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Sponsored by the Center for Medieval Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, University of Minnesota
for application please contact Center for Medieval Studies
Archive file from May Term 2006 Workshop at HMML
Archive file from Spring Semester 2006 MMRL Program
NEXUS PERUTILES ~ Useful Links
The Center for Medieval Studies sponsors the Minnesota
Manuscript Research Laboratory as a resource for students and scholars who wish to deal with pre-modern manuscript books and documents. The Laboratory
offers hands-on learning experiences and seminars as well as guidance for online self-teaching. The purpose is to provide practical
introductory training in the following areas:
• The reading of texts in manuscript form
(text studies and editing)• Study of the scripts used in manuscripts (palaeography)
• Study of the physical characteristics of
manuscripts (codicology)
The focus is primarily on Latin manuscripts of the European Middle Ages, secondarily on manuscripts in European vernaculars. Other languages (e.g. Hebrew, Greek, Ge'ez etc.) can be included depending on the interest of individuals.
In conjunction with the Minnesota Manuscript Research Laboratory, the Colloquia series sponsored by the Center for Medieval Studies will include talks and informal seminars on manuscript studies by scholars from other institutions.
In scholarship today, the historian, the literary scholar, the musicologist, the art historian are all concerned with primary sources. For much of our history, these sources are in manuscript form, the majority still unedited. And those that have been edited must be used with caution in conjunction with the true primary sources, the manuscripts themselves.
Across many departments and disciplines, therefore, there is a need for "basic training" in the study of manuscripts. Graduate students too often receive this training by being thrown on their own into dissertation research with no preparation. Or mature scholars may avoid using manuscripts because they are unsure of how to work with them. Here we offer manuscript "boot camp" with guidance for all.
• Independent study online and in U of MN libraries
• Lab sessions with instructor
• Attendance at occasional lectures and workshop sessions with guest speakers
• Work at Hill Monastic Manuscript Library in
Collegeville, Minnesota• Work at the Newberry Library in Chicago (some travel money available)
• Other – individualized according to scholar's needs
Graduate students at the University of Minnesota may normally receive credits for MMRL, the number of credits to be determined by the Director of the Center for Medieval Studies in consultation with the academic departments. Credit depends on a consistent level of participation in the entire program.
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Last updated
Friday, April 18, 2008
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