Linda Tomko, a historian, performer, and embodier of dances past, will serve as the distinguished speaker for the 2017 Charles W. Mann Jr. Lecture in the Book Arts at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 30 in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library on Penn State’s University Park campus. Tomko will share her talk “Books, Bodies, and Circulations of Dancing in Early 18th-Century France and England” which includes references to items in the Mary Ann O’Brian Malkin Early Dance Collection (1531–1804). A reception following the lecture will be held in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library.

Tomko holds a Ph.D. in history from UCLA and her work focuses on the embodiment and theorization of early 18th-century French and English court and theatre dances. She leads the Baroque dance troupe Les Menus Plaisirs and has choreographed period-style dances for Stanford University. Active in scholarly dance organizations, she currently serves as editor for the Dance & Music series published by Pendragon Press.

Many of the books in the Malkin Collection are known to scholars like Tomko through the catalog of the Malkin Collection, “Dancing by the Book: A Catalogue of Books 1531–1804” in the Collection of Mary Ann O’Brian Malkin. The Malkin Collection includes books on early dance, both amateur and professional dancers, and dance notation, the shorthand used by choreographers to make detailed records of their work. The collection, which Malkin donated in 2003 to Penn State, her alma mater, is especially strong in 18th-century European material and was considered the best in private hands.

The Charles W. Mann Jr. Lecture in the Book Arts, named in honor of Charles W. Mann Jr., the first Dorothy Foehr Huck Chair for Special Collections in the University Libraries. This annual event featuring scholars with academic research areas connected to the materials held in the Eberly Family Special Collections Library is supported by the Mary Louise Krumrine Endowment.

Details about the 2017 Charles W. Mann Jr. Lecture in the Book Arts are included in the recent Penn State News article. An 8.5×11 poster with information about the Charles W. Mann Jr. Lecture in the Book Arts is available as a downloadable PDF.