UGA’s Hargrett Library invites families to travel back in time and explore life in the 15th century, as they learn about the current exhibit “The Hargrett Hours: Exploring Medieval Manuscripts.” Children can make crafts with free craft kits and participate in medieval story time and a virtual exhibit tour through a family day website.
Inspiration for this exhibit began in 2015 when Cynthia Turner Camp, associate professor of English, became an inaugural member of the UGA Special Collections Libraries Faculty Fellows Program. In partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning, this program provides an opportunity for teaching faculty to explore archives-based instruction, and it led Camp to launch a multi-year, multi-course exercise centered around the medieval manuscripts held by the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
These courses, dubbed The Hargrett Hours Project, explored a 15th century Book of Hours, a handmade devotional book, popular in the Middle Ages before the advent of printing presses. Assisted by archivists, students met regularly for hands-on instruction with original materials at the Special Collections Building, and each new class documented their findings in regular blog and social media posts.
The exhibit, curated by student Georgia Early, showcases original items from the collections, dating back centuries, as well as the findings from the students’ in-depth study.
Free family day craft kits will be available for pickup from May 3-7 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the lobby of the Special Collections Building at 300 S. Hull Street, while supplies last. For more information, visit the libraries website, libs.uga.edu/events.