Last week Ph.D. Candidates Claire Kilgore and Tania Kolarik, along with Professor Thomas Dale, presented papers at the International Medieval Congress hosted by the University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom. Kilgore’s paper, “A Climate of Exchange: Saintly Bones, Imported Silks, and Religious Devotion to Cologne’s Cult of the Virgin Martyrs in the 14th Century,” explored the use of contemporary textiles and fashionable clothing on 14th c. Virgin Martyr busts from Cologne, Germany. An aspect of her dissertation research, Kolarik’s paper, “Reflecting a Woven Identity: The Impact of a Global Economic Climate on Two Lucchese Church Façades,” argues that the façades of the Cathedral of San Martino and San Michele in Foro from Lucca, Italy, were designed to create communal identity based upon Lucca’s prominent place in the world of medieval textile production. Prof. Dale’s paper, “The Anthropocene, Orientalism, and Race in the Pictorial Narratives of San Marco in Venice after 1204,” represents the latest research for his upcoming book on race in medieval Venice.