“I held the work of female printers like Elizabeth Cellier, one of my case studies. In doing so, I discovered small details that reshaped my thesis.” – Claire Danna
This reflection came after Claire Danna completed “And as to my own Sex”: The Networks and Rhetoric of Unity Between Female Stationers in the 17th Century, for which she earned the prestigious 2019 Charlene Conrad Liebau Library Prize for Undergraduate Research, an annual prize awarded to students who have completed exceptional research and made significant use of the Library’s resources. Claire wrote her paper for her Honors Research Seminar (English H195A and H195B) under the advisement of Professor Janet Sorensen.
Claire’s paper is the subject of this semester’s rotating Library Prize Exhibit, located on the second floor of Doe Library between the Heyns Reading Room and the Reference Hall. Drawing on texts in the Main Stacks and resources from the Bancroft Library, the exhibit showcases key texts used by Danna as she explored the experiences of women printers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The exhibit includes: a digitized replica of the title page of Elizabeth Cellier’s Malice Defeated (1680); a modern laser cut depicting Cellier’s trial created by Annalise Phillips, the Library’s Maker Education Service Lead; a composing stick with historically appropriate text set by Les Ferriss, Master Printer; and Claire’s notebook and notes used to keep track of her sources and their connections. The exhibit was co-curated by Nicole Brown, Head, Instruction Services Division and Gisele Tanasse, both members of the Library Prize Committee and designed by Aisha Hamilton, the Exhibits and Environmental Graphics Coordinator. The exhibit will be up until April 2020.
Special thanks to:
Annalise Phillips, Maker Education Service Lead, who you can find at the Moffitt Makerspace
Les Ferriss, Master Printer, who teaches The Hand-Printed Book in Its Historical Context
Peter Hanff, and the staff of the Bancroft Library
Library Imaging Services staff, who digitize the Library’s treasured collections
The Charlene Conrad Liebau Library Prize for Undergraduate Research is awarded annually, and submissions are now open to all undergraduates until April 16, 2020. In addition to a monetary award of $750 for lower-division winners and $1000 for upper-division winners, the recipients of the Library Prize publish their work in eScholarship, and two will be featured in an exhibit in the Library. Find out more information, including how to apply.
Learn about the rest of this year’s winners and honorable mentions. Be sure to stop by the exhibit to see Claire’s work in person. You can replicate Claire’s research journey by searching Early English Books Online (EEBOO).