The Hill Museum and Manuscript Library has launched vHMML (virtual Hill Museum & Manuscript Library) http://www.vhmml.org, and it is an excellent new resource for the study of manuscripts in their collection, which will now be available to peruse online.

In addition, vHMML has many other resources: instruction in Latin and Syriac scripts in School (http://www.vhmml.org/school), Latin and Syriac annotated images in Folio (http://folio.as.uky.edu), answers to terminological questions in Lexicon (http://vhmml.org/lexicon), and bibliography in Reference (http://vhmml.org/reference) (exportable to Zotero, and with links to digital versions in archive.org).

Ashgate Publishing Company was purchased by Informa (Taylor & Francis Publishing) in 2015. On November 24th, 2015, the North American office of the press in Burlington, Vermont will close, and Ashgate’s US staff members will cease to be reprsentatives of Ashgate.

The following petition appeals to Informa to stop a planned closure of the Ashgate office in the United States, and rumored closings of an office in Britain.

https://www.change.org/p/save-ashgate-publishing?recruiter=33081j5231.

The Medieval Academy of America is currently accepting self-nominations for vacancies opening up on the Graduate Student Committee (GSC) for the 2016-2018 term. The GSC comprises five members appointed for a two- year term on a rotating basis. Self-nominations are open to all graduate students, worldwide, who are members of the MAA and have at least two years remaining in their program of study.

The GSC was founded more than ten years ago to represent and promote the participation of graduate student medievalists within the MAA and the broader academic community. In addition to fostering international and interdisciplinary exchange, the GSC is dedicated to providing guidance on research, teaching, publishing, professionalization, funding, and employment, as well as offering a forum for the expression of the concerns and interests of our colleagues. Our responsibilities, thus, include organizing pre-professionalizing panels and social events annually at ICMS Kalamazoo, the MAA Annual Meeting, IMC Leeds, and biennially at ANZAMEMS. We also run a successful and popular Mentorship Program that pairs graduate students with faculty to discuss any aspect of our profession such as teaching, publishing, finding a successful work/life balance, maneuvering the job market, and more. In addition, we seek to bring together graduate students through virtual communities such as the growing Graduate Student Group on the MAA website, Facebook, Twitter, the med-grad listserv, and this tri-annual newsletter.

GSC members are asked to attend the Committee’s annual business meeting at Kalamazoo for the duration of their term and to communicate regularly with the group via email and Skype. Ideal applicants are expected to work well both independently and as part of a team in a collaborative environment. Previous experience with organizing conference panels and social events, as well as facility with social and digital media are not required, but may be a benefit.

Interested applicants should submit the following by December 15, 2015:

• The Nomination Form;
• A brief CV (2 pages maximum) uploaded as part of the Nomination Form;
• A recommendation letter from your faculty advisor, sent to the Executive Director of the Medieval Academy by mail or as a PDF attachment (on letterhead with signature, to LFD@TheMedievalAcademy.org).

New members will be selected by the Committee on Committees and confirmed by the Council of the Medieval Academy at the 2016 Annual Meeting in Boston, February 25-27. If you have any questions, please contact us at gsc@themedievalacademy.org.

The open access version of the medieval journal published by the French School in Rome, Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Moyen Âge (latest edition, 127.2, 2015) is now available online: http://mefrm.revues.org.

The DMMapp (Digitized Medieval Manuscripts App) links to more than 300 libraries in the world. Each one of these contains medieval manuscripts that can be browsed for free. The DMMapp is developed by the Sexy Codicology Team; it is part of the Digitized Medieval Manuscripts Maps (DMMmaps) project.

For more info, and to use the app. please visit, http://digitizedmedievalmanuscripts.org/app/

Facebook user Guillaume Lourdel recently sent us a link to the fantastic photos he took at the 600th Anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt (1415-2015). Thanks Guillaume!

You can view the photos at Guillaume’s Facebook page, found here: https://www.facebook.com/gui.gui.1974/media_set?set=a.496293730535586.1073741894.100004648893046&type=3

The Faculty of Arts at the University of Western Australia is planning to cut the Medieval & Early Modern Studies Majors. Help stop these cuts!

Please visit the following website for links to all the ways in which you can stop these cuts!

http://www.uwastudentguild.com/uwa-has-major-issues

The Gothic Ivories Project was launched in October 2008 at the Courtauld Institute of Art. It consists of an online database of ivory sculptures made in Western Europe ca. 1200-ca. 1530, as well as neo-Gothic pieces.

This online resource allows wide-ranging searches on iconography, provenance, origin, post-medieval repairs and replacements, modern forgeries, and many other aspects. It is possible to view in one place images and detailed information on over 5,000 items scattered in over 400 collections around the world. The focus of the Project is on objects made in Europe dating from c. 1200-c. 1530 (excluding Embriachi work), and modern imitations. Please note that the mission of the Gothic Ivories Project is to compile published information and scholarly opinion on the objects, not to emit a judgement on them.

Over 400 institutions in 27 different countries are now on board. Among them are some key collections such as The State Hermitage Museum in Saint-Petersburg, the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg, the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, the Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden, the Museo e Tesoro del Duomo di Monza, but also many small and little known collections, such as that of Oscott College, near Birmingham, or of the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona.

Nearly all these collections are available online: the website now contains 5113 entries, illustrated with 14233 images.

This resource is fully accessible online to researchers, students, and the wider community, thus providing an invaluable tool for the study of these objects.

The Gothic Ivories Project website: http://www.gothicivories.courtauld.ac.uk.

A collection of rare books valued at up to $8 million has been donated to the State Library of Victoria by the late Melbourne barrister John Emmerson QC. Rare first-hand accounts of the execution of King Charles I are among an extraordinary collection of books and pamphlets donated to the SLV. The collection also contains early editions of noted writers including Chaucer, Milton, Defoe, and Swift.

For more on this exciting news, please read: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-16/books-including-one-owned-by-king-charles-i-donated-to-victoria/6393386 and http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-16/the-john-emmerson-collection-five-rare-books/6395636

For the past six years, Maxime Préaud, curator-in-chief emeritus of the Département des Estampes et de la Photographie of the Bibliothèque Nationale, has been working with filmmaker Bertrand Renaudineau and Gallix Productions to create a series of documentaries exploring the great masterpieces of the BN’s collection of prints.

Called Impressions fortes, these 35-minute films each focus on one work by the chosen artists, such as The Knight, Death and the Devil by Albrecht Dürer, The Temptation of Saint Anthony by Jacques Callot and The Holy Face by Claude Mellun (among others by Goya, Rembrandt, Piranesi…). The films use HD technology to get incredibly close to the originals in stunning detail and also teach the rudiments and artistry of the various printmaking processes. Art historians discuss the works and place them into their historical and artistic context.

Each documentary also features a contemporary French printmaker whose work is intimately related to that of the old master in order to show the range and wealth of contemporary printmaking.

Six films have been produced so far and a seventh is in production, dedicated to the 17th century engraver Sébastien Leclerc and his famous print The Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts.

Each is available on DVD or can be downloaded via the website, where more information is also available. English subtitles are available. Please visit www.galixproduction.fr for more information.

If anyone would like to organize public showings of single films or several in the series, please contact Bertrand Renaudineau at bertrand@gallix.fr.