April 27 to May 2 is Preservation Week at UBC Library. This year’s event will focus on UBC Library’s recent acquisition of a Papal Bull, an extraordinary document written in 1245. The bull features the signatures of the Pope and 13 cardinals, including future Pope Nicholas III, and is among the oldest of its kind in Canada. Currently, the bull is housed in Rare Books and Special Collections and has also been digitized. Preservation Week will offer the university community a rare glimpse at the restoration, cataloguing and digitization of the bull.
A Papal Bull at UBC Library
Speaker: Dr. Richard Pollard, UBC History Professor
Mon, Apr. 27 | 11 am – 12 pm | Parliamentary Classroom (Level 1, Rm 155)
With every document created having an intention, the historical circumstances surrounding the Papal Bull sheds light on the importance of such an artifact as a valuable teaching and research tool at UBC.
Restoration of a Papal Bull
Speaker: Anne Lama, UBC Library Conservator
Mon, Apr. 27 | 12 pm – 12:30 pm | Parliamentary Classroom (Level 1, Rm 155)
In order to understand how to properly preserve this medieval text for future generations, the goals of the Papal Bull restoration will be presented by the Library conservator.
Cataloguing a Papal Bull
Speaker: Susan Andrews, UBC Library Cataloguer
Wed, Apr. 29 | 11 am – 11:30 am | Lillooet Room (Level 3, Rm 301)
The conservation work on the Papal Bull has been completed, but how do we go about describing this document in the Library’s online catalogue, so that researchers may find it? Sue Andrews will give a cataloguer’s perspective on approaching a manuscript that is hundreds of years old.
Digitizing a Papal Bull
Speaker: Robert Stibravy, UBC Digital Projects Librarian
Fri, May 1 | 11 am – 12 pm | Parliamentary Classroom (155)
A look at how a Papal Bull issued by Pope Innocent IV in 1245, and acquired by UBC Library’s Rare Books & Special Collections division in 2014, was digitized and made available online by UBC Library’s Digitization Centre.
Papal Parchments and Blackletter Books, 1245 AD to UBC: How the Middle Ages Shaped the Way we Read
May 1 – 31 | Mon-Fri 10 am – 4 pm | Rare Books and Special Collections (Level 1, Rm 110)
The Middle Ages were not a time of illiteracy or ignorance, but a time when the written word was used extensively. The very shapes of the letters we know today, in fact, were created in the Middle Ages. Using some recent acquisitions by UBC’s Rare Books (including the 13th-century Papal Bull), this exhibition will follow the development of Western writing, offering visitors a new appreciation of the words they read and write every day.
Image Source: http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/cdm/compoundobject/collection/manuscripts/id/2102/rec/2
