Intro to Manuscripts : Art Appreciation: Home

Welcome to the Arts and Special Collections Research Center.  Our collections hold a diverse range of materials spanning from 4th century to modern day.  Whether you are a looking for a unique source for a paper or researching a topic, the librarians of the special collections would love to help!  Check out our webpage for additional information. Special Collections webpage

How do I find materials?

Most of our rare materials are cataloged and can be located in the library's online discovery resource, OneSearch located on the libraries main page: https://www.baylor.edu/library/ 

The best way to find materials is to do your search in OneSearch, and then limit your results by the Library "Moody Library Spec Coll" or any other special collections you are interested in searching.

If you need to check on terms, we've put together a glossary for you.

Working in your group, conduct an “interview” with your assigned illuminated manuscript. Following the interview prompts, see what you can discover about the manuscript! This assignment will be completed by writing out a script.  All students must be in class to participate in this assignment and to receive full credit.

1. What do you think the purpose or use of this manuscript would have been?

• If there’s a title, does it provide any clues?
• What physical aspects (size, colors, content, etc.) are clues to how this may have been used?

2.  Do you think these were created for private, individual or public use? How can you tell?
3. What materials were used to create the manuscript? Think about both the interior and exterior of the object.
4.  Why did you think some letters were decorated?
5.  What different elements do you see in these manuscripts compared to modern books?
6.  Describe any creatures you discovered (if there are no creatures in your book, skip this question).
7.  Describe a story depicted in an illustration that you saw.
8.  Create a meme based on one of the illuminations in your book. Your group will share this with the class at the end of our virtual visit.