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The Hampshire College Center
for the Book fosters the study of technologies of the
word from antiquity to the electronic age. Because textual
communication lies at the heart of our educational system
and civil society, we explore this process—as a technical,
social, and æsthetic endeavor—across the liberal-arts
curriculum and in partnership with others outside academe.
We bring together scholars, practitioners of the book trade
and book arts, and members of the general public, in order
to reflect upon the material forms of the text; the history
and future of reading and writing; the institutions and
movements of textual culture; and freedom of expression.
Who
we are & what we do
The
pair of parallelograms represents the open pages of a codex
and the sheltering roof of the house of learning. The number
of circles—10—is halfway between the atomic numbers
of carbon and silicon, and the geometric pattern loosely
suggests the structures of forms of those elements: the
bases, respectively, of writing pigments and organic life,
semiconductors and artificial intelligence. The arrangement
of circles and connecting lines also
calls to mind kabbalistic representations of the 10 "sefirot"
(divine emanations), thus emphasizing the supreme power
of language, and its ability to transcend any particular
medium.
Origins
& Program
The Hampshire College Center
for the Book was founded in 1998 by faculty from the School
of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies and the School
of Social Science. Our initial funding took the form of
a special startup grant from the MacArthur Foundation, through
the Office of the President of the College.
Many projects or organizations devoted to the book tend
to concentrate on a particular area of this rich field—for
example, scholarship or connoisseurship, the practical book
arts, or public-service activities such as literacy programs.
Our approach is distinctive in that: (1) It seeks to unite
the diverse elements of this triad. (2) Within the academic
sphere, it is primarily oriented toward the undergraduate
liberal-arts curriculum rather than specialized or professional
training. Our goal is thus to develop a new model for the
public humanities.
We sponsor courses, seminars, lectures and
readings, symposia, and exhibitions. We also serve as a
facilitator for book-related activities of various kinds:
library planning and specialized collection development
on campus, community-service projects, student internships.
In this way, we hope to foster not only
an appreciation for the rich traditions of the book,
but also the conceptual and practical sophistication
required of all of us in this transitional era. The
digital media revolution is ushering in a new information
age, but we can best plot a course forward if we first
understand the road we have traversed since Gutenberg.
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Contact
information: Prof. James Wald
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