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Anniversary Year Starts with Exhibition

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On Monday, 13 November 2017, we were thrilled to welcome the Vice-Chancellor, Sir Alan Langlands, to celebrate the launch of our 50th anniversary exhibition.

Charting 50 years of Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds, including the Institute for Medieval Studies (IMS), International Medieval Bibliography (IMB) and International Medieval Congress (IMC), the exhibition reflected on our history and looked towards further future success. Featuring artefacts from the original IMB conference and a festschrift for Professor John Le Patrourel, as well as footage the Mystery Cycle performance from 1975, the exhibition included the material legacy of Medieval Studies at Leeds.

Attended by over 60 guests, including staff, students and alumni, Monday’s event saw old and new friends of the IMS come to together as a community. Many attendees chose to stay late into the evening, discussing their memories of Leeds and the content of the exhibition.

Sir Alan Langlands, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds, opens the exhibition.
Professor Emilia Jamroziak, Director of the Institute for Medieval Studies, speaks to the assembled guests.
Dr Alan V. Murray, Editorial Director of the International Medieval Bibliography. speaks at the exhibition.
Our two Anniversary Interns at the exhibition: Lucy Guest (2017-18) and Sunny Harrison (2016-2017).
Past and present members of International Medieval Bibliography staff view some of the artefacts on display.
Re-enactors attended the event.

 

Professor Emilia Jamroziak, Director of the Institute for Medieval Studies, said, “We are delighted to celebrate our community of medievalists, past and present, here at Leeds. This exhibition is the first in a series of activities this year to reflect on the past 50 years and look forward to the future. We hope the exhibition will show the interdisciplinary nature of Medieval Studies at Leeds and its contribution to University life, which is at the heart of our work.”

In his speech, Dr Alan V. Murray, Editorial Director of the IMB, discussed the history of the Bibliography from its beginnings in Professor Peter Sawyer’s year at the University of Minnesota to its digitalisation in the early 21st century. He said, “Where the first annual volumes contained some three thousand records each, the latest printed volumes and the online updates contain over 16,000 records every year. And a couple of years ago the total number of records in IMB-Online passed the half million mark. So I think that over 500,000 records, fully indexed with a wide range of search functions, is a fine achievement for 50 years’ work, and I hope, a good basis for the future of Medieval Studies in Leeds and the wider world.”

Over the next year, we will be organising a series of events to commemorate this milestone:

  • The Anniversary Public Lecture Series, this year focusing on former Leeds staff and students discussing their current research. Open to all.
  • The Future of Medieval Studies, a two day conference to be held on 31 May to 1 June 2018, focusing on diversity in the academic field. The conference will discuss diversity in the Middle Ages, the diversity of scholarship and the diversity of academics in the field. A call for papers will be forthcoming.
  • A workshop on promoting diversity through curricula, reading lists, research, and recruitment.
  • Events as part of Be Curious 2018.

As part of our celebration, we are looking for memories and stories from our community to feature online and in future IMS publications. Do you have a memory or story of Leeds you would like to share? Please contact the IMS Anniversary Intern at: imsanniversary@leeds.ac.uk.