Similar to our class period of painting, I would say that Monday’s class session where we looked at the Special Collections has also been another favorite. By viewing some of the treasures maintained in Special Collections, I was struck with appreciation for how much effort goes into the construction of an ancient manuscript. I found it particularly interesting to see the book whose cover had bent over time from age, as well as the various Atlases showing the perception of the time of the world. Since most of the works that we saw were Western, it would be interesting to compare the types of Atlases we saw to ones from the East. Did they have the same perceptions of the world?
Viewing the treasures in Special Collections also brought great pride and appreciation for being a Hamilton student and having access to articles of such worth. For example, Prof. Serrano mentioned that these types of works are usually only available to graduate students, who have to wear gloves to get a close look at the materials. There is something surreal about being able to touch the covers and the pages, feeling the differences in the wooden covers and papyrus/animal skin/parchment paper pages. I felt lucky to be doing something so worthwhile on a Monday morning at 8:30 am…
