Richard Byrne is the editor of UMBC Magazine as well as a playwright whose work has been produced in Washington, D.C., St. Louis and Prague. Staff of Special Collections at UMBC are most familiar with Richard visiting us to investigate a story relating to our campus history, but in today's essay he explores the impact that archival research has had on his life as a playwright.

The Baby Resting on a Skull

Whether it’s digging into faded texts of Renaissance alchemy for a play that I’m writing, or excavating times gone by on the campus of our university for an article in UMBC Magazine, the thrill of chasing down knowledge in archives never goes away.

Archives are a double affirmation. First, the archive affirms that there are substantive parts of our experience – our words and objects and images and artifacts – which are worth keeping, worth guarding, and worth tender and attentive care. And yet, despite that necessary emphasis on jealous care and preservation, the archives enact the delightful paradox of ensuring and promoting access – by researchers and the general public – to these materials.

My most exciting recent encounters in archives came as I was writing my play, Burn Your Bookes, about the 16th Century alchemist Edward Kelley and his step-daughter, the Neo-Latin poet Elizabeth Jane Weston. In the archives of Harvard University’s Houghton Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Library of Congress, I gained access to books owned by Kelley’s employer, John Dee, held Weston’s books of poetry (printed in Frankfurt and Prague in the early 17th Century) in my hands, and read (with fascination and profit) an English translation of famous alchemist and physician Oswald Croll’s Alchemical Basilisk – which includes recipes for aurum potabile (“drinkable gold”).

A playwright who writes about history always finds excitement in getting closer to his sources. The Folger Shakespeare Library, for instance, has a copy of a book owned by John Dee that has the Renaissance polymath’s copious marginalia scribbled in an essay on demonology. Seeing the deep grooves that Dee’s pen cut into the page of that book gave me a sense of the intensity of his character and his quest for occult knowledge. Comparing two different versions of Weston’s first book, Poemata, allowed me to examine at firsthand a discrepancy between the two editions noted by two scholars – Donald Cheney and Brenda Hosington. Cheney and Hosington discovered that the Harvard version of the book had a line on the cover giving imperial sanction to its publication intact, but that the version in the Folger had that line cancelled out. The discrepancy – and the obvious agency behind it – provided me with a key plot point in the play.

Indeed, the Houghton Library’s copy of Weston’s second book, Parthenica, also proved to be a revelation. Both of Weston’s books were published by a Silesian nobleman named George Martinius Baldhofen. Poemata was a small, plain book. But the Parthenica was a much more elaborate production – stuffed not only with Weston’s poems but with poems by literary luminaries and Weston’s correspondence with them. Weston did not supervise the edition, so the book is truly a window on the fascinating character of Baldhofen, right down to its fanciful frontispiece, with human figures and birds woven into an intricate pattern – and an infant reclining its elbow on a human skull! The fancy and extravagance married to morbidity that was only revealed by close examination of the book gave me strong material to write Baldhofen’s part in the play.

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Learn more about all of our Archives Month activities!

Exploring New Territory

UMBC organizes international contemporary music festival.

Contemporary musicians from around the globe come to UMBC October 27-30 for Livewire, a festival of 21st century music. Through dozens of concerts, lecture-recitals and presentations, performers and attendees will explore new musical territory and bold new compositions. Musicians will premiere, perform and discuss new works from around the world.

�This is a celebration of the vast creative force that has emerged in the last decade,� said Linda Dusman, professor of music and Livewire organizer.

The festival program is a representation of the depth and variety of that creative force. Featured performers include the Ruckus ensemble, the Damocles Trio, the Hoffmann/Goldstein Duo, the Synchronous Trio and UMBC faculty Matthew Belzer, Lisa Cella, Tom Goldstein, Gita Ladd, Maria Lambros, E. Michael Richards and Airi Yoshioka.

Livewire begins with a student concert, Wedneday, October 27, at noon in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. �UMBC students are very involved in contemporary music-making,� said Dusman.

The International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) Annual Concert, Thursday, October 28, 6 p.m. in Fine Arts 508, is a showcase of women composers from Australia, Poland, Ireland, France, Norway, Italy and the U.S., many of the pieces making their U.S. debut at Livewire.

Following the IAWM Annual Concert, Ruckus, the faculty contemporary ensemble at UMBC, will perform a variety of contemporary pieces at 8:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Recital Hall.

Friday will be a full day of contemporary music, starting at 9 a.m. with a series of lectures. Evening music includes a variety of solo performances, a concert by the Hoffman/Goldstein Duo and Livewire Latenight, an improv session at 10:30 p.m. with Jesse Stewart on waterphone with UMBC students.

The festival wraps up with another full day of events on Saturday. The Synchronous Trio will perform in the Fine Arts Recital Hall at 5 p.m., followed by the Damocles Trio at 8 p.m. and a question-and-answer session with composers and performers.

�I think people who enjoy going to contemporary music concerts go for the surprises. You will always be surprised by something, and to be surprised by a concert can be a really rejuvenating experience,� Dusman said.

Livewire is presented by the UMBC Department of Music. For the complete schedule of events, visit www.umbc.edu/blogs/music/livewire/.

General admission to the concerts is $10, $5 for seniors or free with a student ID or UMBC ID. For more information, call 410-455-2942 or visit www.umbc.edu/arts.

Listen to Linda Dusman talk about the Livewire festival here.

(10/25/10)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

RapLeaf knows what you did last summer.

The Wall Street Journal continues its exploration of how our privacy is eroding on the Web in new article by Emily Steel — A Web Pioneer Profiles Users by Name. The article profiles the San Francisco startup RapLeaf, which defines its vision as follows.

“We want every person to have a meaningful, personalized experience – whether online or offline. We want you see the right content at the right time, every time. We want you to get better, more personalized service. To achieve this, we help Fortune 2000 companies gain insight into their customers, engage them more meaningfully, and deliver the right message at the right time. We also help consumers understand their online footprint.”

RapLeaf ties email address to profiles with information about people and uses the profiles to target advertisements for clients. The articles shows the information collected for one person, Linda Twombly of Nashua NH, and what some of the coded information means.

Rapleaf does allow you to see the information it has collected about you, but you have to create a RapLeaf account to see it. You might be surprised about how well it knows you. Visit this page to see if your browser has RapLeaf cookies. You can also use it to opt out your email addresses from the RapLeaf system.

To be fair, RapLeaf and other companies are not doing anything illegal and mainly collect information that people choose to make public on the Web. However, their use of cookies does allow them to aggregate and integrate information about individuals and to associate that information with email addresses, Facebook UIDs and dozens of other identifiers. The information can be used to help Web-based systems serve you better — but their idea of serving you better is likely to involve peppering you with targeted ads.

October 24th Weekly RSA Update! from UMBC_RSA on Vimeo.

 Dr. Antonio R. Moreira, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, visited the Senate. He discussed the Retriever Learning Center, the 24/7 learning center which should be ready by August 2011. The Retriever Learning Center will be located inside the library. In order to maintain a safe and secure area, there will be video camera surveillance and a swipe key access in order to enter the room. In order to make the room interactive and fun, he is also considering the idea of walls you can write on. He aims to make the study room very cozy and comfortable, just like if one was to study at home. The idea of security for students walking from dorms or from parking lots at night to this learning center was also discussed. Construction of the place is planned to begin in December. Please state your idea(s) regarding the design of the room or what you hope the room to be like, in the comment box below. He is really trying to get student input and feedback in the design of this room, as this room is for students. His goal is to make a cozy, safe, secure, and active learning place where students will actually go in order to study.