Biography of a Book

FAIN: MD-253223-17

New York Academy of Medicine (New York, NY 10029-5207)
Robin Naughton (Project Director: June 2016 to March 2021)

Development of an interactive exhibition that explores the production and use of 12 books and manuscripts to illustrate how knowledge was transferred through books.

The New York Academy of Medicine Library, one of the most extensive rare book collections in in the country, has selected and digitized 12 items for our project, Biography of a Book. Through the stories that underpin each book we will show the context for production, collection, and use, all with their distinctive cultures, technologies, and structures, their institutional challenges and supports. The final goal of the project is to produce an innovative, interactive exhibit that will engage the public in a dialogue about how specialized knowledge was transferred over time through the medium of books. This grant will support an advisory panel in the areas of history of medicine, history of the book, digital humanities, user research and technology to aid our development by providing feedback on content and on user experience. The end product for the Discovery Grant will be a design document that supports the future implementation and production of our Biography of a Book project.