The Virginia Fox Stern Center celebrates the intellectual heritage and legacy of early print and manuscript culture through the collections of the Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins University—from the historical reception of classical and medieval thought, to the Renaissance and its subsequent cultural influence throughout the early modern period.

This is achieved through a robust program of lecture series, semester-long course offerings, thematic Master Classes, an annual Stern Center Symposium, large-scale rare book exhibitions, as well as a Visiting Research Fellows program, a year-long Graduate Student Curatorial Fellow program, and collaborations with affiliated scholarly organizations.