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Literature

16th Century, 17th Century, Classroom Materials, College Prep, Lesson Plans

Food, Health, and the Humors in Early Modern Europe

Two-page spread of an early printed book.

Sarah Peters Kernan, PhD
June 17, 2024

16th Century, 17th Century, Classroom Materials, Collection Essays

Spanish Golden Age Nobility Documents

Two-page spread of an open book. On the right is a full-page illumination depicting a plumed helmet above a crest on a shield. The shield is split into four parts. Clockwise from the upper left: an armed knight on top of a tower, leaves surrounding a green rectangle crossed by a diagonal orange line, five black pots within a square surrounded by black Xs on a gold background, and a pattern of gray, black, and orange and gold checkered horizontal lines. The image is bracketed on both vertical side by a floral border. The image on the left also has vertical floral borders. These bracket two illuminations stacked vertically. The upper illumination shows Jesus (white) floating in a halo above a gold tomb. Three white men wearing armor cower away from him. The lower illumination shows a white man on a rearing white horse with sword raised. A figure wearing orange lays under the horse's feet.

Elizabeth A. Neary
April 13, 2023

16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, Classroom Materials, Collection Essays

Movable Mayhem: Pop-Up Books through the Ages

Sheets of paper layered one behind the other to create a 3D scene of buildings as if they rise up a hill. At the bottom is a body of water with fountains and a decorative balustrade running along its edge. Above this is a large neo-Romanesque house. Above this is an even larger rectangular building with grand entrances on each side, domes on the corners, and many flags. Above this is a cathedral-like building with tall windows filled with light and many domed towers. A US flag flies from its central, largest dome. The buildings are surrounded by lush plants.

Dr. Suzanne Karr Schmidt, Newberry Library
March 3, 2023

15th Century, Classroom Materials, College Prep, Skills Lessons

Skills Lesson: Anatomy of a Manuscript Page

Page of an illuminated medieval manuscript. A border of leaves and flowers surrounds Latin text handwritten in black. There are two small images within the text. In the upper left the Virgin Mary holds Jesus inside of an illuminated "O." In the lower left, a person with a halo and a blue cloak holds a goblet.

Joe Stadolnik, PhD
December 12, 2022

15th Century, Classroom Materials, College Prep, Skills Lessons

Skills Lesson: Reading Middle English in Manuscript

Detail of lines of Middle English text on vellum

Joe Stadolnik, PhD
December 12, 2022

15th Century, Classroom Materials, College Prep, Lesson Plans

Contexts for the Book of Margery Kempe

Colored drawing of a nun (St. Bridget) writing at a writing desk. An angel whispers in her ear while a monk prays next to her. Above her head is a dove descending from a burst of light representing the Holy Spirit. On either side of the dove are depictions of Jesus Christ. On the left, God the father (an older man with a beard) holds him after he was taken down from the cross. On the right, the Virgin Mary holds him as a baby. All the figures are white.

Joe Stadolnik, PhD
December 5, 2022

16th Century, Collection Essays

The World According to Comenius: Seen and Unseen in the Orbis Sensualium Pictus

Single page an early printed book. Text is in English and Latin in black in an 17th-century font (some "s"s written as "f"s). On the left-hand page is a circular woodblock print image showing the land with people (numbered 9), animals (8), fields (7), hills (5), and trees (8); the sea with fish (4) in it, the sky with birds (3) and a band of clouds (2); above the clouds is darker sky with stars (1). Abov the image is the title "Mundus" and below it the title "The World."

Evan Dutmer, Ph.D., Culver Academies
April 20, 2022

Classroom Materials, Grades 4 and Up, Grades 6 and Up, Grades 8 and Up, Skills Lessons

Skills Lesson: Reading a Transcription

Hilary Mac Austin and Kathleen Thompson
March 7, 2022

19th Century, Activities, Grades 6 and Up, Grades 8 and Up, Lesson Plans

Civil War Letters

Hilary Mac Austin and Kathleen Thompson
February 28, 2022

14th Century, 15th Century, 16th Century, 17th Century, Classroom Materials, Collection Essays

Learning from Premodern Plagues

Stephanie Reitzig
October 13, 2021

14th Century, 15th Century, 16th Century, 17th Century

Renaissance Humanism

Dr. Alexandra Thomas
October 4, 2021

19th Century, Classroom Materials, Grades 4 and Up, Grades 6 and Up, Grades 8 and Up, Lesson Plans

From the Letters of Amy Eleanor Wingreen (1870-1919)

Hilary Mac Austin and Kathleen Thompson
June 30, 2021