And Now for Something Completely Different

            Our trip to the MASC on Tuesday, October 15 was incredibly informative. Personally, I (Shandra) had been aware of the existence of the MASC for some time, but I had never really understood exactly what it was or what purpose it served. I kind of just thought it had some cool old stuff. I was also under the impression that the MASC served more of a museum function, and that the items stored in there were more to look at than they were to actually use. So imagine my surprise when I realized that we could actually touch and use the texts in there! I’m mostly disappointed that I didn’t find out about this great resource earlier, since this is my last year here and I now have less opportunity to use it. I would have liked to go down into the vault and see what else was down there, but I’m hoping that I will perhaps have that opportunity at another point in the future.

            The main advantage of finally being formally introduced to this collection is that now I feel that I have a definite edge in any research project that I undertake from now until graduation in May. I have to say, being able to use actual primary resources in a research paper or other project will not only make me look totally awesome (which it obviously will), but it will also be more educational to me than simply doing the research online or using a newer edition of a book. As we learned from the particular copy of Jane Eyre that was out for our viewing, as well as the copy of The Inheritance (which is what I believe it was called), we can learn a lot about not only the texts themselves, but about the time and society in which they were printed and bound. For example, the binding and other characteristics of the copy of Jane Eyre that was out in the MASC indicated that the owner of those particular volumes had enjoyed considerable wealth, and was able to have their books bound in such a way that they not only indicated the owner’s wealth, but also matched the other books in their library. However, The Inheritance, which was simply a trade paperback, told us, as observers, a lot more about the time period and society, since that was the kind of copy that most likely would have been sold in book shops and other retail outlets of the time. Overall, I found this little excursion to be quite educational and I look forward to being able to use the MASC in future research projects.