Ronald D. Patkus Associate Director of the Libraries for Special Collections and Adjunct Associate Professor of History on the Frederick Weyerhaeuser Chair

Ronald Patkus is a native of Connecticut. He received a BA from Boston College (1986), an MA and Certificate in Archival Management from the University of Connecticut (1987), an MS in Library Science from Simmons College (1993), and a PhD in History from Boston College (1997). Mr. Patkus serves as Associate Director of the Libraries for Special Collections and is a member of the History Department. He holds the Frederick Weyerhaeuser Endowed Chair in Biblical Literature and Bibliography. His teaching and research interests focus on the history of books and printing.
- BA, Boston College; MLS, Simmons College; MA, University of Connecticut; PhD, Boston College
- At Vassar since 2000
Contact
- Email: patkus@vassar.edu
- Phone: 845-437-5798
- Office: Frederick F. Thompson Library
- Hours: Mon-Fri, 8:30-Noon, 1-5pm
- Box: 20
Research and Academic Interests
Departments and Programs
Courses
- GRST/MEDS 289. Homer’s Odyssey: From Oral Composition to Digital Editions
- MEDS 280. The Book: A Global History
- MEDS/AMST 285. The Book in America
- MRST/MEDS 220. Detectives in the Archive: Reading Medieval and Renaissance Texts.
- HIST 317/MEDS 317. The Bible as Book.
Selected Publications
The Privately Printed Bible: Private and Fine Press Editions of Biblical Texts in the British Isles and North America, 1892-2000 (2017)
“The Age of Alice: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, and Nonsense in Victorian England,” in The Age of Alice: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, and Nonsense in Victorian England, (2015)
“The Nuremberg Chronicle: Background, Production, Legacy,” in Never Before Has Your Like Been Printed: The Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493, (2014)
Shirley Jones and the Red Hen Press (2013)
“Building a Repository of Artists’ Books from the Women’s Studio Workshop,” Hand, Voice & Vision: Artists’ Books from the Women’s Studio Workshop, (2010)
Ars Omnia Tuetur: 25 Years of Fine Printing at the Thornwillow Press (2010)
Grants, Fellowships, Honors, Awards
Bridwell Library Fellowship (Southern Methodist University), 2016, 2019.
Tatlock Fund for Strategic Faculty Research, 2014, 2015, 2016.
Katharine Kyes Leab & Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Award, 2005, 2007, 2014.
Vassar Research Committee Grant, 2008, 2010.
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar on "The Reformation of the Book, 1450-1700."
Checkpoint Charlie Foundation (Berlin) Project Subsidy, 2005.
Initiative Fortbildung Tour of German Libraries, 2003.
In the Media
Photos
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