Archives and Special Collections

During our visit to Archives and Special Collections, I found myself really enjoying it. I usually love our visits there as it sort of spices up class and adds a change of scenery. I specifically enjoyed this one because we got to do a hands on activity and could use the microscopes to discover for ourselves what was so cool and unique about the different mediums. I found it fascinating how you could see the different colors and ink. I noticed how there seemed to be a fluorescent green color within an orange painted document. She explained how in order to get the right color, the artists had to mix in seemingly opposite colors. This was also because of the fragments had slightly lifted, revealing the underlying color that could be seen only when highly magnified. 

I think the history of print intersects with literary history because as ways of printing increasingly got better, literature was also improved and matured as well. When the only way to write was with a quill and ink, it was tedious to write anything, nonetheless a 300 page book. As technology has advanced, allowing us to write more in a shorter amount of time, we have been granted much more freedom in our writing. As we can now incorporate real pictures instead of drawings only in special editions like they had back then.