Libraries and Archives

Call for Papers 

The Thirteenth York Manuscripts Conference: Cathedral Libraries and Archives of 

Britain and Ireland 

3-5 July 2014  

Hosted by the Centre for Medieval Studies and the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern 

Studies at the University of York  

Organised by Brian Cummings, Linne Mooney, Bill Sherman and Hanna Vorholt.  

The York Manuscripts Conference has been held biennially or triennially since 1986 and, 

with about 50 papers, is amongst the largest conferences in Europe dedicated to manuscript 

studies. The Thirteenth York Manuscripts Conference, to be held from 3-5 July 2014 will 

have as its topic the Cathedral Libraries and Archives of England, Wales, Scotland and 

Ireland.  

The Cathedral Libraries and Archives of Britain and Ireland comprise some of the most 

remarkable and least explored collections of medieval and early modern manuscripts. While 

predictably focused on theological, liturgical, and devotional books, they also contain many 

medical, scientific, and literary sources, as well as legal and administrative documents. In 

addition to the many collections that are still in situ, others are now being looked after 

elsewhere, or have been dispersed. The conference will include papers on medieval and early 

modern manuscripts which are or were once held by the cathedrals of Britian and Ireland, 

considering their varied contents, illumination, use, and provenance; paper topics might also 

explore the formation, development, and dissolution of the libraries themselves; connections 

between different collections; their location and cataloguing within the cathedrals; or the 

distinction between cathedral libraries and cathedral archives in a historical perspective. 

Papers which shed light on lesser known treasures and collections will be especially 

welcome. We invite papers from researchers in the fields of religion, history, art history, 

musicology, history of science, literature, codicology, conservation, and other cognate 

disciplines. Papers delivered at the conference may be considered for inclusion in a volume 

of selected essays. 

The conference is organised in association with the Cathedrals Libraries and Archives 

Network (CLAN), which seeks to engender, co-ordinate, facilitate and promote research on 

the Cathedral collections, and to act as an interface between academic communities, church 

bodies, and the wider public.  

Plenary lectures will be given by Nigel Morgan (Cambridge), Christopher Norton (York), 

Rodney Thomson (Tasmania), and Magnus Williamson (Newcastle). 

Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words to YMC-2014@york.ac.uk. Deadline for 

submission of proposals is 1 July 2013.