New Events in Book History
22/04/2026 – 24/06/2026
USA
Talks, Workshops and Conferences
Upcoming: Talks, Workshops and Conferences
Fantasies of Latin and Nahuatl in Clement VII’s Rome
Apr. 22, 2026, 6:00PM
Co-sponsored by the Humanities Center Seminar in Book History and the Early Modern Workshop in the Dept of History, Harvard
Speaker: Byron Hamann (University of Pennsylvania)
CGIS S250, Harvard University, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge MA
Apr. 28, 2026, 3:00PM
Co-sponsored by the Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar in the History of the Book and by the Dept of History of Science, Harvard
Speaker: Dmitri Levitin (All Souls College, Oxford)
Harvard Science Center, Room 469. 1 Oxford St, Cambridge MA
Symposium: The Cultures of Vigilance. Towards a History of ‚private‘ Watchfulness
Apr 30, 2026, 9:15AM – 12:00PM EDT
Host: Global Information History Workshop
Speaker: Arndt Brendecke, Early Modern History, LMU Munich
Respondents: Daniel Jütte, Early Modern History, NYU and Monika Mommertz, Early Modern History and Gender History, University of Basel
Location: Online, via Zoom
Apr 30, 2026, 4:30PM – 5:30PM EDT
Sponsor: Korean Treasures at Harvard Series, Korea Institute, Harvard University
Speaker: Ilsoo Cho, Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Korean and Japanese History, Department of History, Brandeis University
Chair: Sun Joo Kim, Harvard-Yenching Professor of Korean
Online, via Zoom. RSVP required
Christianizing Coffee: a Maronite Origin of the Devilish Drink
May 1, 2026, 12:00PM – 1:45PM EDT
Sponsors: Harvard Early Modern Workshop and Harvard Mahindra Humanities Seminar on the History of the Book
Speakers: Ida Beckett, Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Jin-Woo Choi, History Department, both Harvard University
Barker Center, Room 133 (Plimpton Room), Harvard University (Please use the main entrance to enter Barker Center)
Lunch will be served: RSVP required.
*Harvard · Yale · Brown History of the Book Graduate Student Conference
May 4, 2026
Sponsored by the John Carter Brown Library and the John Hay Library
Various Locations, Providence RI
Please RSVP by April 27
Program Website
Tracking Communities: The Jesuit Catalogs Project
May 21, 2026, 9:20AM – 10:00AM EDT
Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies: Jesuit Studies Café
Speakers: Cristiano Casalini, Alessandro Corsi, Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, Boston College, & Dave Thomas, Digital Libraries, Boston College
Online, via Zoom. RSVP required
International Symposium on Jesuit Studies: Jesuits and Their Journals
Jun. 9 – Jun. 11, 2026
Hosts: Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies and Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry
Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, Boston College, Boston MA
Paper Relations: Histories and Futures of Indigenous Print Cultures
Jun. 21 – Jun. 26, 2026
Sponsor: American Antiquarian Society
Summer Seminar in the History of the Book (application deadline: April 3, 2026)
American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609 United States
Indigenous Books and America 250 with Phillip Round
Jun. 24, 2026, 7:00PM – 8:00PM EDT
James Russell Wiggins Lectures in the History of the Book in American Culture, Sponsor: American Antiquarian Society
Presenter: Phillip Round, John C. Gerber Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Iowa
American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609 United States
Ecology and Empire (Summer Seminar, Deadline for Applications: April 15, 2026)
Jul. 20 – Jul. 24, 2026
Sponsor: American Antiquarian Society
The 2026 Center for Historic American Visual Culture (CHAViC) summer seminar
American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609 United States
Exhibits (organized by their end-date)
Cataloging the Sky: John Flamsteed and the Royal Greenwich Observatory
To Apr. 24, 2026
History of Ideas Case, Houghton Library, Harvard Yard
Exhibit in celebration of the Royal Greenwich Observatory’s 350th anniversary
Exhibit: New Acquisitions (Houghton Library)
To Apr. 24, 2026
Houghton Library Lobby Gallery, Harvard Yard, Cambridge MA
Recent additions to Houghton’s collections
*Exhibit: From Academie-land to Zelda. Mapping the Fictional and Imaginary
Apr. 20 – Apr 30, 2026
Harvard Map Collection
Corridor Gallery, Pusey Library, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
Open to the public
Thanks for Typing: Women’s Type Labor in Literature and the Arts
Jan. 26 – May. 1, 2026
Edison and Newman Room, Houghton Library, Harvard Yard
From the poems of Emily Dickinson to Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, many of the masterworks of modern literature were originally written by hand, then typed. But their creators were rarely the ones to type them. This work was performed by typists.
*Exhibit: Celebrating the 2025 Winners of Harvard Library’s Collecting Prizes
Apr. 20 – May 31, 2026
The Philip Hofer Prize for Collecting Books or Art and the Visiting Committee Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting
3rd floor Lamont Library, Harvard University, 1 Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
Harvard ID required
*Exhibit: Making Waves. Books on Angling and Fish at Houghton Library
Starting May 4, 2026
Houghton Library
Houghton Library, Lobby, Floor 1, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
Open to the public
*Exhibit: A More Perfect Union. The Birth of the Constitution
Starting May 4, 2026
Houghton Library
Houghton Library, Lobby at Floor 1, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
Open to the public
*Charting Independence: Revolutionary War Maps from the Harvard Map Collection
Starting May 15, 2026
Harvard Map Collection
Corridor Gallery, Pusey Library, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
Open to the public
*Exhibit: War of Words. A Citizen’s Eye View of the Revolution
Starting May 18, 2026
Houghton Library
Edison and Newman Room, Floor 1, Houghton Library, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
Open to the public
Hands-on Programs
Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover MA provides programs and funding opportunities for book and paper conservation
interrobang letterpress in Jamaica Plain, MA is the last traditional letterpress printing office in the Boston/Cambridge metro area with hot-metal typecasting capabilities.
Reflex Letterpress in Charlestown, MA presents Boston-based printing & instruction in the antique art of letterpress
Shepherd & Maudsleigh Studio in West Newton, MA offers workshops in book arts in their Book Arts Workroom for various levels from beginners to experienced artists and printmakers.
The Beaver Press Printshop at MIT offers workshops and lectures
The Beaver Press Print Shop features a Gutenberg-facsimile wooden letterpress designed by former MIT Hobby Shop Director and alumnus Ken Stone ’72, and built by MIT students in the Spring 2016 term.
For classes in bookbinding and book arts, see the offerings of the North Bennet St School, 150 North St, Boston
https://nbss.edu/continuing-education/bookbinding/
The Museum of Printing in Haverhill MA offers exhibitions, hands-on workshops, lectures, garage sales and much more around their collection of printing, typesetting, and bindery machines.
Masssachusetts Center for the Book in Northampton MA is a nonprofit offering programs and events dedicated to inspiring a love of reading and honoring the rich literary culture of the Commonwealth.
Ongoing Projects
Brown University, John Carter Brown Library Blog: https://jcblibrary.org/news
Harvard Library Preservation Services Blog: https://preservation.library.harvard.edu/blog
Houghton’s digital collection and exhibit: „Slavery, Abolition, Emancipation, and Freedom: Primary Sources at Houghton Library“
Book History Courses at Harvard for Fall 2026 (link)
