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RIB and Medieval & Renaissance Colloquium Trip to Pergamena
March 20 @ 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
![Pergamena's Insignia](https://sites.rutgers.edu/ru-book-initiative/wp-content/uploads/sites/221/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-26-at-10.20.30.png)
![Photo of the four graduate students in front of a stretched goat skin.](http://sites.rutgers.edu/ru-book-initiative/wp-content/uploads/sites/221/2024/03/NF-MM-AG-MA-scaled.jpg)
On March 20th, 2024, four graduate students from the Rutgers English Deparment were sponsored by the Rutgers Book Initiative and the Medieval and Renaissance Colloquium to attend a five-hour tour and workshop at Pergamena: Handmade Parchments and Leathers. This event was organized by Novella Frasier and Alice Grissom, both medievalists invested in material studies and historical practices of book (and manuscript) making.
![Pergama rolles of stocked leather.](http://sites.rutgers.edu/ru-book-initiative/wp-content/uploads/sites/221/2024/03/Leather-rolls-scaled.jpg)
![Two graduate students posed in front of Pergamena's leather stock.](http://sites.rutgers.edu/ru-book-initiative/wp-content/uploads/sites/221/2024/03/MA-and-MM-posed-in-front-of-leather-stock-scaled.jpg)
Pergamena is a family-owned leather and parchment making company. They have been making leather for over 400 years!
![Stacks of stretched and drying parchment.](http://sites.rutgers.edu/ru-book-initiative/wp-content/uploads/sites/221/2024/03/Parchments-racks-scaled.jpg)
During this trip, the graduate students learned the development process that Pergamena’s resident parchment expert and artist Jesse Meyer has developed and continues to experiment upon. The students were guided through the factory by Dave, Liv, and Jesse, each member emphasizing the creativity and perseverance required to be a small business in such an industry as parchment and leather making.
![Jesse Meyer demonstrates how to stretch and scrape parchment to the graduate students.](http://sites.rutgers.edu/ru-book-initiative/wp-content/uploads/sites/221/2024/03/Jesse-and-lads-scaled.jpg)
The graduate students were enthusiatic, not only to ask questions about the process, production, time requirements, and chemical solutions, but also in working with the materials themselves. Jesse demonstrated how to stretch and scrape the parchment, after which the students were ready to get their hands working with the slimy material.
![Jesse Meyer demonstrates how to hang the goat skin for scraping.](http://sites.rutgers.edu/ru-book-initiative/wp-content/uploads/sites/221/2024/03/Jesse-demo-2-scaled.jpg)
![Mimi McMillan skillfully scrapes the strecthed goat skin. Novella Frasier lurks behind, scraping another skin.](http://sites.rutgers.edu/ru-book-initiative/wp-content/uploads/sites/221/2024/03/MM-scrape-scaled.jpg)
![Alice Grissom and Mary Alcaro scrape streteched skins with dexterity.](http://sites.rutgers.edu/ru-book-initiative/wp-content/uploads/sites/221/2024/03/AG-MA-scrape-scaled.jpg)
At the end of the visit and workshop, the graduate students were allowed to browse the parchment stock to purchase any piece of their choosing. During which Dave showed them examples of different skins and details about them.
![The graduate students look excitedly at parchment samples.](http://sites.rutgers.edu/ru-book-initiative/wp-content/uploads/sites/221/2024/03/wow-parchment-scaled.jpg)
The Rutgers Book Initiative and the Medieval & Renaissance Colloquium are incredibly happy with the success of the trip, and with the educating experience the graduate students had. The trip to Pergamena has reinvigorated the graduate students’ and their colleagues’ appreciation for and attention to matieral studies and production.
If you are interested in participating in a trip like this in the future, or if you have recommendations for places to visit that involve book history and material studies, please reach out to the Rutgers Book Initiative and/or the Medieval & Renaissance Colloquium. We hope to have more events like this in the future!