Excerpt:
AVISTA is a scholarly organization organized in 1984 through the urging of the late Jean Gimpel (author of The Medieval Machine, The Cathedral Builders, and other works on medieval art and technology) and with the support of Lynn White, Jr. (author of Medieval Technology and Social Change). The articles of incorporation were written in January 1985 and sessions began at Kalamazoo in 1986. The society serves as an organization to promote any and all aspects of medieval topics which relate to the practical sciences or technology. Our "home" is largely the International Congress on Medieval Studies held at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, where each May we sponsor up to a half dozen sessions on various themes. A full list of the upcoming year's sessions, as well as past years' sessions, may be found in the Kalamazoo section of this web site.