Applicable for the 2024-2025 academic year.

The minor in Book Studies explores the past, present, and future of the written word in its material form from the perspective of a variety of humanistic and social scientific disciplines. 

Minor Requirements

Students in the minor are required to complete four related courses in at least three disciplines among the following list OR from collateral topics courses or independent study units:

Art Studio and Art History—

• AS110 (Book Arts and Letterpress)
• AS201 (Printmaking)
• AS210 (Intermediate Topics: Book Arts & the Envionment)
• AS226 (Book and Book Structures)
• AH200 (Topics: Maya Hieroglyphic Writing)
• AH211 (Medieval Europe)

History—

• HY105 (Civilization in the West: Cultures of the Book)
• HY200 (Topics: when topic is History and Future of the Book)
• HY274 (Making Europe: Medieval Culture and the Framing of European Identity)
• HY275 (Renaissance and Reformation)
• HY277 (Europe in an Age of Absolutism)
• HY304 (Print & Popular Culture in 20th-century China)

English—

• EN220 (Book History & Materiality)
• EN275 (Comics & Graphic Narrative)
• EN282 (Beginning Poetry Writing)
• EN283 (Beginning Fiction Writing)
• EN285 (Beginning Creative NonFiction)
• EN352 (Orgins of the Novel)
• EN381 (Blake & the Idea of the Book)

Film and Media Studies--          

• FM201 (Media Theory & Cultural Studies)

Classics/Religion—

• CL222/RE200 (Topics: The Bible: Myth and History)
• CL222/RE200 (Topics: Making and Faking Scriptures)

Minors in Book Studies are encouraged to complete major papers or projects in these courses in the field of book studies. Topics or independent study units may count toward the minor when they explore:

• the materiality of text
• the book as art object
• the history and social impact of script and printing
• media theory and technology studies
• book decoration and production
• the place of print among other media

 

The Integrative Experience

A final required unit of independent study requires a capstone project reflecting on student's prior coursework, and may be completed under the direction of Jillian Sico, (printer of The Press), Jessy Randall (curator of Special Collections), or any faculty member active in the minor.