Janick Fellowship (3 total)
The Hidden Old Main
While "Old Main" is WestConn's oldest andprobably most iconic building, its interior and uses have changed considerably over the last century. For many years it was the college's onlyor mainbuilding (hence the name Old Main) and its original design answered the multiple needs that had to be met by a single facility.
This exhibit aims to bring to light some aspects of this building now no longervisible to most visitors.
Turning over a New Leaf: Identification of a Medieval Manuscript Leaf
Manuscripts started to become popular in Europe beginning, roughly, in the 8th century AD. (An example of an 8th century Irish manuscript, courtesy of the Bodleian Library, is available below).
Used mostly for religous purposesby the churchand its adherents, the most common types of manuscripts were bibles, books of hours, and other liturgical texts.
Due to several factors, not all manuscripts survive intact into the present day; sometimes only a page survives, as is the case here at WestConn.
But how much can we learn from a single page from a medieval manuscript?
The short answer: more than I thought.
The long answer: There are some basic methods that can be utilized for document identification in general. To investigate our specific leaf, we knew that there were some things the physical object could tell us, other things that we could infer or suppose, and other things we may never know for sure.