Upcoming Events: Kislak Center

Nov 06

• Workshop

Open to the Public

Coffee with a Codex: Flemish Book of Hours

For Coffee With a Codex on November 6, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Curator Nick Herman will bring out Ms. Codex 2324, a Flemish illuminated book of hours including 6 full-page arched miniatures and 15 historiated initials on gold grounds.

• November 6, 2025
• 12:00pm - 12:30pm
• Online

Nov 11

• Workshop

Open to the Public

Reimagining Illumination: Be Creative with Illuminated Manuscripts

On Tuesday, November 11, Program Coordinator of Technology and Play Christine Kemp and SIMS Curator for Digital Humanities Dot Porter and will lead a workshop where we will investigate the playfulness of manuscript illumination through hands-on making, including stickers, buttons, and plushies.

• November 11, 2025
• 2:00pm - 4:00pm
• Kislak Center Vitale II, Rm 623, 6th Floor

Nov 11

• Lecture

Open to the Public

The Messiness of Independence

Dr. Emily Sneff, a leading expert on the history of the Declaration of Independence, will share some of the stories behind the first printings of the founding document of the United States.

• November 11, 2025
• 5:30pm - 7:00pm
• Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, sixth floor

Nov 12

• Workshop

Open to the Public

Manuscript Studies Interest Group: Receiving the Classics

In honor of the 18th Annual Lawrence J. Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age, which is happening the week after, the theme for November is Receiving the Classics and will include manuscripts containing copies, translations, and reinterpretations of classical literature and philosophy.

• November 12, 2025
• 2:00pm - 3:00pm
• Kislak Center Vitale II, Rm 623, 6th Floor

Nov 13

• Workshop

Open to the Public

Coffee with a Codex: Boethius & Aristotle

For Coffee With a Codex on November 13, Curator Dot Porter will bring out LJS 101, the oldest codex in Philadelphia! It includes a translation of Aristotle's De interpretatione by Boethius, and other texts.

• November 13, 2025
• 12:00pm - 12:30pm
• Online

Nov 13

• Concert

Open to the Public

Music in the Pavilion: Hidden Voices

Hidden Voices will perform "Monteverdi and Rossi: Celebration of Psalms."

• November 13, 2025
• 6:15pm - 9:00pm
• Kislak Center Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, 6th Floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center

Nov 14

• Lecture

Open to the Public

My Collecting Journey: Public Markets

Join Penn alum David O’Neil, C'77 as he shares images and stories from his unparalleled collection of public market materials, the largest in the world.

• November 14, 2025
• 12:00pm - 1:00pm
• Virtual (link will be sent to registrants)

Nov 20 - 22

• Symposium

Open to the Public

Interpreting the Ancients

Coinciding with the exhibition Reinventing Aristotle, on view this fall at Penn Libraries' Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts, this year's symposium centers on the unceasing conversations with antiquity held across the pages of manuscripts, before and after the age of print.

• November 20-22, 2025
• Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts; Free Library of Philadelphia & Online

Dec 02

• Lecture

Open to the Public

A Book That Got Around: The Many Contexts of "Aristotle’s Masterpiece"

In this talk, guest speaker Mary Fissell will use the inscriptions in the Penn copy of the 1684 edition of Aristotle’s Masterpiece to explore the material contexts of the book’s uses.

• December 2, 2025
• 5:30pm - 7:00pm
• Hybrid: Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, sixth floor; and on Zoom