Episode Synopsis "2 Matthew Parker: History as Archive"
In his second lecture, Professor Grafton analyses what Matthew Parker (1504-1575) might have thought he was doing while he was in the process of compiling what is now known as the Parker Library, and counsels caution with retrospective interpretation. He shows how conceived of his printed books as the primary outcome of his project, while the manuscript collections were deemed fragile and unstatic, and how these printed books were understood as archives at the time.