Stanford Libraries will host a colloquium for scholars, book lovers, and supporters of the Humanities at Stanford, entitled From Vellum to Virtual: The Manuscript Library of Matthew Parker in the 21st Century. This event will be held on Friday, 10 December 2004, from 2:45 to 5:00 p.m. in the Jonsson Social Science Reading Room of the Bing Wing.

The Libraries and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge have embarked on a major collaboration to share the treasures of the Parker Library (which has been at Corpus Christi since 1569) with the scholarly world via digitization. Stanford’s prototype of “Parker on the Web” this year, coincides with Archbishop Matthew Parker’s 500th birthday. The colloquium will include discussion of Parker’s life, influence on scholarship and religion, and his library of manuscripts ranging from the 6th to the 16th centuries. The colloquium is intended to help build momentum for this cross-Atlantic collaboration, and to highlight Stanford’s engagement with this foundation trove of English, Latin and Anglo-Saxon literature.

Speakers will include manuscript maven Christopher de Hamel (Fellow and Donnelley Librarian of Corpus Christi College), Professor Emerita Suzanne Lewis, and John Haeger. There will be a roundtable discussion on “Scholarly use of Parker on the Web for Research and Teaching,” moderated by Professor Emeritus George Brown, with scholars; Thomas Kren (Curator of Manuscripts at the Getty Museum), Associate Professor Jennifer Summit, Karen Gross (Claremont McKenna College), and Asa Mittman (Bucknell University).

A reception will follow in the Munger Rotunda, featuring; a performance by Professor Bill Mahrt and friends; music of Thomas Tallis; and a trope from the legendary Winchester Troper, one of the treasures of the Parker Library, which will be on display December 10th for the first time ever in the New World.