Treasuries of Knowledge: Recent Episodes
Cambridge University
Treasuries of Knowledge: Collecting and Transmitting Information in the Early Modern World Colloquium, 8 April 2016 Organisers: Jennifer Bishop, Liesbeth Corens, and Tom Hamilton
Early modern people understood collections of information as ‘treasuries’, both in a metaphorical and a material sense. Collecting and storing information created a useful, cumulative repository for present and future reference. Collections were preserved in jewel houses or treasure rooms, their contents locked up in chests or boxes, thus reinforcing the idea that information was a valuable commodity to which access should be moderated. They were situated at the interface between past and future, particular documents and larger structures. They also raise questions of secrecy and access, value and materiality. In discussing treasuries, this one-day workshop directs the conversation towards their utility and value, their form and location, and the hierarchies they constituted. It provides a platform for further exchanges among the diverse scholars working on collecting, and invites scholars to reflect further on the common denominator of the utility of collections and the significance of their location and accessibility. For the full programme, see: https://liesbethcorens.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/final-programme-treasurie.pdf.
Discussion of the material culture of Hearth Tax, showing the intrusion of the state into households but also the potential for negotiation.
Discussion of the project on The Visual and Graphic Practices of the Early Royal Society.
Discussion of Irish Jacobites' conflicts over the role and ownership of the Great Book of Lecan (fifteenth-century Codex).
Discussion of Thomas Leeds's Temple of Wisdom, reflecting on the treasuring mentality and the role of the 'impartial reader' (recording missed the first five minutes, for which Brooke Palmieri very helpfully provided a transcript, to be found under the 'transcript' tab).
Discussion of concealing and revealing, inclusion and exclusion in the history of information gathering of the Dutch East India Company.
Discussion of the access and use of the Venetian secret archives, interrelating the administrative impulses with erudite historical study.
Sundar Henny Challenges the focus on 'information' and 'knowledge' in the study of archives and libraries, and draws attention to the materiality and symbolic value.
Discussion of collecting of spices as curiosities, with only a gradual move to commodities and competition.
Discussion of the multiple angles on 'treasuries', office as a social space, and the role of women in the office.