Archives Experience
I learned a lot than I thought I would when I went to the archives. Previously, I thought that it would just be a huge dusty room filled with old books and scripts. However, after hearing the presentation and seeing all the different types of mediums, I was fascinated. Seeing that literature could be carved into wood, laser printed onto paper, scribed into animal skin, and painted onto thin rice paper; made me realize how creative people back then were. I especially thought the artistic books were interesting and creative in a different way. Not only were the contents of these books unique, but the ways in which they were bound differed from anything I'd seen before. The one book that was bound in a spiral fashion with laser cut symbols was especially fascinating and I wish we could have seen it in the light.
Some elements of book history I'm most interested in learning more about are what different mediums are commonly used today other the classic books and novels and if artist books are still made. I also want to hear more about different collectors and collections like ours in the library. The woman with the tiny book collection really interests me because, personally, I am not as interested in something like that and wouldn't spend a lot of money on it. It was also crazy how much the collection cost and that it is worth millions.
Hey Eloise, I loved hearing your experience with the archives today! I'll admit, I didn't know what to expect but I was fascinated as well. The tiny book collection stood out to me as well; I can't believe the collection is worth so much money and that our library just received a 3k+ donation of these books!
ReplyDeleteHi Eloise, I completely agree. I, too, thought we were going to be in a dusty old room full of texts which were falling apart from old age. Like you, I was pleasantly surprised! The different mediums used were super interesting, and I'm glad we were both able to learn a lot yesterday!
ReplyDeleteHey Eloise! I had similar thoughts as well. I didn't expect for the archives and special collections area to have incredibly old objects. I was expecting more books not older than a few hundred years, but I was surprised! After reading your post I am now interested in knowing how the symbols and inscriptions would have looked like in the light.
ReplyDeleteHi Eloise! I was too surprised by the Archives & Special Collections trip! I had no idea what it entailed, but I'm glad we got to check it out as a class. Getting to see all the different materials used for each object and learning how old everything was was very interesting.
ReplyDeleteHey Eloise, The Archives and Special Collections trip surprised me too. I thought it would be something similar to what you described as well. The books were really interesting to see, and the price tag was not what I expected either.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought that the art of books came from the content and never from the form. I agree that it was mind opening and very interesting to see a piece of literature whose form was a part of the art. It makes me wonder what other mediums tend to rely on content whose form could be altered.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty interesting how the formatting for writing isn't something we even think of today. It's all printed or written with ink onto paper, but back then there was an entire process and a myriad of methods for writing.
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