Associate Professor of English Edward Wheatley gave a live interactive Web cast version of his manuscript lecture "From Manuscript to Printed Book to Virtual Text" on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The presentation was part of the "Electronic Experts" series run by the Columbus Museum of Science and Industry, which makes interactive presentations available to high schools around the world. His talk was broadcast to schools in Chattanooga, Tenn., Canton, Ohio, and Cincinnati. It was a fully interactive presentation, with the students asking Wheatley questions and discussing the issues he raises with students at the other schools.
Wheatley discussed the steps in the production of manuscripts before the invention of printing; the ways in which texts were transmitted through copies; the problems that this process presents in establishing accurate, "authoritative" texts; and the changes brought about by printing. He showed some of the medieval manuscripts and incunables (books printed before 1500) from Hamilton's collection.
