GRADUATE STUDENTS AS CURATORS: MEDIEVAL and RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPT ACQUISITION
ARH 610 – Winter 2022
David de Lorenzo, Guistina Director
Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA)  

In the Winter 2022 term, Prof. Maile Hutterer and I taught a class that focused on Medieval manuscripts. The class was offered through the Art History Department and fulfilled credits for the Certificate in Museum Studies program. The class focused on the theory and practice of curatorial work in a Library Special Collections and engaged students in the history of the Medieval period and the production of the manuscript book up to 1500 AD.

Curators are content specialists who oversee and interpret a cultural heritage institution’s collection. Curators focus on published and/or unpublished formats such as rare, printed material (rare book curators), textual or visual materials (manuscript curators or photograph curators), or subject areas (Pop Culture, Graphic Arts, Modern Languages).  They often have multiple responsibilities including among others collection acquisition, reference, instruction, and outreach.

We reviewed these curatorial responsibilities with the ultimate purpose of understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the SCUA collection and to identify items available for purchase in the antiquarian marketplace to fill gaps in the SCUA holdings. The ultimate goal of the course was to have students select items for purchase, thus leaving a lasting legacy of their hands-on engagement with the collection.

The course activities began with a review and assessment of ethical standards developed by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of American (ABAA) and the Rare Book and Manuscript Section of the American Library Association. Students were provided case studies, based on real-life events, relating to theft of historic artifacts, the impact of acquisitions on special collections operations, and conflicts of interest in acquisitions, and cultural patrimony.

Assigned readings and formal lectures also focused on acquisitions policies, cataloging of manuscript books, and search strategies in various online catalogs for discovery of medieval manuscripts. The current theories of archival appraisal were also covered to assist students with two main assignments to evaluate SCUA’s current holdings and evaluate potential items to acquire. Students completed an evaluation form that incorporated a variety of criteria falling into three main headers: Value of the artifact and its information, Cost factors to catalog and service the items, and Operational/Political implications of the acquisition. [embeddoc url=”https://blogs.uoregon.edu/scua/files/2022/04/Appraisal-Form-for-Premodern-collection.xls” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]

Prof. Hutterer led the class in an overview of the Medieval period and focused on the issues of artifact production. She covered the process of how a Medieval manuscript was made, the creation of ink and vellum, the scribes who wrote the text, the illustrators who decorated the items, the Latin text and the evolution of hand-written scripts over time.

The Library’s conservators, Marilyn Mohr and Ashlee Weitlauf, also contributed their vast knowledge about the artifact and the challenges to preserve them. They brought samples of vellum, which included the prepared skins of pig, sheep, cows, etc. They also discussed how ink and decorative material was created and applied using the Traveling Scriptorium, which was created by them in partnership with Professor Vera Keller of the History Department. This incredibly valuable tool was inspired by the Traveling Scriptorium originally created by Marie-France LeMay and the Department of Conservation in Yale’s Beinecke Library. The Scriptorium brings together a showcase of nearly a hundred materials used in creating pre-modern manuscripts and provided students with hands-on examples and specimens. The conservators also showed how a codex was formed into quires and sewn before and after a binding structure was applied.

The class was divided into three cohorts, based on genre, in the following way: Cohort #1: Antiphonaries and Book of Hours; Cohort #2: Bibles, Breviaries, and Decretals; Cohort #3: Orations, Commentaries, Histories, Philosophy, Psalters, and Missals. Each cohort was responsible for reviewing the SCUA holdings and identifying strengths and weaknesses in the collection. [embeddoc url=”https://blogs.uoregon.edu/scua/files/2022/04/Student-assigned-items-by-cohort.xlsx” download=”all” viewer=”microsoft”]

Students identified the strengths and weaknesses of the SCUA collection:

Strengths:

• Religious text
• 15th-century MSS
• Italian and French MSS
• Codices on Histories
• Codices of Commentaries
• Codices of Books of Hours
• Handwritings in MS

Weaknesses:

• Need more vernacular MSS
• Leaves Lack context
• Need more non-Western language materials
• Need more materials from Spain
• Need more examples of varying scripts, especially early Caroline and Sefardi scripts
• Need more materials created prior to the 1250 AD

Student cohorts were then asked to review similar genre available for sale at rare book dealer inventories online. We limited the review of potential items to purchase to single leaves and set the spending limit at $15,000. Students were encouraged to review items held in the inventory of Phillips J. Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts in McMinnville, Oregon, who has a large inventory and is conveniently located nearby for a group visit. Students finalized a list of thirteen (13) items of interest to see in McMinnville. Kait Manning, Pirages CEO, was contacted to have those items ready for our visit to their shop. In early March, we visited the book dealer and reviewed these items:

