Medieval Slide Collection

Medieval and Renaissance Studies

419 Heavilon Hall, Purdue University

About the collection:

Founded by Professor Thomas H. Ohlgren in the early 1970s, the collection of 1099 slide sets was assembled to support the teaching and research of faculty in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Using early computer technology, Ohlgren produced in 1977-78 a two-volume catalog with indices to 750 rolls of color transparency film acquired from the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England. As funds from both the Department of English and the Dean's Office became available, Ohlgren purchased additional images from the Bodleian, the Pierpont Morgan Library, and other sources, bringing the collection up to 1099 sets. Originally housed in Purdue's Audio-Visual Department, the slide sets were available to be checked-out on campus and rented by outside users. However, in the late 1980s, the collection was transferred to the Department of English where it is now housed. As a result, the slide sets no longer circulate and must be used on campus.

How to use the collection (on campus):

To access the collection you need to make an appointment with Thomas Ohlgren (494-3766, tohlgren@purdue.edu) or Alex Kaufman (494-3766, kaufmaal@purdue.edu). A Kodak Carousel projector is available for viewing the slides in the collection, but not for classroom use. To reserve a projector, contact Audiovisual Equipment Scheduling (494-2771) and they will deliver one to your classroom.

Each of the 1099 slide sets is represented by an SM (Slides Medieval) number, and they are arranged numerically in the gray file cabinets. To locate the specific contents of each set, you can consult either the handlist description within each set or the abstract in the two-volume catalog.

Once you have located the desired images, carefully place them, without touching the transparencies, into one of the empty carousel trays on top of the file cabinets. Place the slide folders on top of the file cabinet and fill out a borrower's form, indicating the date, the SM number of the set and the slide number. Upon returning the slides, put them back into the folders and fill in the date they were returned.

Bodleian Library Slide Sets

The majority of slide sets in the collection (SM-1-) are from the Bodleian Library, Oxford. These slides are almost exclusively of manuscripts, although some printed books are represented. The majority are medieval and European. These slide sets can be divided into two types: sets containing a selection from one manuscript and sets containing a selection from several manuscripts usually depicted a particular subject. In the handlist, the first type of set are identified with a MS. number while the second group are labelled Miscellany and assigned a subject.

All Bodleian slide sets also have a roll number as well (preceded by R). These numbers, assigned by the Bodleian, designate the film roll or strip from which the slides were created.

A complete list is available at: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/medieval/slides/cumulative.htm

Slides sets 1-750 are thoroughly cataloged and indexed in the Illuminated Manuscripts: An Index to Selected Bodleian Library Color Reproductions (New York: Garland Publishing, 1977) and Illuminated Manuscripts: A Supplemental Index (New York: Garland Publishing, 1978), both compiled and edited by Thomas Ohlgren.

Additional information on the manuscripts can be found at the following Bodleian web sites:

Western Manuscripts at the Bodleian home page:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/wmss.htm#BodColls

Western Manuscripts to c.1500:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/medieval/medieval.htm

An incomplete online catalog of medieval manuscripts is available at:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/medieval/

The easiest way to locate manuscripts in the catalog is by Ms. shelfmark.

Images of selected Bodleian slides can be found on the Bodleian web site at: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/medieval/browse.htm

Pierpont Morgan Slide Sets

Another large portion of the collection are images from the Pierpont Morgan Library. These sets all consists of images from a single manuscript. Almost all of the manuscripts represented can be found in the Pierpont Morgan Library catalog Corsait at:

http://corsair.morganlibrary.org/webvoy.htm

The simplest way to search the catalog is by manuscript number with the following search:

osin "ms.m.401"

The Handlist:

The following master-list was prepared by Elizabeth Hinrichs, M.A. in Art History (University of Chicago). This project was supported by a Teaching Development Incentive Grant from the Dean's Office of the College of Liberal Arts.

View the complete hand list (.html)

Download the complete handlist (Excel spreadsheet)

Download the brief handlist (.doc file, includes accession number, library, title, provenance and date)

Site created by Elizabeth Hinrichs
Last updated: 1/30/05