HIST 4006A: Medieval Manuscripts in the Digital Age
Fall 2021-Winter 2022
Instructor: Professor Marc Saurette
Course Description:
[Due to the hands-on nature of the coursework, this class is intended to be taught in-person only]
When we say that we “scroll” through a webpage or use the abbreviation “@” as part of an email address, we evoke ghosts of textual cultures flourishing before the rise of printed books. When we skim through a book’s table of contents and its index to read efficiently or we wonder how to use the semi-colon properly, we are drawing on medieval textual innovations that remain in use today. Not only does manuscript culture live on in contemporary books and thinking, but medieval manuscripts themselves are taking on a new life – in growing online collections that grant us access to a library of medieval texts larger than anything possible in the Middle Ages. This class asks students to consider what changes when manuscripts are digitized.
I have found that the best way to teach about manuscripts is through hands-on learning. My hope (subject to University reopening protocols) is that we will spend much of our time in Carleton’s Book Arts Lab creating facsimiles of medieval manuscripts and analyzing the actual medieval material we have in Carleton’s Archive and Research Collection. We have only a little information about our two manuscripts and in class we will work together to unlock the secrets of their origin and provenience. By creating AND analyzing, students will develop a feel for how medieval manuscripts were made and how to describe them. The second part of the course asks us to think about how to present them in today’s digital environment. My second goal is to introduce students to digital tools to describe, understand and present our medieval material. By using different digital tools to play with, map, transcribe, describe, present our medieval manuscripts, the course seeks to teach students how to undertake a digitization project of their own. In essence the goal of this course is to train students in a methodology which is both cutting edge and in demand by heritage institutions.
By the end of this course, students will:
- understand how a medieval book was copied and assembled
- have worked together to create a(n) physical/ online exhibit of our medieval material, using various tools to tell their stories
- be prepared to go out into the world armed with the knowledge of how and how not to begin your own DIY digitization project
- We intend to document our work process by maintaining a handbook and we will publicize our progress on social media (twitter: @MdvlBook) to leave a roadmap for others.
No previous expertise in Digital Humanities is necessary for this course, but a willingness to learn is key. In this class, we’ll all be learning as we’re doing – both teacher and students.