Library News »04/03/2014

 

Garth Reese selected as NEH Summer Scholar

 

University of Idaho Library faculty member Garth Reese, head of Special Collections and Archives, is one of 16 selected from a national applicant pool to attend a five-week summer seminar supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). As an NEH Summer Scholar, Reese will participate in a seminar entitled “Tudor Books and Readers: 1485-1603.” The program will be held at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Belgium; at Senate House Library, University of London; and at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

The seminar will provide Reese with the opportunity to study rare books, visit research libraries, and enhance his knowledge of late medieval manuscripts and early printing. Specifically, he will identify and trace readers of magical, alchemical, and other occult texts during the Tudor period. “Except for my dissertation research, I have not had the chance to fully integrate my study of the book with my study of the history of early modern Britain, and this is why I was so drawn to this seminar,” said Reese.

Reese holds a master of library and information science degree from UCLA and a doctorate in religion from Claremont Graduate University. He began his career as a rare books cataloger at the University of Oklahoma. Before coming to the University of Idaho, he served as Assistant Curator of Printed Books and Bindings at the Morgan Library & Museum, overseeing the 19th-20th-century printed books collection.