Deep Surfaces: Reading Manuscripts Behind the Lines

Guest Lecturer, Dr. Gregory Heyworth

From cave paintings, to manuscripts, to maps, cultural heritage objects yield their secrets to imaging technologies that allow researchers to look beyond the surface. “Deep Surfaces” is a submarine dive into a hidden world of texts beneath texts and the technologies that illuminate them. Lazarus Project Director Gregory Heyworth, Associate Professor of English and Textual Science at the University of Rochester, discusses his work recovering damaged cultural heritage objects worldwide and shares several objects never before seen publicly. They include the oldest translation of the Gospels into Latin, and Renaissance maps and globes.

With degrees from Columbia (BA, Comparative Literature), Cambridge (English BA, MA), and Princeton (PhD, Comparative Literature) Heyworth is a medievalist with expertise in Latin and vernacular philology, codicology, paleography, and textual editing. In 2010, he founded the Lazarus Project, which, under his direction, has successfully completed restorations of damaged manuscripts and cultural heritage artifacts in nine countries and at libraries from the Vatican to the Folger using spectral imaging and cognate technologies.

The Sheppy Dog Fund Lecture has been established to address the topics of art, religion and history prior to the 19th century, and is funded by the Sheppy Dog Fund, Dr. Alan Klein, Advisor.