Collection Development Policy: Medieval Studies
- Subject Librarian(s):
William Monroe
- Departmental Library Representative (DLR):
Joseph Pucci
- Description of the Academic Program
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Medieval Studies is an undergraduate program offering two concentrations: medieval cultures (8th-15th centuries), and late antique cultures (3rd-9th centuries). The program encourages an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Middle Ages, with courses offered within various departments of the University. Faculty participating in the program include those from History of Art, Comparative Literature, English, Classics, History, and Hispanic Studies, among others. - Overview of the Collection
The Medieval Studies collections support the Program in Medieval Studies, as well as graduate study and research based in several departments and programs throughout the University. The collections include primary and secondary literature on the history and culture of the Medieval period, roughly 500-1500. The materials collected include current publications in the fields of history, literature, philosophy, art, and music. Publications in major European languages are acquired for the collection, with particular emphasis on English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Latin. Materials in all formats are collected, though the majority of the collection is in printed form.
Brown’s collections in medieval studies are among the library’s stronger collections. Brown has a long history of teaching the Middle Ages in several departments, and has had very active faculty members who took an interest in building the collections. We are especially strong in medieval Slavic history and literature, and Italian history and literature. In addition to collecting editions of primary texts from the Middle Ages, we try to collect all important secondary literature. We also hold a small collection of medieval manuscripts, consisting of about 30 codices, as well as numerous individual leaves. Our strong collections of early printed books are also relevant to the medieval period, with many first editions of medieval texts. For a comparison of Brown’s collections with the collective holdings of the Boston Library Consortium, click here.
- See Library support for External Cluster Review for Humanities
- General Collecting Guidelines
We make an effort to collect all important scholarship on the Middle Ages published in English and, to a lesser extent, in other western European languages (especially French, German, Italian, and Spanish). In those areas for which we collect at the research level (see the table below), we try to have the major sources in the original languages, as well as secondary scholarship in relevant modern languages. This is a field in which texts are the major object of scholarship, and it is important to have critical editions, as well as translations, commentaries, concordances and other tools to aid the scholar. More and more of these texts and tools are becoming available in electronic form, and we make every effort to obtain access to them - Detailed Subject Breakdown
- Specific Collecting Guidelines
- Language: Western European languages, and languages of sources (Latin, Greek, Old and Middle English, Old French, Spanish, Italian, German, Old Church Slavonic, Classical Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew), other languages as appropriate
- Chronological Span: Approximately 500-1500 C.E.
- Geographical Range: Mostly Europe, with some attention paid to North Africa and the Middle East.
- Types of Material Included: Scholarly monographs and journals, editions and facsimiles of primary sources, medieval manuscripts and early printed books, some electronic resources (especially digital versions of primary texts), and some films (mostly on DVD). The Music Library also collects scores and recordings of medieval music. Excluded: Textbooks, ephemera
- Language: Western European languages, and languages of sources (Latin, Greek, Old and Middle English, Old French, Spanish, Italian, German, Old Church Slavonic, Classical Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew), other languages as appropriate
- Areas of Distinction
Special strengths are in Old Church Slavonic and medieval Italian history and literature, although we are not currently maintaining the strength in Eastern Europe. We are also quite strong in Old and Middle English literature and in medieval French history and literature. While our collections on the history and literature of medieval Germany are currently very good, we do not collect very strongly in this area. We are building our collections in Byzantine and Islamic history and culture.
The history of art & architecture is well represented for the medieval period, while medieval music is relatively weak. - Special Collections
About 30 medieval manuscript codices and numerous individual manuscript leaves. Early printed books. Facsimiles of medieval manuscript books. Annmary Brown Collection, Koopman Collection, History of Science collections. Chambers Dante Collection. - Related Collections
Resources relevant to the Middle Ages are found throughout the library collections. In addition, Brown is a member of the Boston Library Consortium and NERL (Northeast Research Libraries). Among the members of these groups are most of the Ivy League schools, as well as Boston College and Brandeis University, all of which have very strong collections on one or more aspects of the Middle Ages.
The Library’s Special Collections hold many rare books and manuscripts of possible interest for the study of the Middle Ages, including manuscripts and early printed books, as well as some of the specialized named subject collections (see: http://dl.lib.brown.edu/collatoz/ ). The John Carter Brown Library (also on campus) has some relevant material.