Accepted Proposals

04. What if Hamilton College had a Book Arts learning laboratory in Burke Library?

May 16, 2025

The collaboration led by: DJ Schuldt

With other collaborators: Christian Goodwillie; Tina Hall; Margaret Thickstun; Ian Mills; Nhora Serrano; Forrest Warner; Alex Wohnsen; Ben Salzman; Jeremy Katz; Willa Jacob; S.B. Rodriguez-Plate

Much of our historical knowledge—be it in literature, history, physics, medicine, art, religion, etc.—comes to us via books of some form. This is something we understand on an intellectual level, but the materiality of that process is often a mystery. I propose a Mobile Book Arts Lab: a large cart stocked with supplies that can be unpacked in a classroom to facilitate the teaching of basic book arts (bookbinding, manuscript creation, printing, etc.) to bring that material history to life. Partnering with faculty across campus, these hands-on experiences can inform class discussions, research projects, and creative practices.

The proposal was submitted for CATALYST funding (under $10,000) and was ranked high with respect to the other proposals based upon the evaluation rubric.

The committee applauds the proposers for:

• A thoughtful, creative proposal with a lot of potential to leverage long-standing book print work here
• A hands-on learning opportunity that focuses on the process and not the product 
• A diverse list of collaborators

The points that the committee recommends the proposers need to continue to develop include:

• If this project could, in any way, connect to the Letterpress Studio

From the committee’s perspective, the next phase of this project would include:

• Finding storage space for the mobile cart in Burke Library
• Partnering with the Humanities Center to enhance collaborative efforts in creating a Humanities Makerspace
• Procuring budgeted funds for future material needs

The committee recommends funding the next phase of this proposal for the requested amount of $6,150 to move this idea forward for further aspirational design and development.