As an evolving theoretical and interdisciplinary field, the history of the book and other media explores how texts are created, circulated and consumed. The discipline therefore considers a range of media, from printed books, cuneiforms, manuscripts, engravings, pamphlets, broadsides, pamphlets, zines, cassette tapes, to PDFs, and also considers the ecologies of authorship, readership, printing, and publishing histories surrounding these media forms. 

NYU’s Material Texts Working Group therefore offers an opportunity to explore the role of “texts”: what it means to read them, study them, and understand how they may have influenced or been influenced by major developments in both the humanities and the sciences. Studying the history of media is crucial as it helps us consider how “books” might persist amid ongoing governmental and scientific changes. Questions such as: “Why is it necessary to study historical texts?,” “Is print dead?,” and “Is authorship obsolete in the age of AI?” are central to this inquiry.

We host talks, workshops, and book launches designed to connect both academic and public audiences in the interdisciplinary study of media, offering a forum for academic and public audiences to analyze how various media forms continue to shape our understandings of “texts.”