Attend Office Hours
Learn more about book history, try out the tools of digital humanities practitioners, and speak with BH+DH partners during our weekly office hours:
- Tuesdays 9:30am-11:30am
- Wednesdays 1pm-3pm
Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities
Located in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, the Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities welcomes scholars of all levels who are working on projects at the intersection of BH+DH, providing space for collaboration and learning, for experimentation and creation. We host two sets of open hours every week, and many workshops that are available to everyone. A collaboration of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies and the Price Lab for Digital Humanities.
Work With Us
The Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities is located at:
623 Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, 6th floor
Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Check Out Our Technologies Petting Zoo
Our Text Technologies Petting Zoo includes historical equipment for making text (e.g., typewriters, computers). Visit during Tuesday's office hours to learn more about it with Emily F. Brooks, Associate Director of the Price Lab for Digital Humanities.
View Special Collections
While research visits with special collections should happen in the Kislak Center Reading Room, Vitale II offers support for group and virtual viewing, and personal imaging options. With the help of our staff and equipment, you can display objects in the room, on the large screen with the document camera, on the two side monitors with the ceiling camera, and to virtual audiences via video conferencing. We also provide support for video recordings. Starting in 2026, we will be offering access to a Multispectral Imaging System for Historical Artifacts (MISHA) for experimental use.
To view special collections in the Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities, email Dot Porter. Once you have scheduled a time, you can request the item using your Aeon research account.
Partner With Us
The Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities welcomes partnerships with organizations and individuals working at the intersection of BH and DH. Groups can also reserve the space for events and workshops on related topics.
To discuss collaboration or reserve the space, email Dot Porter.
Projects and Programs
Learn about our ongoing events, activities, and working groups that celebrate and explore work at the intersection of libraries, book history, and digital humanities.
Coffee with a Codex
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.
Manuscript Studies Interest Group
The Manuscript Studies Interest Group (MSIG) is a regular meeting for people who want to get up close and personal with a variety of handwritten objects.
Manuscript Collections As Data Research Group
A team from the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS), Cultural Heritage Computing, and Research Data and Digital Scholarship (RDDS) is working to facilitate Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) to transcribe research materials from Penn Libraries’ digitized manuscript collections using AI technologies.
Reimagining Illumination
Reimagining Illumination is a series of workshops designed to interrogate and expand the concept of illumination (i.e., the use of light) in books and manuscripts.
The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies
Bringing manuscript culture, modern technology and people together.
Upcoming Events
Upcoming events hosted by the Vitale Lab for Book History and Digital Humanities. See all Penn Libraries events.
Mar
18
- Workshop
Open to the Public
Manuscript Studies Interest Group: Social Networks
The Manuscript Studies Interest Group (MSIG) is a regular meeting for people who want to get up close and personal with a variety of handwritten objects.
- March 18, 2026
- 2:00pm - 3:00pm
- Kislak Center Vitale II, Rm 623, 6th Floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
Mar
24
- Workshop
Open to the Public
Reimagining Illumination: Mirrors + Movable Books
On March 24, Emily Brooks, Associate Director of Digital Research in the Humanities in the Price Lab for Digital Humanities, will lead a workshop where we will make pop-up mirror books.
- March 24, 2026
- 2:00pm - 4:00pm
- Kislak Center Vitale II, Rm 623, 6th Floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
Mar
26
- Workshop
Open to the Public
Coffee with a Codex: A didactic poem concerning integers
On March 26, curator Dot Porter will bring out LJS 462, a didactic poem in 284 lines of hexameter concerning integers (including, for the first time in Latin, zero) and their operations, followed by an anonymous treatise in verse on the calendar.
- March 26, 2026
- 12:00pm - 12:30pm
- Online
Apr
14
- Workshop
Open to the Public
Reimagining Illumination: Getting Creative With Medieval Manuscripts
On Tuesday, April 14, Program Coordinator of Technology and Play Christine Kemp and SIMS Curator for Digital Humanities Dot Porter will lead a workshop where we paint 3D figures of marginal characters pulled from our fantastic 13th century Bible, Ms. Codex 724. We'll look at the manuscript, and then we'll get creative!
- April 14, 2026
- 2:00pm - 4:00pm
- Kislak Center Vitale II, Rm 623, 6th Floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
Apr
15
- Workshop
Open to the Public
Manuscript Studies Interest Group: Emotions
The Manuscript Studies Interest Group (MSIG) is a regular meeting for people who want to get up close and personal with a variety of handwritten objects. In April, we'll look at books on the theme of Emotions.
- April 15, 2026
- 2:00pm - 3:00pm
- Kislak Center Vitale II, Rm 623, 6th Floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
