Menaion Service Book Project

Dates of Project

2014-2016

Project Abstract

This project has two primary aims, 1) to study rare printed books held by the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Missouri-Columbia libraries using techniques of multispectral analysis and 2) to develop an affordable mechanical apparatus and techniques for using this apparatus that other libraries can use to advance the study of their own collections. Multispectral analysis allows for the examination of the inks in rare books, the compositional layering, and the "dirty" fingerprints that illustrate usage, researchers and students can decipher their production and reception history, that is, they will be able to write the story of a single book from its inception to the present.

Results

The Ellis Library Pre-Nikonian Menaion: A Book History. Alla Barabtarlo Julie Christenson. Codices Occasional Papers. University of Missouri-Kansas City. Paper Number 3. April 2016. Available at
https://daedalus.umkc.edu/codices/papers/BookHistoryMenaion3b.pdf

Digital Book

Page images online in the University of Missouri digital library.

Funding Agency

Funded by a University of Missouri Interdisciplinary Intercampus grant, the team provided a book history and imaged this manuscript.

Project Team

Alla Barabtarlo
Head, Special Collections & Rare Books
Ellis Library
University of Missouri-Columbia

Virginia Blanton
Department of English
College of Arts & Sciences
University of Missouri-Kansas City

Reza Derakhshani
Department of Computer Science Electrical Engineering
School of Computing and Engineering
University of Missouri-Kansas City

Nathan Oyler
Department of Chemistry
College of Arts & Sciences
University of Missouri-Kansas City

Jeff Rydberg-Cox
Classics Program
Department of English
College of Arts & Sciences
School of Computing and Engineering
University of Missouri-Kansas City

Anne Rudloff Stanton
Department of Archaeology and Art History
University of Missouri-Columbia

Research Assistants

Julie Christenson
Special Collections & Rare Books
Ellis Library
University of Missouri-Columbia

Ekaterina Schevchenko
Department of Archaeology and Art History
University of Missouri-Columbia