Research Brief

I subscribe to the State Library of Victoria’s newsletter “SLV Monthly” and this month a new, free exhibition is opening called “Love and Devotion: From Persia and Beyond,” which I thought I might write about for my research project and ‘kill two birds with one stone,’ seeing as I always intended on going anyway.

Whilst reading about the exhibition online, I was drawn to the idea of writing about the Bodleian Library as well, as it is home to many of the medieval manuscripts featured in the exhibition. However, I also had already thought about including the fascinating art of medieval book making in my blog posts, therefore I am broadening my research topic so as to include all of these topics and more, to “Books in the Middle Ages.”

As such, I also intend on seeing the “ Mirror of the World” exhibition, also at the State Library, which it says on the SLV website ‘provides an overview of the history of book production, design and illustration, with a display of fine examples from the Library's collections dating from the Middle Ages to the present day.’

I believe these subjects tie in well together, for the following reasons:

• I have “considered the historical and cultural context in which the subject area is placed” as it asks us to do in our learning content.
• I will attend an exhibition which describes the ‘evolution’ of book production
• I will detail how books were made in my chosen era
• I will attend another exhibition, featuring medieval manuscripts from the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
• I will then write about the fascinating history of the Bodleian Library, with a brief history of Oxford University to place the library within a historical  context
• To finish, I will provide information about a current exhibition being held at the Bodelian Library called “The Romance of the Middle Ages” and write about why these sorts of exhibitions are so prevalent and successful in modern day society.

 WEEK 1

“Defining the Middle Ages” Painting a Backdrop

• Definition of the ‘Middle Ages’
• What was going on in the world during that era?
• Famous people of the time

WEEK 2

Exhibition at the State Library of Victoria; “Mirror of the World”

• Scans of pamphlets
• Information from/about the exhibition
• What I learned; my experience and observations.

WEEK 3

“The Art of Book Making in the Middle Ages”

• Video and Images
• Information about various materials used throughout the middle ages
• Information about the roles of scribes and illustrators

WEEK 4

Exhibition at the State Library of Victoria; “Love and Devotion: From Persia & Beyond”

• Scans of pamphlets
• Information from/about the exhibition
• What I learned; my experience and observations.

WEEK 5

The History of the Bodleian Library, Including a Brief History of the University of Oxford

WEEK 6

Exhibition at the Bodleian Library; “The Romance of the Middle Ages”

• About the exhibition (information to be gathered from the Bodleian Library’s Exhibition website).
• Write about why exhibitions on this subject are so internationally successful today.