VERA KELLER science historian

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VERA KELLER

Vera Keller is an Associate Professor of Science at the University of Oregon who researches the intersection of art, nature and the book in the early modern period in Europe. In particular, she works on Cornelis Drebbel (1572-1633), inventor of a famous cochineal dye. She explores the ways that color research intertwines with the history of art, alchemy and emerging experimentalism.

In 2018, Keller taught a course called The Global History of Color, and with the help of a grant, hosted Marie-France Lemay and Yale’s Traveling Scriptorium for a visit. The Traveling Scriptorium is a portable collection of pigments and tools used to make premodern books and manuscripts. Keller then collaborated with the Beach Lab at Knight Library  — conservators Marylin Mohr and Ashlee Weitlauf —  to create their own version of a Traveling Scriptorium, which can now be checked out of the Knight Library by faculty for up to a week at a time.

Keller feels that engaging the university with a wider public is an important part of the U of O’s mission, and sees color as an accessible subject through which students and the public can engage with primary sources, material practices, and historical artifacts. To facilitate this, Keller and students developed a website called Red Thread, which reflects the research efforts of a class that looked at a range of reds: ochre, coral, cinnabar, vermillion, kermis, madder, cochineal, brazil wood, logwood and others. 

Keller and staff at the Beach Lab have also collaborated with the Harper Keeler and the  campus Urban Farm create the Farm to Book project, which hosted events where the public can learn ink-making recipes, practice calligraphy, hear student presentations, explore the Traveling Scriptorium and Red Thread site, see selections from rare book materials, and learn about the history of campus collections.

https://farmtobook.uoregon.edu

https://redthread.uoregon.edu/s/red-thread/page/welcome

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