The Minnesota Manuscript Research Laboratory is a project developed by the Center for Medieval Studies (CMS) of the Institute for Advanced Study in the College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, in collaboration with the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota.

The Laboratory’s purpose is to provide an orientation to the study of medieval manuscripts and their contents to qualified graduate and undergraduate students, faculty and other interested individuals. 

Between June 6-11, 2010 (tentative), the Laboratory will hold a workshop to give participants a practical, hands-on introduction to the study of manuscripts at an important research center, the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library.

Facilities, accommodations, amenities:

The workshop sessions will be held at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, at Saint John’s University and Saint John’s Abbey, which are world-renowned for their extensive collection of microfilm and digital images of medieval manuscripts. Their ever-expanding collection contains images of over 100,000 medieval manuscripts. Students will also have access to the Alcuin Library at Saint John’s, which contains not only a collection of rare printed books, but also extensive materials on the history of religion, including many books and journals difficult to find elsewhere in the state. Students will be housed in a dormitory on the Saint John’s campus and take meals in the campus refectory. They will also be welcome to attend, as observers or participants, monastic prayer services, which continue a liturgical tradition established early in the Middle Ages. These services are held in Saint John’s Abbey Church, designed by the noted architect Marcel Breuer (1902-1981). In the evening, they may enjoy the beautiful grounds, where hiking, swimming and canoeing are available.

Costs

$700.00 includes workshop fee, air-conditioned housing for five nights and all meals (three a day) and breaks.

$500.00 includes workshop fee, and all meals (three a day) and breaks.

$500.00 includes workshop fee, air-conditioned housing for five nights.

$350.00 includes workshop fee only

Funds are available to defray costs for University of Minnesota graduate students officially registered for the Medieval Studies minor. Other students are encouraged to inquire about the availability of funds from their own academic departments.

The Manuscript Laboratory’s program design and teaching materials are largely the collaborative work of the following three Minnesota scholars:

Diane Warne Anderson (Ph.D., Duke University) teaches Latin at Saint John's University and University of St. Thomas. She also has taught palaeography and Latin at the University of Minnesota, and been employed as a research scholar at HMML. Her published research include a catalogue of the Cologne Cathedral Library manuscripts, and a study and edition of a classical florilegium.

Ruth Mazo Karras (PhD, Yale University) is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Medieval Studies at the University of Minnesota. In the course of the research for her four books she has done archival research in Sweden, England, Germany, and France, mainly in ecclesiastical and secular court records but also in sermon literature and theological quodlibets.

Theresa M. Vann (Ph.D., Fordham University) is the Joseph S. Micallef Curator of the Malta Study Center at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John's University. She is publishing a translation of The Siege of Rhodes and has overseen the creation of HMML's on-line manuscript catalogue.

Matthew Z. Heintzelman (Ph.D., University of Chicago; MLIS, University of Iowa) is Curator for the Austria/Germany/Switzerland Study Center and for Rare Book collections at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John's University. He has studied late medieval Christian-Jewish discourse in German religious drama and the history of early printing. He recently completed the online cataloging of the rare printed book collections at Saint John's  University.
 

How to Apply

For a two-page application, contact

The Center for Medieval Studies
302 Nolte Center, 315 Pillsbury Dr. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455.
Phone:  (612) 626–0805
Email:  cmedst@umn.edu
Applications accepted until May 16, 2010