This spring, Harvard students and visiting researchers had the opportunity to participate in a first-of-its-kind workshop held at the University on how to handle and study Arabic manuscripts. The workshop, hosted by the Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University, was taught by world-renowned experts in the field from Paris, François Déroche, Professor of the History of the Qur’anic Text and Transmission at the Collège de France, and Nuria de Castilla, Professor of History and Codicology of the Manuscript Book in the Islamicate World at the École Pratique des Hautes Études. In this week-long course, participants studied a range of topics related to Arabic manuscripts and had the chance to work with Harvard's manuscript collections in Houghton Library and the Harvard Art Museums.
Below is a reflection from workshop participant, Sarah Aziz.
The Arabic Manuscript Workshop was a highlight of the academic year. Spending five days learning all about manuscripts—different scripts, paper, and binding techniques—from two of the leading experts in the field of codicology, Professors Nuria de Castilla and François Déroche, was a valuable and rare opportunity. Through multiple hands-on sessions working with Houghton Library’s own manuscript collection, we were able to put into practice the knowledge we gained during their lectures, creating our own quires, discerning watermarks, and analyzing different scripts and illumination styles. It took little for us to realize that it is this time we spent folding folios, locating laid lines, catching catchwords, and detecting dates that makes all the difference.
This immersion into the world of Arabic manuscripts also provided a great opportunity to learn more about the many resources here at Harvard. Visiting the Harvard Art Museum and exploring its special collections with Dr. Ayşin Yoltar Yıldırım at the Art Study Center the introduced us to yet another dimension of manuscript studies, the conservational and curatorial.
Manuscripts aside, the workshop brought together a vibrant group of participants. Connecting with students, scholars, conservators, and connoisseurs who joined from across Harvard’s different departments and other institutions around the country and as far away as Rome was an intellectual and social delight. Taking place after a long period of limited interaction due to the recent pandemic, the workshop quenched our thirst in both these respects. Throughout these five days, we enjoyed a vivacious spirit of curiosity and collaboration; and when the workshop came to an end, it left us feeling more confident in approaching manuscripts yet eager to learn more.
- Sarah Aziz, PhD student, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
