Spanish Paleography at the Huntington Library, Los Angeles, California. Directed by Carla Rahn Phillips, University of Minnesota July 27-August 14, 2009
The institute will concentrate on documents written in Spanish from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, although participants will also examine earlier and later documents from time to time. Because Spanish styles of documentation and handwriting in this period followed standard norms, we can use documents produced in Spain, elsewhere in Europe, Spanish America, or even the Philippines to learn about those norms. Using photocopies, microfilm, and some original documents from the Huntington’s collection, participants will develop their skills in accurately reading and transcribing a variety of document types: official reports, financial accounts, royal decrees, parish registers, inventories, land sales, wills, bills of lading, letters, diaries, and the like. All participants will receive a stipend. For more information, please contact Susi Krasnoo at skrasnoo@huntington.org. Applications are due on March 2, 2009.

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Italian Paleography at The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California. Directed by Maddalena Signorini, Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata” July 27-August 14, 2009
This three-week residential course offers intensive training in the accurate reading and transcription of handwritten Italian vernacular texts from the late medieval though the early modern periods. The course is intended to enable scholars in various fields of specialization to acquire the skills to deal with primary sources. While the major emphasis is on paleographical skills, the course offers an introduction to codicological techniques, and considers the history of scripts within the larger historical, literary, intellectual and social contexts of Italy. Students receive an introduction to a wide range of types of writing and documents from literary to legal, notarial, official, ecclesiastical, business and family documents. The course includes an overview of the system of Italian archives — public, ecclesiastical, and private. Students also have the opportunity to work with original texts, using inventories, letters, diaries, and other types of manuscripts and documents from the special collections of the Research Library at the Getty Research Institute. The course is taught in Italian. The institute enrolls fifteen participants, all of whom will receive a stipend. For more information, please contact Joli Kishi at JKishi@getty.edu. Applications are due on March 2, 2009.

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English Paleography at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C. Directed by Heather Wolfe, Folger Library July 6-30, 2009 Over four weeks in the summer of 2009, Heather Wolfe, Curator of Manuscripts at the Folger Shakespeare Library, will provide intensive training in the accurate reading and transcription of early modern English handwriting. Participants will focus primarily on the secretary and italic hands in the Tudor and Jacobean periods. They will also experiment with contemporary writing materials; learn the terminology for describing and comparing letter forms; consider the various editorial conventions relating to abbreviations, interlineal insertions, and deleted text; create a “mini-edition” of their own; and discuss the important and evolving role of handwritten documents within a wider context of print, manuscript, and oral cultures. Examples will be drawn from the Folger’s collection. Several guest faculty will provide their expert views of manuscript culture. All participants will receive a stipend. Please see http://www.folger.edu/institute for more information. Applications are due on March 2, 2009.