Quaestio with Jim Canary: Tibetan books and Manuscripts

Join us for a presentation and discussion with scholar Jim Canary on “Tibetan books and manuscripts: An informal opportunity to examine, handle and discuss comparing with other traditions.”

About Jim Canary

Jim Canary has been a book conservator at Indiana University Libraries since 1985 and set up a conservation studio in the Lilly Library focusing on the university’s collection of rare books and manuscripts. Canary is a member of the International Tibetan Archives Preservation Project and one of the founders of Paper Road Tibet. 

With a background in Central Eurasian Studies, Canary has traveled extensively in Asia researching the materiality of manuscript and print culture. A long-standing focus of his work has been to collaborate with traditional craftspeople and knowledge-keepers in the Himalayas and South Asian Buddhist communities to learn, document, and share the traditional crafts of papermaking, printing, and calligraphy to support their preservation and use by future generations of practitioners.

About the Medieval Research Group

The Medieval Research Group (MRG) is a joint initiative of the Medieval Institute and the Zhang Legacy Collections Center at Western Michigan University to create opportunities for students, faculty, staff and alumni to carry out research, learn about University resources, share their work with others, and build community.

MRG Quaestio meets monthly, every second Friday at 3:00 p.m. in the Zhang Legacy Collections Center. Once a month, faculty members showcase a favorite research resource such as a facsimile, database or software provided through WMU Libraries.