English professor catalogues ancient holdings

By Kathy Henry Dowell

This summer, English professor Scott Gwara is traveling the entire state in pursuit of one thing: information about all the medieval manuscripts in South Carolina public archives.

For "Pages from the Past: A Legacy of Medieval Books in South Carolina Collections," Gwara will collect, analyze, exhibit, and digitally publish the medieval manuscripts and fragments in state collections. He is the main investigator, although he is working with scholars and institutions across the state.

"I'm creating an encyclopedic census of all medieval texts statewide, including individual manuscript leaves and illuminations, everything from private prayer books and bible fragments to scraps in the bindings of early printed books," he said. "There are about 120 items in total, though the University owns the bulk of them. But until research like this is done, we can't really know what we've got."

Gwara has already identified some unknown treasures, including a cutting from a massive choir book illustrated by the Florentine "Master of the Dominican Effigies," ca. 1340; a portrait of St Matthew by the Italian bishop Pietro Ursuelo, ca. 1460; and a fifteenth-century page from a lovely French prayer book once owned by the Marquis of Courtanvaux.

"This is the kind of research only an expert can carry through, and it has lasting value," said Patrick Scott, director of special collections at Thomas Cooper Library. "Dr. Gwara is interpreting these materials for scholars worldwide."

Funded by The Humanities Council of South Carolina, the project includes centuries-old materials currently at Bob Jones University, Charleston Library Society, Columbia College, and Furman University, among others.

Gwara will select about 60 medieval manuscripts and leaves for a campus exhibit that opens January 17, 2008. The opening celebration will also feature a medieval vocal ensemble performing an original fourteenth-century Latin mass by Guillaume de Machaut. The exhibit and concert will be free and open to the public.

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