record-keeping culture of the Jews of early modern Europe.

  • Tuesday, October 24, 2023, 5:15 - 7:00 pm EDT
  • 5:15pm - 7:00pm
  • Class of 1978 Pavilion, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, sixth floor & Virtual
Title page of Avraham Friemann's Pinkas Bisschheim, showing possible ownership inscription, Frydman, written in ballpoint pen on the title page. Possibly also a later transcription of the scribe's name on this page
Oct 26
  • Event
  • Kislak

Coffee with a Codex: De institutione musica

An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators. Everyone is welcome to attend.

  • October 26, 2023
  • 12:00pm - 12:30pm
  • Zoom
Page from LJS 47