Digital Facsimiles and the Modern Viewer: Medieval Manuscripts and Archival Practice in the Age of New Media

Jasmine Elizabeth Burns
2014 Art Documentation  
Through an engagement with theory from the fields of art history, anthropology, and sociology, this article examines the archival existence of medieval manuscripts and facilitates an understanding of archival practice and its effects on user experience from the perspective of the researcher, rather than from that of the archivist or information professional. In an exploration of notions of materiality and virtuality, the author addresses the material and institutional existence of medieval
more » ... cripts and traces the evolution of the facsimile as a solution to problems of access. Within this framework, the various altered engagements with manuscripts in physical and digital form are assessed in order to establish the costs and benefits of virtuality.
doi:10.1086/678515 fatcat:kyjc2dciubgehi335zy2dmw5iu