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Opening Event

Biblia Latina (1478) and Biblia Sacra (1662)
On Saturday, October 19th, 2019, the AGU Digital Archive Project hosted an opening event for university faculty, staff, and alumni at Aoyama Gakuin University. Before the event, the project staff also staged an exhibition of the original rare Bibles that we have digitized thus far at the Shiryo Center in Majima Hall. The first of these bibles, the Biblia Latina, has been finished and is currently staged for open display on the Folger Library's Miranda platform.
Vice President Naomi Tonooka (click to enlarge)
     This event included speakers from Aoyama Gakuin University and Keio University. The opening speech was given by Vice President Naomi Tonooka of Aoyama Gakuin University. Without Professor Tonooka's help, the funding for the AGU Digital Project would not have been possible. Also Professor Tonooka flew to Washington to meet with the Digital Access Team at the Folger Shakespeare Library and also worked as an intermediary with university lawyers to forge a written agreement with the Folger.

Professor Takami Matsuda (click to enlarge)
     We were honored to host Professor Takami Matsuda of Keio University. The Keio University library has been recognized internationally as a leader in providing open access viewing of rare material. Among their many special holdings, they have a first edition of the famous Guttenberg Bible that is in exquisite condition. Professor Matsuda is a scholar of medieval literature and also the director of the Keio project. He spoke on the methods and organizational practices used by the Keio digital team.

Professor Hiroko Sano (click to enlarge)
     We were also pleased to welcome our distinguished alumna, Professor Hiroko Sano. Professor Sano is an internationally recognized John Milton scholar and in her status as Professor Emeritus serves as the president of the Aoyama Gakuin Alumni Association. Among her many honors, this year she was invited to deliver a plenary address to the International Milton Society during the society's conference in Strasbourg, France. Professor Sano spoke on the history of Aoyama Gakuin's religious foundation and provided a framework for the rare Bibles held by the AGU library.

Ms. Rena Endo (click to enlarge)
     Ms. Rena Endo, Ph.D. student and Digital Project Associate, introduced the AGU Digital Project and explained the current working relationship that AGU has with the Folger. She explained the details of digitization and the challenges that arise in the process of photographing high resolution, IIIF compliant images for open access display online. Ms. Endo is currently researching the Elizabethan Office of the Revels during the Shakespearean period, and her work intersects with the study of the religious changes during that time.

Professor Thomas Dabbs (click to enlarge)
     The closing thanks for guests and members who contributed and joined the event was delivered by Professor Thomas Dabbs. The AGU Digital Project was initiated and is Co-Directed by Professor Dabbs, who teaches Shakespeare and the English Bible in the Faculty of Letters at Aoyama Gakuin University. Professor Dabbs also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal for the Japanese Association for Digital Humanities.

Professor Wataru Sasakawa
     The event was chaired by Professor Wataru Sasakawa, who also serves as Co-Director of the project. At the time of this event, Professor Sasakawa was recently returned from Washington, D.C., where he met with the Digital Access Team to review the future goals of the AGU Digital Access Project. Professor Sasakawa is also a member of the Faculty of Letters at Aoyama Gakuin University, where he specializes in Milton studies and early modern literature and culture.
   
     The talks were followed by a dinner in honor of the project's special guests and the students who worked diligently and in a hands-on capacity to see this initiative off to an excellent start.

 The AGU Digital Project is sponsored with kind support from the Aoyama Vision Initiative.

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