ENG 415 students create handmade manuscripts in project-based learning experience

Students in Mark Rankin’s ENG 415: Advanced Studies in Textuality and the History of the Book course recently completed manuscript projects, which involved the creation of a small, eight-page manuscript using techniques associated with medieval scribal culture.

Students were required to line their own manuscripts as well as copy medieval scribal hand. In addition, students wrote a short paper about their experience. 

Abigail Thompson, a junior WRTC major and Book Arts minor, described her experiences with the assignment. 

“We had to make everything from scratch, [and] we had to copy from medieval texts directly. We had to do the entire process exactly how the scribes would, from start to finish,” Thompson said. “We had to sew everything together, [...] and use primary sources for decoration.”

When asked what she learned through the project, Thompson replied that “When we were learning about the assignment in class, and reading about it in our textbook, [...] our professors and the author of the textbook told us it was time consuming.”

“I understood that, but it wasn’t until I did a tiny version of what they did that I realized exactly how time consuming it is and how much artistry goes into making a book like that. I think that was the biggest thing I learned, how difficult it is.”

Thompson also mentioned the time consuming aspect of creating a longer manuscript. “We only did 8 pages, and a lot of manuscripts are hundreds of pages long, so I can’t even imagine how long that would’ve taken someone to do,” Thompson said.

“It was a lot of fun,” Thompson said, reflecting. “Doing real hands-on stuff is not something you usually get to do, [...] I thought it was really exciting, really interesting, [and] a really unique project. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

Sophie Pickard, a senior English major, described her experience with the project as well. “For me, it was pretty fun — I like to do projects. [...] The challenges were just how time consuming it was, and how much physical labor it was. To draw the little pictures and write the script, it’s really exhausting for your hand. That’s not something I’m used to with how much we type in our day to day lives,” Pickard said.

“I’m used to writing papers for English classes,” Pickard said. “This is very different, in that it involves a lot of creativity. It still involves a lot of hard work and revision, in the way that a paper would, but the product is very different.

Pickard said that she noticed a stronger connection that she felt to this project than a typical paper, saying “it has your signature touch on it.”