Medieval documents give Southeast students rare opportunities

Medieval books and pages are part of Southeast Missouri State University’s Special Collections and Archives, and this fall, an upper-level course will see students researching and presenting on pieces students had a hand in selecting.

Special Collections and Archives librarian Roxanne Dunn said the mission is to document regional and university history, and the goal is to have a teaching collection — that is, a collection well protected, but accessible for student and faculty research.

It can be tough to display these pieces, Dunn said, since they’re hundreds of years old, and require special storage concerns, including security — cameras, alarms, sign-in procedures.

So, the challenge is coming up with ways to creatively engage students who research the pieces, and inform the wider community, she said.

The Charles Harrison Collection, a substantial offering within the Special Collections, “allowed us to have some really beautiful pieces,” Dunn said, noting Harrison was proactive in collecting some medieval pieces in the 1930s and 1940s, which have grown in value so much that they’d be out of the price range today.

A church missal in two-colored ink from the 1600s is shown. The piece is part of Charles Harrison's Rare Book Collection at Southeast Missouri State University's Kent Library.Courtesy of Roxanne Dunn

Vicky McAlister, assistant professor of history at Southeast, and Joni Hand, associate professor of art history, each have several upper-level students who participated in a new opportunity: The students were allowed to see, research and select the pieces acquired this year.

“We wanted to encourage the collection to grow, and students to use these documents,” Dunn said.

While Harrison was able to purchase full books nearly a century ago, those are now far out of the acquisitions budget’s price range.

“We are now purchasing single folios, or pages,” Dunn said. “That’s more our speed in terms of what we can afford.”

Kent Library dean Barbara Glackin had secured a small allotment from library funds for the last few years, Dunn said, and acquisitions alternate between medieval pieces and those relating to 20th century novelist William Faulkner. Southeast has an extensive Faulkner collection.

Joni Hand, associate professor of art history at Southeast, left, reviews medieval materials and artifacts with Southeast students in her Medieval Art History class in this undated photo.Courtesy of Southeast Missouri State University

Dunn said this is the second round of acquisitions for medieval pieces, the first being about three years ago.

This time, “We asked the professors, ‘What do you want to see for your classes?’” Dunn said.

Hand, an art historian, gravitated more toward illuminated pages from early Bibles, Dunn said. Students are also interested in pages from choir books, Dunn noted.

McAlister’s interest lay more in wills and testaments — civil documents, Dunn said.

But this year, instead of just faculty input, Dunn said she wanted to let students select some pieces, thus gaining real-world experience in the acquisitions process.

Dunn said a dealer’s reputation is important, as the market does have counterfeit pieces, and a reputable, experienced dealer should help provide a safeguard against a costly mistake.

Sometimes, after further research, faculty members might discover a minor correction, such as a date that is slightly off, Dunn said.

“We wanted students to experience that this year,” she said.

“We’re very lucky that we wrapped this project up as the pandemic was starting in the United States,” Dunn said. The vendor, a dealer out of Chicago, came to the River Campus with pieces within the $8,000 total budget in February.

The last piece purchased arrived on campus the day closure was announced, she said.

That means the latest acquisitions haven’t been digitized, Dunn said.

During the process, in fall semester 2019, students weren’t competing, but they were expected to explain why they wanted to buy each piece, she said.

The dealer was present to help explain each piece’s context and origins, Dunn said.

McAlister asked her students to perform a medieval form of argument called a disputation — like a debate but with a different structure, McAlister said. Students provided criteria to a panel of faculty, then argued for the piece each was interested in acquiring.

“Whoever made the best case for having their items bought would have their items bought,” McAlister said. “It was a real application, not just abstract.”

McAlister said students are rarely given the opportunity to handle and closely examine folios that are hundreds of years old.

McAlister said her students noticed the medieval collection was mainly focused on Western documents, so they argued in favor of more world representation.

A medieval document written in Persian was among those added to the collection, and another is in Coptic, a language found in Egypt.

Most of the collection’s documents are in Latin and handwritten, McAlister said.

“The students can’t read them, necessarily, but they can appreciate what the documents tell us about the history. The student can find useful insight into the wider time period and context.”

McAlister said her students will use the pieces as a tangible jumping off point into bigger historical issues.

McAlister said unfortunately, many of the students involved in acquiring pieces will graduate at the end of this semester, but as of Wednesday, one student will return for McAlister’s fall course that will utilize the new acquisitions for further research.

Dunn noted there are important reasons to study medieval documents today.

“Students now are living through the early stages of the internet,” she said. “Eight or nine hundred years ago, how were people transmitting information?”

McAlister said many of the single sheets, or folios, from the medieval period survived by being used as a book backing in the 18th and 19th centuries — cut up and used to protect covers of books being published at the time.

For that reason, she said, if a page were to arrive in pristine condition, that would be reason to closely examine its origins.

McAlister said the plan is to have students research a piece, then make informational leaflets and posters to display in Kent Library.

“It’s a nice way to showcase what is going on, with these documents that are very valuable,” McAlister said. “Rather than an essay that goes just to me, I want students to have something real-world. That way, they’ll be more invested, but also get some design skills.”