Welcome to Vivarium!
Vivarium is the home of digitized manuscripts, art, rare books,
photographs, and other resources from two Benedictine
monastic and educational communities in central Minnesota. It is a
searchable database delivering a
variety of digital objects. Vivarium was created and is maintained by the
Hill
Museum & Manuscript Library.
Take a Tour View samples from the collections in
Vivarium. The tour is a collection of samples from the various
Vivarium collections.
A great way to start exploring.
Learn How to Use Vivarium More Effectively
Vivarium runs on CONTENTdm, a popular web-based digital object
library system. Learn more about how to get the most from this system by
visiting the Vivarium Tutorials page
for a guided tour.
In addition to Vivarium, The College of Saint Benedict and Saint
John's University offer the resources of
ARTstor, a
leading repository for on-line art images. ARTstor is a non-profit
entity initiated by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and subscribed
to by CSB/SJU. Help on using ARTstor can be found
here.
Copyright Notice:
Images on Vivarium are for non-commercial, educational, or research
purposes. Users of these images agree to cite Saint John's Abbey and
University, the College of Saint Benedict, or the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, Collegeville, MN, depending on the collection
where the images reside. With manuscript images, the owning
institution must also be cited. Copyright resides with the owning
institution, HMML, and the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's
University. Violations of copyright will be pursued.
System
Requirements and Browser Compatibility
Vivarium makes use of JavaScript and Unicode technologies for its
display of forms, lists, and special text characters.
Choose and configure
your web browser to make things work properly.
Become a contributor
to Vivarium The departments of the College of
Saint Benedict and Saint John's University are invited to submit collections for
inclusion in Vivarium. Collections of educational, cultural or
historic significance are welcomed. Find
out how to participate.
About the Name Vivarium Vivarium was the famous early sixth-century monastery founded by the Roman statesman and author
Cassiodorus Senator (ca. 490-585) on his estate in Calabria (The site is at Squillace, on the eastern side of the "toe"
of Italy). The name of the monastery was drawn from its fishponds along the sea:
vivarium in Latin means "a place for living things." At Vivarium, Cassiodorus
created a manuscript collection of unusual breadth and depth. The new VIVARIUM,
like its ancient inspiration, is a place for encountering lively collections
from the humanities, the fine arts, and the natural and social sciences found
today at two Benedictine monastic and educational communities in central
Minnesota.
Collections in Vivarium
Vivarium contains a number of collections from various members of the CSB/SJU community. Each collection
has its own custom home page with enhanced searching tools. Note: certain collections are restricted to on-campus access only.
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library has been preserving manuscripts photographically for over 40 years. Over the years, other collections of art, rare books, photographs, etc., have been added to HMML's holdings.
Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives
The archivists at the St. Benedict's Monastery, home of the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., document the history and mission of this Catholic order with more than 4,000 artifacts dating to 1857.
Saint John's Abbey Collection
The Saint John's Abbey Collection consists of art, artifacts, and archival materials gathered by the monks of Saint John's Abbey since the monastery's founding in 1856.
CSB/SJU Newspaper Archives
Digitization of the student newspapers of CSB and SJU is taking place. At this time, the student newspapers from the College of Saint Benedict from the years 1965 to 1998 are online.
Saint John's Pottery
A collection of images of pottery produced by Richard Bresnahan at the Saint John's Pottery, as well as work produced by selected students and colleagues.
College of Saint Benedict Archives
The College of Saint Benedict Archives collects the records of the College, 1961 to present. The Archivist is engaged in an ongoing project to digitize and make available photos housed in the Archives.
CSB/SJU Honors Collection
A collection of thesis papers written by CSB/SJU students invited to join the Honors Program upon the recommendation of the admission committee and the Honors Program Council.
SGD Ethiopian Manuscripts and Scrolls
The SGD Collection of Ethiopian Manuscript Images is the result of the work of the Ethiopian Manuscript Imaging Project (EMIP) to digitize manuscripts and magic scrolls held in private collections in North America.
Saint John's University Archives
The Saint John's University Archives has started adding their materials to Vivarium. Photographs and PDF
files of significant newspaper articles and documents can be found here.
Communications Marketing Services
The Communication and Marketing department for the campuses of Saint John's and Saint Ben's use Vivarium as a tool to manage their digital images.
Note: only available on CSB/SJU campus.
SJU Art Department
The Art Department of Saint John's University and the College of Saint Benedict uses Vivarium as a tool to store, manage, and retrieve digital images from their slide collection.
Only available on CSB/SJU campus.
