{"id":34137,"date":"2024-09-20T09:42:05","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T13:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=34137"},"modified":"2024-09-25T13:37:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T17:37:13","slug":"furman-library-presents-medieval-manuscripts-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-library-presents-medieval-manuscripts-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman library presents \u2018Medieval Manuscripts\u2019 exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new exhibition at Furman University Libraries opens a window to the thoughts and actions of people in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. \u201cMedieval Manuscripts: Treasures from Furman\u2019s Collections,\u201d<\/a> is open to the public in Special Collections and Archives in the James B. Duke Library through Tuesday, Dec. 17.<\/p>\n

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Furman\u2019s collection of medieval manuscripts dates back to 1150.<\/p><\/div>\n

Furman\u2019s collection, the second largest in the state, numbers more than 65 hand-crafted leaves and documents dating back to the year 1150.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Makala<\/a>, associate director for Special Collections and university archivist, said early manuscripts written on treated animal skin (vellum or parchment) tell us much about civilizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cDocuments like these are the most readily available evidence we have of medieval Europeans\u2019 lives and thoughts and work,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are textiles that have survived and stone buildings, but it\u2019s really through manuscript culture that we learn the most about the late medieval world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also known as \u201cilluminated manuscripts\u201d for the use of precious metals and bright colors in their production, the trove is visually striking, Makala said. A leaf from an example of a Book of Hours, a prayer book, shows an uppercase D with a diminutive depiction of a Nativity scene. \u201cIt\u2019s as big as your thumbnail, but it has gold and all this wonderful detail \u2013 the gold shines, it just pops,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Like other holdings in Special Collections, the manuscripts are part of Furman\u2019s teaching collection. When they aren\u2019t on display, they are used in classes, such as art history and classics. And Makala intends to weave the collection into his OLLI@Furman class, \u201cSix Centuries of the Book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timothy Fehler<\/a>, professor of history, plans to tap the historical assets. \u201cThe manuscripts in addition to Special Collections\u2019 early printed books and newspapers are such a rich resource for our students,\u201d he said. \u201cHaving this public exhibition of Furman\u2019s growing collection of medieval documents is an exciting addition to our inaugural semester of the Medieval and Early Modern Studies minor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jeffrey Makala, associate director of the Library for Special Collections and University Archivist, talks about exhibits that are part of the medieval manuscript collection.<\/p><\/div>\n

For Makala, the documents represent a source of pride. But don\u2019t ask him to identify a favorite piece in Furman\u2019s collection. \u201cI can\u2019t choose,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s always the newest thing that comes across my desk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makala\u2019s excited to offer Furman and the larger community a glimpse into the lives of people who lived roughly 600 to 900 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see the whole tableau of Western Europe laid out before you, it\u2019s really impressive,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a case full of leaves from variants of the Book of Hours, the bestseller of the Middle Ages. You can basically move from Spain to France to the Low Countries to Italy looking at different design styles and various approaches to creating these handwritten documents that are unique to a particular place in a particular time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe collection is rich in diverse genres, places and time periods. So there\u2019s enough there that we can really do some comparative work with them. That\u2019s what\u2019s really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Special Collections and Archives is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or by appointment. Contact Special Collections for more information, 864-294-2297.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rich and colorful collection, which is open to the public, will also be used in the classroom, especially for Furman’s new minor in Medieval and Early Modern Studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":34174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,42,52,85],"tags":[1959,3007,3006,3005],"class_list":["post-34137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classics","category-history","category-library","category-olli-at-furman","tag-library","tag-makala","tag-medieval","tag-special-collections"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34137"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34139,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34137\/revisions\/34139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}