“Desire for Medieval Past” Manuscript Exhibit to Run June 1-30
This event (in the Dean’s Gallery of Miller Nichols Library) features a wealth of materials from Midwestern monastic libraries. The books include a variety of religious materials, including donations from mother houses in Europe, gifts from benefactors, and purchases by the communities themselves. Focusing on three Benedictine libraries near Kansas City–Mount St. Scholastica (Atchison, KS), St Benedict’s Abbey (Atchison, KS), and Conception Abbey (Conception, MO)–this exhibition will feature manuscripts and early printed books from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, some in original bindings. The majority of items in the exhibition include individual leaves from medieval manuscripts that can be dated back to the eleventh century and early printed books or incunabula. Examples of books in these collections dating from the seventeenth through the twenty-first centuries illustrate the persistent interest in producing religious texts by hand. As a complement to these items, there are prints of individual leaves and bound reproductions of the celebrated St. John’s Bible, which was finished in April 2011 by renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson for St. John’s Abbey (Collegeville, MN). All items will be on display in the second-floor Dean’s Gallery from 1-30 June 2012.
The Department of English Language and Literature hosted the second of three conferences on ‘Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe II’ at the University of Missouri–Kansas City from 5–8 June 2012. It brought together specialists working on diverse geographical areas to create a dialogue about the Latin and vernacular texts nuns read, wrote, and exchanged, primarily from the eighth to the mid-sixteenth centuries. International experts addressed these issues. The papers resulting from this conference will form the chapters of a published volume. This conference is the second in a series of three: the first conference was held in Hull from 20–23 June 2011; a third meeting will be held in Antwerp in June, 2013.
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