Fragmentology

Course Description

The study of medieval manuscript fragments has developed into its own specialization in recent years, incorporating paleography, codicology, liturgiology, musicology, textual studies, art history, bibliography, provenance, and digital humanities, among other disciplines. In this weeklong class, the first of its kind devoted entirely to the discipline of fragmentology, students will learn how to interpret the layers of evidence in early manuscript fragments—identifying the original text, understanding its reuse, and tracing its modern history—in order to understand the complete story of a fragment from its origins to today. We will also discuss best practices for metadata development and digital fragmentology (the use of shared-canvas viewers and the International Image Interoperability Framework). Finally, we will consider the ethics of the leaf trade. Over the course of the week, students will have the opportunity to apply the methods and methodologies of fragmentology to their fragment(s) and share their progress and results with the class. If necessary, the instructor will facilitate temporary IIIF-hosting of images supplied by students. The course will combine lectures, show-and-tell, discussion, and group problem-solving break-out sessions. Students should come to class with a fragmentological problem they wish to explore (for example, a mystery fragment or a series of related fragments) and have access to images of the fragment(s). Applicants’ personal statements should include a description of the problem and the status of related images. 

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Advance Reading List

Reading/Watching List (* = required)

* Davis, Lisa Fagin. “The Beauvais Missal: Otto Ege’s Scattered Leaves and Digital Surrogacy,” Florilegium 33 (2016), 143–166.https://www.academia.edu/40254782/_The_Beauvais_Missal_Otto_Ege_s_Scattered_Leaves_and_Digital_Surrogacy_

Davis, Lisa Fagin. “Manuscript Road Trip” (blog), selected posts:

* “In Otto Ege’s Footsteps” (7 October 2013) https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/manuscript-road-trip-in-otto-eges-footsteps/

* “Otto Ege, St. Margaret, and Digital Fragmentology” (5 March 2014) https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/manuscript-road-trip-otto-ege-st-margaret-and-digital-fragmentology/

“An Otto Ege Treasure Trove in Maine” (3 June 2016) https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2016/06/03/manuscript-road-trip-an-otto-ege-treasure-trove-in-maine/ 

“Fragmentarium: a Model for Digital Fragmentology” (25 February 2018) https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2018/02/25/fragmentarium-a-model-for-digital-fragmentology/

* “Re-Introducing the Gottschalk Antiphonal!” (21 May 2018) https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2018/05/21/manuscript-road-trip-reintroducing-the-gottschalk-antiphonal/

“Fragmentology under Quarantine” (11 April 2020)  https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2020/04/11/manuscript-road-trip-fragmentology-under-quarantine/

* “Otto Ege, St. Margaret, and Digital Fragmentology: Part 2” (7 June 2020) https://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2020/06/07/manuscript-road-trip-otto-ege-st-margaret-and-digital-fragmentology-part-2/

* Davis, Lisa Fagin. “The Opportunities (and Limits) of Lockdown Digital Fragmentology,” Dark Archives 20/20, Keynote Address, 22 October 2020 (video)

 https://youtu.be/7cj-J8luRZQ

* De Hamel, Christopher. “Cutting up Manuscripts for Pleasure and Profit,” The 1995 Sol. M. Malkin Lecture in Bibliography.Charlottesville, VA: Book Arts Press, 1996. https://www.dropbox.com/s/p4aq5ap9zzpcb8s/de%20Hamel%20Cutting%20up%20Manuscripts.pdf?dl=0

Duba, William and Christoph Flüeler. “Fragments and Fragmentology,” Fragmentology 1 (2018): 1–5 (DOI: 10.24446/a04a). https://dx.doi.org/10.24446/a04a

* Ege, Otto F. “I am a Biblioclast,” Avocations (March 1938): 516–520. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ase6wy5yd7c79js/Ege%20Biblioclast.pdf?dl=0

* Eze, Anne-Marie. “77. Montage of cuttings from a missal of Clement VII Jacopo del Giallo (illuminator)” in Jeffrey Hamburger et al., eds., Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections (Chestnut Hill, MA: McMullen Museum of Art, 2016), 100–101.  https://iiif-orpheus.s3.amazonaws.com/61d56b20d5fafd866178dd98-BW-76-77c.pdf

* “A Fractured Inheritance: The Problems, Challenges, and Opportunities of Collecting Manuscript Fragments,” RBS Online, 15 September 2020 (video)

 https://rarebookschool.org/rbs-online/a-fractured-inheritance-the-problems-challenges-and-opportunities-of-collecting-manuscript-fragments/

Gwara, Scott. “Collections, Compilations, and Convolutes of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Fragments in North America before ca. 1900,” Fragmentology 3 (2020): 73–139, (DOI: 10.24446/dlll) https://dx.doi.org/10.24446/dlll

* Mullett, Ruth. “In situ Manuscript Fragments in the Incunables of the Bodleian Library, Oxford: A Fragmentarium Case Study,” Fragmentology 1 (2018): 111–20 (DOI: 10.24446/6q36) https://dx.doi.org/10.24446/6q36

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Course Evaluations

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Course History