Reading material histories with rare books object based learning
Critical Thinking
Summary
In manyhuman cultures, the written word has been the most reliable way to shareinformation across time and space for thousands of years. Within theseintellectual traditions, the idea of the book as a container for knowledge iscommonplace. Books are, however, more than the words on their pages. They alsocarry important information encoded in their materiality.
In thisworkshop, participants will handle rare books on a range of topics from the ANULibrary’s rare book collection. By considering the books as objects,participants will learn to identify and interpret signs of ownership and use thatcan shed light on individuals’ experiences, the transfer of knowledge withinand across societies, and the history of ideas.
The 4-hourworkshop will be divided into three parts, including a demonstration of objectanalysis and how to separate the acts of observation and interpretation tounderstand each process more clearly, group-based guided observation andinformation sharing, and finally, time spent one-on-one with a rare bookdiscovering its individual story.
Preparation
Participantsare invited to read the following:
‘Materialand digital traces in patterns of nature: early modern botany books andseventeenth-century needlework’ (2022) by Mary Learner in IntermediateHorizons: book history and digital humanities edited by Mark Vareschi and HeatherMacha, 61 - 87: https://anu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61ANU_INST/1csbe8o/cdi_jstor_books_j_ctv2rh2cnh_8
‘Introduction’(pages 13 – 29) in Boxes and books in Early Modern England: materiality,metaphor, containment (2021) by Lucy Razzall: https://anu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61ANU_INST/1csbe8o/cdi_globaltitleindex_catalog_331023231
‘Dowomen have a book history?’ (2014) by Michelle Levy in Studies in romanticism,Vol 53 (3), 297 – 317: https://anu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61ANU_INST/1csbe8o/cdi_crossref_citationtrail_10_1353_srm_2014_0001
‘Whatis the history of books’ (1982) by Robert Darnton in Daedalus, 111 (3),65 – 83: https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstreams/7312037c-82c8-6bd4-e053-0100007fdf3b/download
What participants will learn
1. Beable to identify the difference between observation and interpretation andbegin to be able to perform each activity independently
2. Developdeep observation skills to support capacity for evidence-based problem solvingand critical thinking
3. Practiceevidence-based argumentation and communication skills, both written and verbal,in collaborative and individual contexts
4. Learnabout the history of books and begin to understand how the book’s form canshape our ways of thinking and engaging with ideas
Completion
In-class presentation (developed and delivered in the workshop),and an 800 – 1000 word reflective piece to be submitted before 11.59pm17/10/2025
- Created by
- Morgan Burgess