1. TWO LEAVES, OFFERED INDIVIDUALLY, FROM AN EARLY MISSAL IN LATIN. TEXT FROM VARIOUS MASSES. (EARLY 12TH C.)
2. A LEAF FROM AN EARLY VELLUM MANUSCRIPT OF GREGORY THE GREAT IN LATIN. HOMILIAE IN EVANGELIAS, PART OF HOMILY XXXI.
3. AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM A PSALTER IN LATIN, WITH AN EIGHT-LINE HISTORIATED “D” INITIAL. TEXT FROM PSALMS 109-110. LATE 13TH CENTURY
4. A LARGE VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM AN ANTIPHONARY IN LATIN, WITH AN IMAGE OF SAINT AUGUSTINE. CA. 1325
5. MOST OF A LARGE VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM A GLOSSED “DECRETALES” OF GREGORY IX, WITH AN IMAGE OF AN EXECUTION. TEXT FROM END OF BOOK FOUR AND BEGINNING OF BOOK FIVE.
6. MANUSCRIPT LEAVES ON VELLUM (ONE BISECTED), FROM A MEDICAL TREATISE IN LATIN, OFFERED INDIVIDUALLY. (LATE 13TH CENTURY)
7. AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF WITH A SMALL, FINE MINIATURE OF A CISTERCIAN MONK WITH THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, FROM A MISSAL IN LATIN. TEXT FROM THE MASSES FOR THE VIRGIN. ca. 1450
8. A VERY UNUSUAL ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF WITH FIVE HISTORIATED INITIALS, FROM A PSALTER-HOURS MADE FOR A NUN, IN LATIN. TEXT FROM THE END OF THE LITANY AND THE FIRST FIVE COLLECTS THAT FOLLOW.
9. A VERY EARLY VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM A MISSAL IN LATIN. (ca. 1100)
10. AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM A SMALL PSALTER IN LATIN, WITH DELIGHTFUL MARGINALIA. (late 13th century)
11. AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM CALENDAR LEAF FROM A BOOK OF HOURS, DEPICTING LABOR OF THE MONTH AND ZODIAC SIGN. TEXT FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER.
12. A Sizable Medical Leaf with Galenic Content, the Author Citing Hippocrates, “Regimen Sanitatis,” and his Own Writings
13. A LEAF WITH A BEAUTIFUL HISTORIATED INITIAL AND ITS GUIDE SKETCH, FROM A FINE PORTABLE BIBLE IN LATIN. (mid-13th century)

During our visit, Ms. Manning also showed the students three complete illuminated Medieval manuscript books in their inventory: 1) A LOVELY LITTLE ITALIAN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT BOOK OF HOURS IN LATIN with Miniatures by Francesco di Antonio del Chierico. USE OF ROME (ca. 1470; 2) A Very Scarce Example of a Complete Early Processional, In Fine Original Pigskin by a Well-Known Ulm Binder, JOHANNES HAGMAYER (ca. 1470); and 3) A HANDSOME ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT BOOK OF HOURS IN LATIN AND FRENCH, FROM THE WORKSHOP OF THE MAÎTRE DE L’ECHEVINAGE DE ROUEN (ca. 1470). Ms. Manning discussed their work at Pirages and in the antiquarian book trade. She answered questions from the students about rare book fairs, auction sales, prices determinations, and provenance.

After the visit to Pirages, we held a final event in the SCUA Reading Room for a formal presentation to interested parties about the objects the students had decided to recommend for purchasing. The students created a single report with each cohort presenting a component of that report. [embeddoc url=”https://blogs.uoregon.edu/scua/files/2022/04/ARH610_UOMSS_Acquisition-Proposal_PDF0309.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google”]

Their proposals cited three items to purchase that would fill gaps in the current collection in the following categories:

Genre: to allow for closer comparative analyses with genres already represented in the collection; Chronology: to provide an early 12th century example of a missal that allows for broader understanding of the development of missals; Geography: to identify a leaf from Germany, which is not well represented in the collection, and a Decretal from France, which is not as well represented in the collection as other locations.

They cited the Teaching Potential of material significance for the Decretal, which demonstrates the use of different materials in bookbinding processes and shows a history of Restoration. They emphasized Textual Significance of the two Missals with Carolingian miniscule script and its relative legibility for student paleographic study and the uses of different colored inks that inform and support study of paleographical processes. Finally, the students focused on long-term Research Potential of the Decretal text and illustration, which offers insight into judicial processes of the early 14th century and informs research into religious reform and ecclesiastical order.

Below are the three items purchased from Pirages Fine Books and Medieval Manuscripts:

1. MOST OF A LARGE VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM A GLOSSED “DECRETALES” OF GREGORY IX, WITH AN IMAGE OF AN EXECUTION. TEXT FROM END OF BOOK FOUR AND BEGINNING OF BOOK FIVE.

Seller: Phillips J. Pirages: Fine Books & Medieval Manuscripts
PJP Catalog: 72.016
Price: $9,500.00
Location: France [?]
Date: Early 14th Century
Size: 342 x 240 mm. (13 ½ x 9 ¼ in.)
Script: Gothic Rotunda Script

2. LEAF FROM AN EARLY MISSAL IN LATIN. TEXT FROM MASSES FOR SAINTS TIMOTHEUS AND SYMPHORIAN, AND MASSES FOR THE COMMON OF VIRGINS

Seller: Phillips J. Pirages: Fine Books & Medieval Manuscripts
PJP Catalog: 70.046
Price: $2,400
Location: Germany
Date: Early 12th Century
Size: 254 x 203 mm. (10 x 8 in.)
Script: Caroline Minuscule Hand

3.TEXT FROM A MASS FOR THE “OPENING OF EARS” ON THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
A VERY EARLY VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM A MISSAL IN LATIN
Seller: Phillips J. Pirages: Fine Books & Medieval Manuscripts
PJP Catalog: 78.003
Price: $3,250.00
Location: Italy
Date: ca. 1100
Size: 300 x 205 mm. (11 7/8 x 8″)
Script: Caroline Minuscule Hand