Resources

Electronic resources that aim to facilitate one or another aspect of medieval studies are proliferating at a remarkable rate. Some of them are revolutionizing the field, or opening completely new and innovative areas for research and teaching (e.g. the online availability of digitized images from manuscripts); others may be less helpful or less user-friendly than the fanfare attending them would lead one to believe. Although it is impossible to keep abreast of all developments in this area of rapid change, the Program in Medieval Studies seeks to disseminate information about electronic resources that may be of use to students and faculty who are pursuing research into medieval topics at the University of California, Berkeley.

Regional Resources

The Program in Medieval Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, is enriched by a number of local resources that promote research into aspects of medieval culture. In addition, medievalists who are based in the Berkeley area have fairly ready access to two major medieval/Renaissance centers that are located less than an hour away by plane, as well as two world-renowned libraries and research centers with outstanding collections of medieval manuscripts. The most important of these resources are listed below.

Bancroft Library

The primary special collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. Among its components are the Rare Book and Literary Manuscript Collections, which include about four hundred incunabula and significant examples of medieval manuscripts and documents.

Graduate Theological Union

A group of nine member schools representing a variety of Christian denominations, both Catholic and Protestant. The nine schools are situated in close proximity to one another on a hill adjacent to the north side of the UC Berkeley campus. The schools' joint library, the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, is one of the major theological libraries in the country. There is some overlap between courses and instructors at the GTU and at the University of California, Berkeley.

Robbins Religious and Civil Law Collection

An outstanding collection of research materials with a bearing on civil law and religious law, including the various Christian traditions as well as Jewish and Islamic law. It is located in Boalt Hall, the law school of the University of California at Berkeley. Its total holdings, numbering more than 250,000 titles, include 225 manuscripts (the majority of which are medieval) and 183 incunabula. In addition, the Robbins Collection holds extensive microfilms, including microfilms of all the medieval canon and Roman law manuscripts in the Vatican Library.

Music Library

Comprised of 160,000 volumes of printed music, books, and periodicals, 46,000 sound recordings, and numerous other materials (including manuscripts and microfilms). A substantial number of these holdings, including some rare materials, relate to the music of the Middle Ages.

Research Center for Romance Studies

Operates within the division of International and Area Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Its purpose is to disseminate research relating to the literary and linguistic history of the Romance languages. The Center publishes the journal Romance Philology and a monograph series in honor of Yakov Malkiel.

Digital Scriptorium

A "visual catalogue" of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. The initial goal of its founders (who include the Director of the Bancroft Library, Professor Charles Faulhaber) has been to digitize and mount on the World-Wide Web thousands of images drawn from the medieval and Renaissance manuscript holdings of the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University. The Digital Scriptorium is continually being augmented by images drawn from other libraries, including the Robbins Collection at Berkeley and the Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Art History/Classics Seminar Rooms

Located in the main UC Berkeley research library. The holdings of this collection serve as a core research collection supporting UC Berkeley's graduate programs in History of Art, Classics, and Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology. Housed in the seminar rooms are comprehensive, up-to-date runs of many of the journals critical to advanced research in the disciplines of Art History and Classics.

UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies

A major research center promoting research and communications among scholars with a specialty in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It hosts many events each year, from seminars and lectures to major conferences.

Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies

A state-wide research unit located on the campus of Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. The Center hosts a number of events each year that are of interest to medievalists. These include an annual conference held in February.

Huntington Library

Located in San Marino, California, it boasts one of the most outstanding collections of medieval manuscripts, many of them illuminated, to be found anywhere in the world. It sponsors fellowships for both short-term and long-term use of its collections.

Getty Museum

Located in Los Angeles, California, it is renowned for its fine collection of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance art. It boasts an outstanding collection of medieval manuscripts, including a large set of illuminated manuscripts from Germany. It too offers research fellowships to qualified scholars.