This project considers issues of conservation with Barnard MS 1, a fourteenth-century Franciscan antiphonal currently held at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University. Although Barnard 1 is relatively well-preserved, there are nonetheless areas which have experienced degradation and decay, as would be expected of any 700-year old object. The goal of this site is to document these problem areas, as well as their likely causes and possible solutions.

You may navigate the site using the menu bar at the right. The site contains two main exhibits:

• The State of the Manuscript: Examining Problem Areas
  • The primary objective of this site is to establish a comprehensive index of areas of Barnard 1 that have experienced damage or deterioration, and subsequently may require conservator attention.
• Edits, Additions, and Historical "Conservation"
  • This exhibit provides an account of previous attempts at "conservation," or areas where additions/corrections were otherwise made to the manuscript.

*This site was compiled by Grant Woods for Professor Susan Boynton's seminar "Liturgical Manuscripts and the Digital Humanities" in December 2021. It was created with the assistance and consultation of Susan Boynton, Michelle Wilson, Emily Runde, and Alexis Hagadorn. All images courtesy of Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

The site was created using Omeka with the Exhibit Builder and UniversalViewer plugins, with the Big Picture theme.