Inventories of premodern treasuries, collections, households, and libraries have long been crucial documents for art historians, historians, and literary historians. How should these seemingly straightforward lists be read, and what can they tell us about how individuals in premodern society conceived of the world? This interdisciplinary workshop will examine the materiality, content, and design of several inventories in the Newberry collection in order to explore the function of these complex documents as systems for ordering knowledge, assessing the value and legal status of objects, and the movement of objects across space and time.
Led by Jessica Keating, Carleton College; Michelle J. Molina, Northwestern University; and Lia Markey, Newberry Library.