Prompt # 3. Special Collections

Prompt: In 450-500 words discuss an aspect of your Special Collections experience.
Response:
Visiting the Special Collections in the Harold B. Library was amazing. Russ Taylor made it very interesting. I had no idea that BYU had that many fascinating artifacts. He (Russ) started by explaining how someone took the time to write the words of Jesus.
We talked about scribes and what they wrote on and that evolved. First record of writing besides in caves they have was cuneiform on tablets. These date back to 2055 B.C. and are mainly records of business keepers with inventories. Then, there are metal plates that were often written on bronze. These served as discharge documents for Roman soldiers and to prove Roman Citizenship. We then talked about papyrus and how they can last thousands of years if they are kept out dry and out of the sun. We got to touch pieces of papyrus, which was awesome.
Then we talked about how people would write on animal skins. We got to touch a replica of a turtle shell they would have written on. We looked at books where they took the outside of the skins on one page and then on the other side would be a lighter page from the inside of the skin of the animal. If the page of animal skin had nicks, they would write around the oval and wrap the words around the hole. And if they ever wanted to erase (which they did with many of Archimedes works), they would use a knife or pumice. The best skins were made from young unborn fetus’ of animals. The parchment was the most expensive part of making the book. Russ showed us a bible from 1468 that took 11 years to produce.
Then we talked about Gutenberg and his invention of the printing press. We talked about the origin of paper; it came from China to Europe through Muslims, mainly Spain at first. We then looked at 700 year old book whose front and back covers were made out of solid oak. We also passed around movable types that Gutenberg invented. Gutenberg was really good at working with metals. Because of Gutenberg, book making became faster, cheaper, and more reliable. John Wycliffe was75 years before Gutenberg which may help explain why his ideas didn’t catch on as much as Martin Luther, who came 75 years after Gutenberg (150 after Wycliffe).
Russ then showed us a version The King James bible which was huge, massive, book. He then showed us the Geneva Translation that was smaller and had a lot of footnotes. It is also known as the “breeches” (britches) version because in this version, Adam and Eve made “breeches” for themselves.
Then he showed us one of the original 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon. And lastly, he showed us forage art, where they draw incredible pictures on the side of the book.
It was an amazing experience. I had no idea BYU had such an incredible resource of history. The books were incredible to see (and sometimes touch!) and Russ Taylor made it extremely interesting.