Learning from Medieval Manuscripts

On exhibit in the Hodges Reading room in Jackson Library

“Learning from Medieval Manuscripts”

The University Libraries is fortunate to have in its collections, “Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts.  Western Europe: XII-XVI Century”, a portfolio collection created by Otto F. Ege in the 1940’s, a professor of art history and dean of the Cleveland Institute of Art.  His intent through these portfolios was to provide opportunity for many to view and learn from these individual leaves. 

The selected leaves span through several centuries and across countries, taken from imperfect volumes from Otto Ege’s personal collection.  These manuscripts have provided the university community rare and special opportunities to view first hand historical documents that illustrate a time before mechanical printing was introduced. 

Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives  has made available these medieval manuscripts to university faculty and students through teaching opportunities and research.  Through the years the original storage has become less than perfect.  The preservation division was able to design and create new protective enclosures for these portfolio items to ensure their conservation for the future. 

The exhibit documents the construction of the new enclosures and provides a view of several of the leaves from the collections, presenting some interesting historical facts regarding the creation of medieval manuscripts.

Come to visit us Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5 pm. 

-Audrey Sage

Preservation Services 

C-SPAN2 Book TV Program features Women Veterans Historical Project and WWI Pamphlets

C-SPAN2 Book TV visited Greensboro and made a trip to Special Collections and University Archives. 

Beth Ann Koelsch, Curator of the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project (WVHP) and  Keith Gorman, Head of Special Collections and University Archives were featured on C-Span2 Book TV in February, 2015.

Koelsch showcased a selection of books by and about women in the military including self-published memoirs, cartoon books, and recruiting brochures.Gorman discussed about how the special collection of WWI pamphlets illustrated how propaganda was used throughout the course of the "Great War."

You can watch the program at this link: http://www.c-span.org/video/?324062-1/book-tv-greensboro-north-carolina

What They Were Wearing While They Were Reading; The 1920s

January 24 – March 31, 2011
First Floor Lobby, Jackson Library

The 1920s was one of the most exciting decades in US history. It was a time of prosperity and excess when Americans embraced a modern culture, which included dancing to the “Charleston” and joyriding in Ford Model T automobiles. Women won the right to vote, attended colleges in droves, and sought out careers outside the home.

Prohibition began on midnight, January 16, 1920, making “intoxicating liquors” illegal to transport, consume, or sell. Prohibition created an underground bootlegging industry, which fueled widespread criminal activity. Men like Al Capone rose to power, ordering the largest gangland hits in crime history known as “the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”

Jazz was hot! Singers such as Charles Peterson, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, and Rudy Vallee were popular and could be heard on a new invention, which allowed entertainment to be broadcast into America’s living rooms - the radio. Americans were also flocking to movie theaters to see popular stars as Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson.

Other important milestones of the 1920s included Babe Ruth setting the home run record in 1927, celebrity pilot Charles Limbergh flying solo across the Atlantic in 1927, and archaeologist Howard Carter discovering the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922.

The decade came to a screeching halt on October 29, 1929, with the most devastating stock market crash in US History. The panic of 1929 sparked the Great Depression and the economic downturn of the 1930s.

This exhibit focuses on the fashions, literature, and cultural aspects of the 1920s. It features the textile collection of Dr. James Carmichael, professor of the UNCG’s Library and Information Studies program.

-Kathelene McCarty Smith