Medieval Manuscript Fragments: Cataloging, Discoverability, & Afterlives

This summer, I had the privilege of attending Rare Book School’s course on Medieval Manuscript Fragments: Cataloging & Discoverability, taught by Professor Lisa Fagin Davis. The program offered an intensive introduction to the study of manuscript fragments, engaging with the disciplines of fragmentology, paleography, and codicology. Over the course of the week, we explored not only the technical processes involved in the description and cataloging of fragments but also the broader cultural and historical questions raised by their survival, dispersal, and reuse.

One of the highlights was a field trip to UVA’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, where we studied the Rosenthal Fragment Collection firsthand. We also took part in the MS 578 Challenge, an exhilarating hour of dating, localizing, and reconstructing a manuscript leaf. Perhaps most memorable of all was the chance to handle a leaf from the Gutenberg Bible, which sparked a lively discussion about the ethics of breaking and collecting fragments.

As part of the course, I also delivered a 10-minute presentation on a manuscript of the Meghadūta, Kālidāsa’s celebrated Sanskrit poem. This presentation explored the manuscript’s material and textual features, situating it within the broader tradition of South Asian literary transmission. Particular attention was given to the challenges of fragmentary survival in the Indian manuscript context, where issues of preservation, reuse, and cataloging mirror - yet also differ significantly from - those encountered in the European tradition. The Meghadūta manuscript offered a compelling lens through which to consider questions of textual integrity, cultural circulation, and the afterlives of literary works across languages, regions, and centuries.

I remain deeply grateful to Rare Book School, to Professor Davis, and to the remarkable group of colleagues who shared in this experience. The week was characterized by hands-on engagement, critical debate, and collective enthusiasm for the layered histories embedded in parchment and ink. This course underscored not only the scholarly value of fragments but also the responsibility of researchers to consider their afterlives as cultural and material witnesses. So excited for the future!

Our class photograph with 'The Noble Fragment!'

Photograph from my presentation about the Meghadūta manuscript!