Manuscripts have historical value
I was disheartened to read a feature in your Arts & Entertainment section entitled “Ancient works draw crowd, collectors at local college” (March 30, 1998). I did not attend the “exhibit/sale,” but can only assume from the descriptions in your article that the manuscripts in question deserve to be in museums or archives, rather than on the selling block.The reason ancient and medieval manuscripts draw such a high price from collectors is their rarity. But, it is that very rarity that makes these works so important to scholars studying our past. Scholars of the ancient and medieval world already work from a very small font of resources, and to limit that font even further by making some resources unavailable is a travesty. For example, one piece in the article was reported to be “the first English translation of the New Testament … It was written in Middle English and could be bought for $475,000.” If it really is what the owner claims it is, this sounds like an important work to me, a work too important to sit on the coffee table of some rich collector so that he might occasionally impress his rich friends. Properly archived, such a work would be available to scholars of religious studies, history, English and art history. It could also be seen by a wider audience through regular public exhibitions.I do not doubt that some private collectors have a sincere appreciation for the historical value of these manuscripts, but by privatizing our historical legacy they only contribute to the gaps in our historical understanding. The tag line to the photo which accompanied the article stated that the illuminated roundel and historiated initials shown were “even cooler in color.” No doubt. But medieval illumination is more than just pretty pictures, and ancient manuscripts are more than just rarities to which Mr. Ferrini and his ilk may attach price tags. Has it been so long since an OSU art history professor was jailed, basically for succumbing to the greed inherent in the commercialization of such precious historical treasures? Shame on the Josephinum for promoting such commercialism. And shame on the Lantern for so uncritically reporting on it.
Phil AdamoGraduate StudentHistory
