Cornelis van Lit (PostDoc at Utrecht University, Religious Studies) will talk about how digitized manuscripts can be used for research, or are even preferable to actual manuscripts for some of the research questions we may want to tackle. Drawing from his new book Among Digitized Manuscripts: Philology, Codicology, Paleography in a Digital World, Cornelis van Lit will give examples of this approach, using images of Oriental manuscripts from his own field of Islamic Studies.

Krista Murchison (UD of English and French Medieval Literature at Leiden University) will talk about the remarkable story of Leiden’s manuscript collections during the Second World War. This talk will showcase some of the precious manuscripts that the occupiers tried to remove from Leiden’s Library, but that narrowly escaped looting because of the quick thinking of one archivist. Thankfully, they remain with us today.

The talks will be followed by a pop-up exhibition showing relevant Oriental and Western manuscripts. There will also be the opportunity to see Van Lit's newly published book up close (see for more information: https://brill.com/view/title/56196?rskey=Ab9p67&result=2)