Camille E. Davis.
Contact: camilleedavis at gmail.com
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

• Postwar American Poetry Scholar and Book Historian • Special Collections Librarian • Digital Humanities Coder • Book Artist •

EDUCATION

July 2026. Ph.D., English Literature, University of Iowa

M.S.L.I.S., Drexel University

B.A., English, Temple University

DISSERTATION ABSTRACT

Cheaper, Lighter, Faster: Postwar American Poetic Media and the Limits of Influence

Cheaper, Lighter, Faster argues that three postwar American poets – Amiri Baraka, Diane di Prima, and John Giorno – each reached the limits of their collaborative partnership with the Beat community and responded by seizing the means of their own publication. These poets then used a range of innovative publishing techniques such as the mimeographed newsletter, the handmade-paper letterpress book, as well as magnetic tape and the vinyl record to build poetic networks of their own as inexpensively as possible. This dissertation reads their materiality as much as an influencing force on their poetic styles as their relationships with other poets or artists. While the role of artistic exchange as a person-to-person lineage is considered, Cheaper, Lighter, Faster reconfigures influence to consider how international markets, imperial trade histories, and surveillance and consumer economies were embedded in the means of production themselves.
Cheaper, Lighter, Faster proposes through its serious considerations of print media and archival evidence that literary belonging and the influence within postwar poetic communities were more complicated than previously proposed. Furthermore, it pushes scholars to reconsider not only how poetic communities form, but also why they may break.

CERTIFICATES,

2023. Certificate in Book Studies/Book Arts and Technologies, University of Iowa

2016. Full Stack Developer, New York Code and Design Academy.

 

AWARDS, AFFILIATIONS, AND FELLOWSHIPS

2022. W. R. Irwin Teaching Award, University of Iowa

2025-2026. Affiliation, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania

Spring 2026. Fellowship. Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Fellowship, University of Iowa

PUBLICATIONS

2019. “Between Catalogues and Colophons: Reading the Printing History of the Gotham Book Mart,” Wise Men Fished Here: A Centennial Exhibition in Honor of the Gotham Book Mart, 1920-2020.

PRESENTATIONS

November 2025. “The Loba Howls through the Bardo,” Palimpsests: Memory and Oblivion, Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, San Francisco.

June 2025. “Poetry Power to the People: John Giorno’s You Got to Burn to Shine,” Embracing the Tangible: Fostering Interdisciplinary Connections in Book Art, College Book Art Association Conference, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

October 2024. “Ganpi Paper’s Radical Cultural Influence,” New Altitudes, North American Hand Papermakers Conference, University of Denver.

April 2022. “Divesting the Self, Embodying the Collective: A Diffusionist Reading of A Scots Quair,” Craft Critique Culture Conference: Margins, Marginalia, Marginalized, University of Iowa

February 28 – March 1, 2019. “Between Catalogues and Colophons: Reading the Printing History of the Gotham Book Mart,” Modernism – Materiality – Meaning: A Conference to Honor the Kislak Center’s Gotham Book Mart Centennial Exhibition, University of Pennsylvania.  

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Instructor of Note. September 2021 – May 2025. ENGL 1200: Interpretation of Literature, “Shifting Realities,” University of Iowa

Teaching Assistant. September 2020 – May 2021. ENGL 2010: Foundations of the English Major, University of Iowa

Teaching Assistant. September 2020 – December 2020. ENGL 3287: Shakespeare: Poetry, Power, and Politics on Stage, University of Iowa

WORK AND LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE:

May 2021 – May 2024. Curatorial Assistant, University of Iowa Special Collections, Iowa City, IA

April 2019 – July 2020. Program Associate, Rare Book School, Charlottesville, VA

January 2014 – October 2016; August 2017 – April 2019. Reading Room Coordinator, Kislak Center for Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

September 2017 – April 2019. Library Assistant, Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

October 2016 – June 2017. Associate Front End Developer, David’s Bridal, Conshohocken, PA

January 2013 – May 2013. Marketing Intern, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA

September 2011 – December 2011. Research Intern, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, London, UK

DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

• Kislak Bookbindings. A reference website for scholars, teachers, catalogers, and collectors that provides key information regarding the history of nineteenth century publisher’s bindings. Completed as a master’s thesis for Drexel University in collaboration with the Kislak Center for Special Collections. Platform: Omeka

• Arthur Tress Collection of Japanese Illustrated Books. Kislak Center for Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Platform: WordPress 

• Kislak Collection of Japanese Prints. Kislak Center for Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Platform: WordPress 

• Laurie Wagman Collection, an American Family Theater Company, Kislak Center for Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Created using: HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery. (No longer hosted.)

• Notable Collections: Artists’ Books. Kislak Center for Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Platform: Omeka 

• Notable Collections: Gotham Book Mart Collection. Kislak Center for Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Platform: Omeka 

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

• Applications: Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Google Suite, Canva and Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat)
• Library Programs: Alma, ArchivesSpace, Aeon, Omeka
• Book Arts: Bookbinding (case, stab stitch, coptic, and accordion binding), letterpress printing (on Vandercook, Iron, and Common Presses), and papermaking (East Asian, Islamic, amate, and Western)
• Coding Languages:HTML5, CSS3/SASS, Javascript/jQuery, Ruby, and Ruby on Rails
• Coding Platforms: Drupal, WordPress, and Omeka
• Data Visualization Platforms: CiteSpace, VOSViewer, Tableau Public, RAWGraphics, and Google Fusion Tables.
• Social Media Platforms: Instagram, Facebook, and X