Since the dawn of civilization, people have increased their specialization and moved further away from the intimate understanding of the material objects they interact with daily. In recent decades this has become ever more apparent. While this specialization has made life easier and improved many of these material objects, there is something special that an […]

I’m so excited about how this amazing team of students has breathed life into the dragon -and how just a little bit of breath has let it speak back to us. Laura Packard, the project manager, along with Meghan Jones, a newer recruit to the team, applied for a grant to investigate the musical dimension […]

After spending several months at the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), the prayer book has returned, stabilized and ready to be studied. I visited the prayer book last Tuesday at its home in the basement of Northeastern’s Snell Library. At the NEDCC, a small box was made to encase and protect the prayer book. Once […]

That moment when, after you’ve been trying and trying to decipher a series of lines that all look the same, suddenly everything falls into place and a WORD magically appears in front of you! Ahhh, Transcription, how I’ve missed you! It’s a rare feeling to look at a page of text completely baffled by its […]

Over the past few weeks, several exciting developments have allowed us to take significant steps forward in our research. Having received the manuscript from the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), we are now able to access the book both physically and digitally. With the help of reference books such as Michelle Brown’s “Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts,” […]

In the past few weeks, as we have continued our study of the Dragon Prayer Book, we have begun learning about transcription. Although the prayer book is still at the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), we have several photographs of the first page, which Lexi, Anna, and I have each tried to transcribe. Since much […]

As we dive deeper into the vast world of manuscript studies, it is becoming clear that this project has even more facets than we could have initially imagined. Last Friday, our team was able to take a close look at a few manuscripts at Harvard University’s Houghton Library as well as learn about Northeastern’s Digital […]

Wow–so, last Friday, we (myself, Laura, Anna, and Professor Boeckeler) all took a little trip to Harvard to visit Houghton Library and to get an opportunity to take a look at some medieval manuscripts in order to prepare us for what we’ll be looking for in our own medieval manuscript! Additionally, we got the opportunity to […]