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RBSC's History of the Book Seminar Series: Programming 2024-2025

The History of the Book is an interdisciplinary realm of study that includes printing and publishing, materials and technologies of the book, the book trade, reading and readers, and collectors and collections, as well as library and information history.

October Program

Beyond Walls, Beyond Bondage: Nineteenth Century Memoir

October 3, 2024 @ Noon-1:30 pm

Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room

Founders Memorial Library, Room 403

Light refreshments will be provided.

Kelly Ross (L); Owen Clayton (R).

Presenter: Kelly Ross, Associate Professor of English, Rider University
“Pinkerton, the Underground Railroad, and Civil War Spying”
Presenter: Dr. Owen Clayton, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of Lincoln, UK
“‘Stone walls do not a prison make’: Identity in Nineteenth-Century Prison Writing”

February Program

"The Indissoluble Bands of Love and Devotion": Creation, Collection, and Adulation

February 6, 2025 @ Noon-1:30pm

Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room

Founders Memorial Library, Room 403

Brown Bag Lunch Welcome

Elinor Olin (L); Beth McGowan (M); Nora Jimenez (R).

Presenter: Elinor Olin, Associate Professor, School of Music, Northern Illinois University
“Garbousova: An Artist’s Legacy”
Presenters: Beth McGowan, Associate Professor and Curator of Special Collections; Nora Jiménez, NIU Special Collections Archivist, University Libraries, Northern Illinois University
"An Introduction to a Man and his Fans: 17th Century Jeremy Taylor and his 20th Century Fans"

2024-2025 Seminars

March Program

J'Accuse: The Politics of Propaganda and Prosecution

March 6, 2025 @ Noon-1:30pm

Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room

Founders Memorial Library, Room 403

Brown Bag Lunch Welcome

Katharina Barbe (L); Elizabeth Nowak (M); Jessica Cima (R).

Presenter: Katharina Barbe, Now Retired, Associate Professor and former Chair of World Languages and Cultures, Northern Illinois University
“Victor Klemperer: Observations on Language and Fascism”
Presenters: Elizabrth Novak, McKearn Fellow and Sophomore Theatre Studies and Anthropology double major; Jessica Cima, NIU STEAM Campus Engagement Coordinator
“Stronger Storytelling: Rare Books in Museum Curation and Dramaturgy”

November Program

Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Exploring Text and Paratext

November 7, 2024 @ Noon-1:30pm

Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room

Founders Memorial Library, Room 403

Brown Bag Lunch Welcome

David Gorman (L); Stephen Luis Vilaseca (R).

Presenter: David Gorman, Associate Professor of English, Northern Illinois University
“Paratext and Book Study: An Unexpected Encounter”
Presenter: Stephen Luis Vilaseca, Professor of Spanish, Northern Illinois University
“The City as Book and ‘The Selling of Place’ as Paratext in Spain”

April Program

A Sense of Place: Maps and Meaning-Making

April 3, 2025 @ Noon-1:30pm

Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room

Founders Memorial Library, Room 403

Light refreshments will be provided.

Jim Wilson (L); Junlin Pan (R).

Presenter: Jim Wilson, Associate Professor, Department of Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment, Northern Illinois University
"Maps: From the Arcane to the Quotidian"
Presenter: Junlin Pan, Professor, University Libraries, Northern Illinois University
"Names on the Land—the Author, the Book, and the Translation"

Last Updated: Oct 9, 2025 9:54 AM
URL: https://libguides.niu.edu/c.php?g=1343439
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