The Lives of Early Modern Librarians
The Lives of Early Modern Librarians: Actions, Networks, and Emotions (1400s-1800s)
This event will be held in English.
Between, behind, and beyond bookshelves, early modern librarians lived full lives—pursuing ambitions, facing frustrations and illness, balancing family ties and hopes—while shaping how information was collected and shared between the 1400s and 1800s. This workshop explores the human side and shifting meanings of librarianship, from Ottoman courts to Iberian empires, from Mediterranean archives and museums to Atlantic and Pacific crossings. By following the stories of the people who managed books, objects, and ideas, The Lives of Early Modern Librarians asks: what do these lives reveal about the making of knowledge in the early modern world?
9:00–9:30 — Introductions
Pier Mattia Tommasino (Columbia University)
Fabien Montcher (St. Louis University – CIHS)
9:30–10:30 — Sabina Loriga (EHESS)
“Is Biography an Individualistic Genre?”
10:30–11:00 — Coffee Break
11:00–12:30 — Becoming a Librarian
Presenters:
José Luis Gonzalo Sánchez-Molero (U. Complutense de Madrid), “Guardians of Knowledge and Power: Librarians in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Spain.”
Chiara Petrolini (U. of Bologna), “Reticence and the Margins: The Elusive Life of Sebastian Tengnagel.”
Alessandra Russo (Columbia University), “Looking after and handling. Sebastiano Biavati’s portraits at the roots of curatorship.”
12:30–2:00 — Lunch Break
2:00–3:30 — Librarians’ Mobilities and Networks
Chair: Joseph Howley (Columbia University; Classics; II&I Fellow)
Presenters:
Hülya Çelik (Ruhr U. Bochum), “Sebastian Tengnagel and Derviş İbrahim: Multilingual Knowledge-Making in Early Seventeenth-Century Vienna.”
Guillaume Gaudin (U. Toulouse Jean Jaurès – FRAMESPA), “Taking One’s Books as Far from the World as Possible: Fragments of Hispanic Libraries in the Philippines around 1600.”
Claire Gilbert (Saint Louis U. – CIHS), “A Librarian Abroad: Book Collecting, Language Learning, and Diplomatic Interventions between Spain and Morocco at the End of the Eighteenth Century.”
3:30–4:00 — Coffee Break
4:00–5:00 — Q&A and Discussion
