Archives and Special Collections Reaction

 I learned so much that really fascinated me during our trip to archives and special collections. I knew that I was going to see very old texts, but for some reason it never had occurred to me that they wouldn’t all be books. Some of them, of course, were the codexes which were just essentially ancient books, but there were so many more interesting forms. There were a lot of really interesting scrolls, and perhaps the more interesting accordion folds that came about from those scrolls. There were also so many different materials that all varied based on where the texts originated. Some of my favorites were the parchment because it was made out of animal hide and was one of the most durable and long-lasting materials, and the palm leaf sheets that had a harder texture and needed to be inscribed into. I also thought that the artistic approaches to the form of the text were super interesting. For example, the one text that had the different sheets all strung together with shaped holes cut into it really caught my attention. Specifically, when the director told us that the reason for the cut outs has to do with the way light passes through the differently shaped holes. Finally, something that I am interested in learning more about are Heritage Edition books. I think it is so interesting that a recreation of an ancient text can be blown up to being multiple feet tall and wide and that the contents of the book expand on the original with artistic additions that must make reading them a very more engaging experience.