Michael Witmore To Deliver Keynote Address for The Celebration of the Humanities

Over the past 10 years, Carnegie Mellon University has strengthened its standing in the humanities thanks to distinguished faculty in the English, History, Modern Languages and Philosophy Departments as well as generous support from numerous foundations, corporations and individuals.

To celebrate CMU's excellence in the humanities, the Dietrich College and the Center for the Arts in Society will host a program and reception featuring A keynote address by Michael Witmore, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, on "What is Access: Perspectives on the Archive." The program and reception will take place on Friday, February 15 at 4:30 pm in the Giant Eagle Auditorium, Baker Hall A51.

Widespread digitization of cultural heritage materials has convinced many that we are on the verge of a golden age of "digital access." In this talk, Witmore will explore what the word "access" really means for scholars of the humanities, arguing that the challenges of access are actually greater now that we can encounter the archive in a multiplicity of ways.

Witmore was a member of the Carnegie Mellon University English Department faculty from 1999-2007.