Treasuries of Knowledge
Treasuries of Knowledge
Cambridge University
Treasuries of Knowledge: Collecting and Transmitting Information in the Early Modern World Colloquium, 8 April 2016 Organisers: Jennifer Bishop, Liesbeth Corens, and Tom Hamilton Early modern people understood collections of information as ‘treasuries’, both in a metaphorical and a material sense. Collecting and storing information created a useful, cumulative repository for present and future reference. Collections were preserved in jewel houses or treasure rooms, their contents locked up in chests or boxes, thus reinforcing the idea that information was a valuable commodity to which access should be moderated. They were situated at the interface between past and future, particular documents and larger structures. They also raise questions of secrecy and access, value and materiality. In discussing treasuries, this one-day workshop directs the conversation towards their utility and value, their form and location, and the hierarchies they constituted. It provides a platform for further exchanges among the diverse scholars working on collecting, and invites scholars to reflect further on the common denominator of the utility of collections and the significance of their location and accessibility. For the full programme, see: https://liesbethcorens.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/final-programme-treasurie.pdf.
Frances Maguire: ‘Printed Receipts and Personal Solvency: Collecting the Paperwork of Hearth Tax’
Discussion of the material culture of Hearth Tax, showing the intrusion of the state into households but also the potential for negotiation.
Apr 9, 2016
16 min
Sietske Fransen and Katherine Reinhart: 'Making Visible: The Visual and Graphic Practices of the Early Royal Society'
Discussion of the project on The Visual and Graphic Practices of the Early Royal Society.
Apr 8, 2016
19 min
Matt Symonds: 'Archeology of Reading'
Discussion of the Archeology of Reading project and the digital archive.
Apr 8, 2016
22 min
Stéphane Jettot: ‘Treasuries of Refugees: The Collection of Genealogical Archives by Exiled Jacobites in the Reign of Louis XIV’
Discussion of Irish Jacobites' conflicts over the role and ownership of the Great Book of Lecan (fifteenth-century Codex).
Apr 8, 2016
21 min
Brooke Palmieri: ‘A Little World of Strangeness’
Discussion of Thomas Leeds's Temple of Wisdom, reflecting on the treasuring mentality and the role of the 'impartial reader' (recording missed the first five minutes, for which Brooke Palmieri very helpfully provided a transcript, to be found under the 'transcript' tab).
Apr 8, 2016
15 min
Marco Schnyder: ‘Knowledge, Action, and Identity: The Swiss Merchant Nation in Lyon and its Archive (17th-18th centuries)’
Discussion of the Swiss merchant archives and their use in legal and cultural usage.
Apr 8, 2016
21 min
Djoeke van Netten: ‘Collecting and Guarding Information just before and after the Establishment of the Dutch East India Company (1602)’
Discussion of concealing and revealing, inclusion and exclusion in the history of information gathering of the Dutch East India Company.
Apr 8, 2016
18 min
Fabio Antonini: ‘Italian Archives: Administration and Scholarship’
Discussion of the access and use of the Venetian secret archives, interrelating the administrative impulses with erudite historical study.
Apr 8, 2016
19 min
Sundar Henny: ‘Masters of Useless Information: Private Papers as Treasuries in Seventeenth-Century Zurich’
Sundar Henny Challenges the focus on 'information' and 'knowledge' in the study of archives and libraries, and draws attention to the materiality and symbolic value.
Apr 8, 2016
17 min
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