It’s time to let you know how next February’s Kripke events are developing. Alas, very few people responded to the call for papers about collectors, collections, and collecting, so we won’t have a stream of sessions with standard-sized conference papers. We still have a robust schedule of speakers for a symposium, which we’ll hold starting late on Friday, February 20 and through Saturday, February 21.
At 4:00 on Friday afternoon, we’ll host a Q & A event with Stefan Fatsis, whose recently released book, Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary not only covers the announced subject but also gives an account of the Kripke Collection — how Indiana University acquired it, what it’s like to open up boxes of materials from the collections (Stefan is one of the few who’ve had a chance to do so), and how the libraries are handling the collection now that it’s arrived in Bloomington. I hope readers of this blog will already know Stefan’s best-selling book, Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius and Obsession in the World of Professional Scrabble Players (2002).
After that event, we’ll repair to the galleries, so that all attending can enjoy the exhibition, more on which below, and also enjoy the accompanying reception, as guests of the Lilly Library. During the reception, Stefan will be signing copies of Unabridged, copies of which will be available for purchase on-site.
Saturday’s program will warm the heart of any dictionary person. Jonathon Green (Green’s Dictionary of Slang, The Vulgar Tongue: Green’s History of Slang, Chasing the Sun: Dictionary Makers and the Dictionaries They Made), Jack Lynch (The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution of “Proper” English from Shakespeare to South Park, You Could Look It Up: The Reference Shelf from Ancient Babylon to Wikipedia), and Lindsay Rose Russell (Women and Dictionary-Making: Gender, Genre, and English Language Lexicography) will all talk about the motives behind collecting dictionaries, from their distinct perspectives. So will Rob Rulon-Miller, of Rulon-Miller Books (St. Paul, Minnesota), who will talk about collectors and collecting from decades of experience as an antiquarian bookseller.
In addition, we have two intensive talks about specific (and perhaps unexpected) dictionary collections: Volker Harm, of the University of Göttingen, will talk about Richard Wagner’s dictionary collection (yes, that Richard Wagner); Elena C. Wicker, of the Clements Center for National Security and recipient of last year’s Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize from Fine Books & Collections, about collecting military dictionaries.
The exhibition is shaping up as I write this, and I can tell you something about its contents. In the Lilly Library’s main gallery, there will be eight floor-cases dictionaries: two will be devoted to early lexicography; two to slang lexicography; two to nineteenth-century dictionaries; and one each to Hebrew and Yiddish dictionaries and school dictionaries. The main gallery also includes two large wall cases, one of which will be filled with Websteriana from Madeline’s collection, while the other will focus on dictionaries in everyday life and popular culture.
The Lilly Library holds many dictionary collections besides the Kripke Collection, including the Breon Mitchell Collection of Bilingual Dictionaries 1559–1998, the Barnhart Collection, the papers of Eric Partridge, and the Tom Dalzell Collection of Slang Lexicography, as well as untold dictionaries absorbed over decades into the Lilly’s general collection. Selected items from these collections will be displayed in the Slocum Room, adjacent to the main gallery.
How can a dictionary person miss an event like this?
We will hold the symposium in the newly renovated lecture room at the Lilly Library, but there is a limit to the number of guests we can accommodate in that room, so we need to know in advance who to expect. We have reserved a block of rooms in the Biddle Hotel in the Indiana Memorial Union which is very close to the Lilly Library. Use this link to reserve your spot in the free symposium, and look for the link under “Lodging” to book a room at the Biddle Hotel.
https://events.iu.edu/libraries/event/kripke-symposium
If these aren’t the accommodations you want or need, there are plenty of other places to stay in Bloomington, but you will need to make those arrangements on your own. Likewise, except for the reception on Friday night, meals will be attendees’ responsibility, but that, in Bloomington, can be a treat — we have gourmet American cuisine, excellent Italian and Mongolian food, ramen shops, ice cream, all within walking distance. The Indiana Memorial Union has coffee and breakfast food available.
If you have mobility issues, please let us know, and we’ll make sure you can attend the exhibition and symposium. In any event, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to write to Michael Adams at adamsmp@iu.edu.
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