Instructors: Robert D. Montoya, Paul Vangelisti, and Sean Pessin
Location: Italy: Modena, Castel Maggiore, Fabriano, Cornuda
Mode: In-person
Dates: June 24–July 6, 2022
Tuition: $2000

Description

CalRBS International is a one-of-a kind continuing education experience that immerses participants in book and library history through unique itineraries abroad. CalRBS International is part seminar, historical immersion, hands-on craft-making, and multi-city tour. By immersing participants in international spaces, the intention of CalRBS International is to enrich historical understandings of book and library history by learning the living, contemporary trends in book and artifact collecting, artisanship, publishing, and institutional programming.

We will visit cities of significant import to the history of books, publishing, and libraries, while also examining how these histories speak through the present by visiting bookbinders, papermakers, library collectors, printers, and the like. Participants can expect tours of sites significant to book and library history, interspersed with seminar-style discussions, hands-on opportunities to participate in local craft-making, and visiting world-renown library and artifact collections. We will bring you, the participant, to living history as it exists outside the boundaries of the classroom.

In Summer of 2022, participants will have the opportunity to explore the historical and contemporary cultures of bookmaking, printing, library collecting, and papermaking in Northern Italy. Sites of particular interest will include Modena, Bologna, Fabriano, Treviso, and Reggio Emilia. Along the way, we will meet craft-makers, experience lectures by subject specialists, and enjoy the local cuisines and antiquarian marketplaces of these vibrant cities. And above all, you will travel with participants that share an equal fascination and fondness for a uniquely immersive education in what CalRBS knows best: rare books, librarianship, archives, and manuscripts.

Pedagogy

A detailed syllabus will be provided to enrolled participants. The program will focus on the history and contemporary state of librarianship, rare books, and publishing in Northern Italy. A required reading list will also be provided. The course will be designed with clear learning objectives and outcomes and will involve an ongoing collaborative maker project that will serve as a memento or souvenir of the trip. 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this class, students will develop their abilities to: 

• Describe the development of print and information culture in Northern Italy from 14c to present 
• Identify historical and current practitioners in Northern Italian print and visual culture throughout the communications circuit 
• Interview international working groups on values, practices, and struggles in administering public and private library and archive spaces 
• Compare and contrast styles of American and European approaches to public librarianship and archival work, as well as the production of artist books 
• Link economies of creating, distributing, selling, collecting, curating, and conserving print objects 
• Debate issues in community co-constituted library spaces 
• Collaborate with type historians, type designers, typesetters, and printers to produce a variety of print culture objects using several print media and techniques

Requirements

Offered

Credit

Completion of this course helps to meet requirements for one of the following certificate requirements:

• a History of the Book course for Certificate in Rare Books and Manuscripts, or
• 1 of 3 elective credit courses for Certificate in Rare Books and Manuscripts, or
• a History of the Book course for Certificate in Librarianship, Activism, and Justice
• 1 of 2 elective credit courses for Certificate in Librarianship, Activism, and Justice