Open AccessAdventures in Libraries
Author(s) -
Ralph Hanna
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
textual cultures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1933-7418
pISSN - 1559-2936
DOI - 10.14434/tc.v14i2.33648
Subject(s) - adventure , the renaissance , context (archaeology) , humility , value (mathematics) , generative grammar , sociology , visual arts , art , history , art history , computer science , philosophy , law , linguistics , archaeology , political science , machine learning
This essay recounts lessons learned over a career studying medieval manuscripts and the stories of those who made, used, and collected them. Medieval books long outlast their intended or original audiences and have fascinating cultural interactions that extend to the present. What this most pressingly throws up for me is ways of knowing things, and the epistemological value of memory. One needs to store away the little anomalies that one encounters — and be prepared for them to surface without bidding in some new context where they might prove generative. If humility might be a first perquisite of scholarly work, certainly memory would be a second. The essay originated as a lecture, delivered remotely in March 2021 for the Renaissance Studies Center at the Newberry Library in Chicago, IL.