Introduction by Ronald Patkus
The current exhibition Books in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is drawn from holdings in the Library, including the Nicholas B. Scheetz Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts. It highlights a small sampling of Vassar’s treasures and is complemented by paintings in the Art Center which feature books. When selecting items to display, an important goal was to bring out the diversity of Vassar’s collection. The materials in the exhibition span a wide period of time, were produced in various places, in several languages, on different topics, and for a variety of purposes.
Curatorial work took place as a group project in the course Detectives in the Archive: Reading Medieval and Renaissance Texts, held in the fall of 2023. For decades this course has provided opportunities for students to work directly with original sources. Here students chose items to study, researched them, discussed them with classmates, and wrote the captions which appear in the cases. The names of the students involved are listed in this brochure and on the caption cards.
This has been a collaborative effort from the start. I’d like to thank especially my colleagues in the Art Center for their willingness to host and celebrate this exhibition.
Ronald Patkus
Head of Special Collections and College Historian
Adjunct Associate Professor of History on the Frederick Weyerhaeuser Chair
1 For a full listing and description of materials, see Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at Vassar College, including the Nicholas B. Scheetz Collection and the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, compiled by Peter Kidd (Poughkeepsie, 2024).