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  • Workshop

Making [and Remaking] Texts: Past, Present, and Future

On Tuesday, April 28, from 2-4pm, come and look at some of the manuscripts held at Penn that have been cut up, remixed, rewritten, and rebound. Hear Penn experts discuss these texts, including an overview of the materials and practices through which manuscripts were made initially. Then, take a pair of scissors and cut your own from paper print-outs drawn from the OPenn repository.

This event has already occurred

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April 28, 2026, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
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Kislak Center Vitale II, Rm 623, 6th Floor
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Open to the Public

Hosted by: SIMS and Kislak Center

Ms. Coll. 713

Manuscripts come to us across hundreds of years, and many undergo myriad mediations as they traverse deep time. What are some common modifications people have made to manuscripts? How did they do this? And how were manuscripts created in the first place?

Come and look at some of the manuscripts held at Penn that have been cut up, remixed, rewritten, and rebound. Hear Penn experts discuss these texts, including an overview of the materials and practices through which manuscripts were made initially. Then, take a pair of scissors and cut your own from paper print-outs drawn from the OPenn repository. Speakers will include Dr. Whitney Trettien, Associate Professor of English, Michael Carroll, Assistant Director of the Fisher Fine Arts Library, and Dot Porter, SIMS Curator of Digital Humanities. Organized by Vitale II Assistant, Julia Pelosi-Thorpe.

Through crafting our own collages, codices, and cut-outs, this two-hour workshop encourages us to learn through enacting as we explore how manuscripts have been created and recreated across time by human beings.

Join us on Tuesday, April 28, from 2-4pm in the Vitale II Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities (Van Pelt 623)

Making [and Remaking] Texts: Past, Present, and Future was a workshop originally conceived and organized by the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies Graduate Fellow 2023-2024 Julia Pelosi Thorpe in February, 2024.

Please contact Dot Porter (dorp@upenn.edu) with any questions.

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