Describing Medieval Manuscripts

The Medieval and Early Modern Manuscript Description Project is an ongoing effort to digitize and accurately catalog various manuscript collections at Stanford University Libraries that currently have only collection-level records, such as “a box of English deeds and documents circa 1600s” or were otherwise mis-described or under-described when originally acquired.  About two years ago, the project was envisioned in a conversation between Rare Books Curator Ben Albritton and former Stanford Trustee Bob Burke about ways to provide more hands-on manuscript experiences for students. Since then, Bob and Kathy Burke, both of whom are members of the Stanford University Libraries Advisory Council, have generously sponsored part-time employment in Special Collections for four graduate students with interests in manuscript studies.

Kaitlynn Norton (pictured above) is a Master of Arts candidate in History who while an undergraduate at UCLA studied topics such as contemporary responses to witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and the social repercussions of the Black Death. Her research at Stanford focuses on court culture and etiquette in Medieval to Early Modern Britain. In this conversation, Kaitlynn shares her thoughts about the Manuscript Description Project.
 

Which types of manuscripts are you describing?

I am working with a large group of manuscript fragments donated recently by a Stanford alumnus. Within that collection, I have been transcribing and describing manuscript fragments from the High Middle Ages to Early Modern, circa 1300-1600. Most of these manuscripts contain liturgical content such as hymns, psalms, missals, and other illuminated texts.
 

How do you compile the descriptions?

FromThePage is a crowdsourcing platform for archives and libraries where volunteers transcribe, index, and describe historic documents. It has a convenient format for seamlessly switching between transcribing a text and recording the metadata of a manuscript’s date and place of origin, materiality, content, etc. This straightforward and user-friendly interface allows me to spend less time on getting to know the program and more time on getting to know the manuscripts!
 

What is a surprising discovery made during your work?

I’ve learned and discovered so much over the course of my time with the manuscripts, but I’ll share one of my favorites! There is a leaf from a biblical text containing an intricate illumination of John 18:1 – 18:15. When looking at this item in its digitized format, it is easy to miss several beautiful details. While examining the item in person, I was surprised to find that shining a light on the page reveals golden stars and a moon in the night sky. I think this shows that digitization currently has a difficult time reproducing the detail and artistry put into these pieces.
 

How does the project experience complement your curriculum at Stanford?

The practical experience I’ve gained from the describing of these manuscripts has been indispensable. My own studies focus on Early Modern England, where the use of Latin was still quite prevalent, so learning the various scripts and their origins has helped me watch the progression of handwriting not only in Insular scripts but on the continent, as well. I believe most of all that working with the manuscripts has shown me just how significant devotion and religious worship were in the medieval to Early Modern eras, as the overwhelming majority of the objects I have described are tied to Christianity in some fashion. I have been amazed by the vast array of liturgical materials in the collection and charmed by the many ways scribes and illuminators continued to create personalized and breathtaking content.

My work on the Manuscript Description Project has also led me down the path of interest in paleography, a topic on which I am currently taking a course at Durham University. It has been particularly fascinating to see how each script influenced the next in an ever-evolving stretch of handwriting.

What lasting impressions have Stanford’s medieval manuscripts made upon you?

One of the reasons I adore working with manuscripts is because I believe it is important to remember that unlike the pages in our books today, each of these manuscript leaves was painstakingly crafted. Each time you interact with these objects, each time your breath fans across the same leaf that some unnamed scribe spent days hunched over in a small scriptorium, each time you run your finger down the side of the same page that the book’s owner flicked through a thousand times hundreds of years ago, each time you mouth the same words on the page that countless others whispered before you, you form a connection with not only the object but with its history.

I would like to add that I am incredibly grateful to Bob and Kathy Burke for being kind enough to sponsor the project and allowing me the opportunity to work with these manuscripts. Ben Albritton, as always, has my eternal gratitude for his patience and mentorship during this project. I hope that these manuscripts will continue to pass through many others’ hands after mine.