In the economic times that are frustrating folks around the world, colleges are looking to cut their budgets. So are governments. As we all know, sometimes people make poor choices about what to cut.
Paleography is the study of handwriting in terms of knowing the era in which a work was written and sometimes determining exactly who the writer was.
The most incredible panel I went to at MLA this last year relied on paleography extensively for their new understandings of early modern documents.
There is a problem at the University of London. In order to save $$$, they are thinking of cutting the paleography program. It’s the only one in the UK.
‘The Chair of Palaeography at King’s College in the University of London is the only one of its kind in the UK, and is of fundamental intellectual significance to a broad and interdisciplinary scholarly community as well as to the wider community beyond universities. Many other classical, medieval and early modern disciplines depend on the accurate deciphering of manuscripts and documents and their proper understanding, while the study of writing offers a gateway to the comprehension of our own history, writ large. We therefore urge the Executive of KCL to reconsider their proposal to cut this prestigious Chair.’
Go and sign the petition to help save the department.
Found because I read MedievalStudies.
