Membership in the DVMA
To renew your membership, please print out a copy of the form or download it, fill it out and enclose a check payable to the Delaware Valley Medieval Association, and send it to the address provided on the form.
Library Privileges
Your regular membership entitles you to half-price courtesy privileges at the University of Pennsylvania Library. (Note, however, that the $10 student membership rate does not cover library-borrowing privileges.)
Penn has stipulated the conditions under which we might take advantage of this privilege, conditions to which we can make no exception. To qualify: (1) print out, or download, the additional form, giving a brief description of your research field or specific project; (2) return the completed membership application and privileges form, with your dues check, by 1 December 2008. The library will not honor applications after the middle of December.
You will be eligible to buy your privileges at the Penn Circulation desk after 1 January 2009 and they will be valid through 30 December 2009. The cost remains $200.
Because income from dues barely covers our current expenses, members are asked to consider making an additional contribution. In the past your gifts have allowed us to offer a travel grant to students and independent scholars, as well as to expand the geographical range of the speakers we invite. To help the DVMA continue to thrive, we need your help in bringing in new members. Please encourage a friend or colleague to join our organization and to attend the next meeting.
Announcements
Delaware Valley Medieval Association 2009 Graduate Student Paper Competition
The DVMA is pleased to announce a new competition for graduate students to present a paper at the December 12 DVMA meeting to be held at Princeton University. In addition to this opportunity, a prize in the amount of $200 will be awarded to the winner. Submissions can include a dissertation chapter, a seminar paper, or a paper presented at a conference. It must have been written or presented during the academic year 2008-2009 (including this summer). Papers will be judged on the basis of quality, originality, and clarity of scholarship.
The competition is limited to graduate students who are current members of the Association (joined this fall or renewed by the deadline of Nov. 1, 2009). Submit all applications electronically by September 15, 2009, to Lynn Ransom, DVMA President, at lransom@pobox.upenn.edu. The winner will be announced at the September 26 DVMA meeting, to be held at the University of Pennsylvania. Include your CV, an abstract (200 word limit), and the paper in its original form (please include PowerPoint presentations if applicable). Please note: The presentation time allotted for the paper at the December 12 meeting will be 50 minutes. Please contact Matt Shoaf at mshoaf@ursinus.edu if you have questions.
Delaware Valley Medieval Association Travel Grant 2009-2010
The DVMA offers a subsidy of up to $500 to present a paper at a conference or to travel for research between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010. The competition is limited to graduate students, independent scholars, or part-time / temporary faculty who are not eligible for research funds from their institution. Applicants must be current members of the Association (joined this fall or renewed by the deadline of Nov. 1, 2009). Past recipients of the grant are not eligible. Applications are due by November 1, 2009. For more information, see Delaware Valley Medieval Association Travel Grant 2009-2010 or contact Matt Shoaf at mshoaf@ursinus.edu
Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age
October 30-31, 2009
Lex scripta: The Manuscript as Witness to the History of Law
In partnership with the Rare Book Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Biddle Law Library of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Libraries are pleased to announce the 2nd Annual Lawrence J. Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age. The symposium brings together scholars from around the world and across disciplines to present research related to the study of manuscript books and documents produced before the age of printing and to discuss the role of digital technologies in advancing manuscript research. Whether relying on traditional methods of scholarship or exploring the potential of new technologies, the research presented here will highlight the value of the manuscript book or document in understanding our intellectual heritage. This year's symposium is dedicated to the history of handwritten law and legal documents in Western Europe and the Middle East up to the early modern period in honor of the 100th anniversary of the death of Henry Charles Lea, whose library containing a significant collection of works on ecclesiastical legal history was conveyed to the University in 1926.
The symposium will be held in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania and the Central Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. For more information, program details, and registration, go to http://www.library..upenn.edu/exhibits/lectures/ljs_symposium2.html.
Officers, 2009-2010
- President
Lynn Ransom, University of Pennsylvania
- Vice President
Montserrat Piera
- Secretary
Matthew Shoaf, Ursinus College - Treasurer
Tom Izbicki, Rutgers University