Step 1: Meeting with the Classroom Teacher v  Meet with the teacher and discuss his/her expectations and goals. Teacher receives the pre-learning packet—

•  Handouts (i.e., color sheets, vocabulary list) •  Age-appropriate reading (such as Marguerite Makes a Book) •  CD sampler of medieval music •  DVD (produced at the Lilly Library by Comparative Literature faculty

member), The Making of a Medieval Book. The DVD (appropriate for K-8) discusses how books were made in the Middle Ages

These activities are to be completed with the teacher before the next step.

Step 2: In Class Visit v The second step involves an hour-long visit to the classroom. About a week before

the trip to the Lilly Library, meet with the students to review and reinforce what they have already learned. Students view a short Power Point presentation (15 minutes) or if technology is limited, the students can view laminated images of the slides.

•  Students work with the librarian/archivist to reinforce what they have learned with their teacher before the visit. Following this short presentation, students are allowed to view and handle such scriptorium staples as oak galls (used to make iron gall ink), vellum pieces, quill pens, and raw pigments (in protective cases) such as madder root and dried cochineal beetles. Students also view a short gold leafing demonstration and practice writing with a quill pen.

•  The importance of these pre-visit activities cannot be overestimated. They

prepare students for what may be their first visit to a museum-like setting and certainly for most, their initial visit to a rare books and manuscript venue. In addition to laying the groundwork for a common vocabulary and a shared knowledge with which to talk about the materials, the activities also help to prepare students for some behavioral expectations while they are still in their familiar classroom setting.

Step 3: Library Visit v Upon arrival at the library, the students are divided into two smaller groups. While

one group views a selection of medieval manuscripts, the other half of the class views either selections from the Lilly Library’s mechanical puzzle collection or the pop-up books collection. After approximately 30 minutes, the groups change places.

v  Goal: To introduce students to the historical and creative aspects of the medieval book as a physical object.

v  Outcomes from a two-year collaboration with K-8 teachers illustrate that cross-institutional partnerships add value to the traditional school curriculum and highlight the collections and educational resources of the participating institutions.

v  Students learn to contextualize primary sources in both original and digital formats through the use of medieval manuscripts.

v  The methods outlined can be repurposed to showcase any institution’s collection.

introduction

Conclusions and future directions

Resources

•  The Lilly Library: http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/ •  Cross-curricular ideas: Art, trade, development. The National Gallery (London) http://

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/learning/teachers-and-schools/picture-in-focus/cross-curricular-ideas/art-trade

•  The Digital Scriptorium: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/scriptorium.htm •  Leaves of gold: Treasures of manuscript illumination from Philadelphia collections. http://leavesofgold.org/learn/index.html •  The Making of a medieval book. The J. Paul Getty Museum. http://www.getty.edu/art/

gettyguide/videoDetails?segid=372&segnr=5 •  The Medieval book: an introduction to medieval manuscripts. Bloomington, Ind. : Media

Production, Instructional Support Services, 1996.

Sample Handouts

Three-Step Approach

v  To explore innovative library/archival outreach approaches in order to develop new collaborative partnerships with K-8 instructors both local and at a distance.

Students will: •  gain a general understanding of what a manuscript is, how medieval manuscript

books were created in Western Europe, and the kinds of scriptorium materials and tools used during the medieval period.

•  learn how manuscript creation differed from the production of printed books, first introduced in 1450.

Lori Dekydtspotter Cherry Williams Katherine Ahnberg Interim Head of Technical Services Curator of Manuscripts School of Library & Information Science Lilly Library, Indiana University Lilly Library, Indiana University Indiana University

Setting the Stage: Engaging Uses of Primary Sources for K - 8 Outreach

 

Objectives

v  Connecting students to rare books and manuscripts through outreach education provides the crucial background through which they become lifelong learners, alongside their families in the community. Students gain appreciation for, and understanding of, the handling of manuscript materials within the classroom environment.

v  Common Core Standards (CCS) in Social Studies come to life through collaboration with the library. Integrating primary sources into curriculum planning locates the value for students and teachers alike, inviting first time and returning visitors to the collections.

v  Experiential learning, balanced with digital materials, links interactive living history activities in the classroom to special collections. Access is increased both by the performative act of “doing” history, and the integration of library materials into K-8 curricula.