Medievalists are set loose in the Rare Book Room
Over 40 members of the Medieval Academy of America attended our open house on March 19, as part of the Academy’s 2010 Annual Meeting at Yale. The occasion was our current exhibit, “Reused, Rebound, Recovered: Medieval Manuscript Fragments in Law Book Bindings.”
After a brief presentation from the exhibit’s lead curator, Benjamin Yousey-Hindes, we set them loose to the exhibit, and an additional 40 volumes in our reading room. We provided forms for them to contribute information about the fragments; a parlor game for medievalists. One of them used his iPhone to show us where a musical fragment fits into the medieval liturgy. Several told us “you should email Professor X about this fragment.”
Those who generously contributed information included Elizabeth Brown (CUNY), George Brown (Stanford), Lisa Fagin Davis (Simmons College), Consuelo Dutschke (Columbia University), Dennis Dutschke (Arcadia University), Joseph Dyer (University of Massachusetts-Boston), David Ganz (King’s College London), Susan L’Engle (St. Louis University), William Mahrt (Stanford University), Hope Mayo (Harvard), Richard Rouse (UCLA), Matthew Salisbury (University of Oxford), Alison Stones (University of Pittsburgh), Rod Thomson (University of Tasmania), Linda Voigts (University of Missouri-Kansas City), and Mary Wolinski (Western Kentucky University). I am adding the information they provided to the online version of the exhibit.
Thanks to all who attended for making the open house a resounding success. One senior paleographer said, “I won’t remember a single paper that I hear at this conference, but I’ll remember this event.”
MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian
Benjamin Yousey-Hindes, the exhibit’s lead curator, introduces the exhibit to Medieval Academy of America members.
Medieval Academy of America conferees studying our exhibit, “Reused, Rebound, Recovered: Medieval Manuscript Fragments in Law Book Bindings.”
Let the games begin! Medievalists examining some of the additional volumes with medieval manuscripts in the bindings, set out for them in the Paskus-Danziger Rare Book Reading Room.
Photographs by Ty Streeter, Office of Public Affairs, Yale Law School.
