Learning objectives

Provide students of history, art history and literature with the basis for research, reading and transcription of archive documentation useful for their research; using paper and electronic catalogues; essential descriptions of a manuscripts; reading and transcribing archival documents and books between the 15th and 20th centuries.

Prerequisites and basic notions

Good knowledge of the Italian language and medieval and modern history

Program

The first part, lasting 2 lessons, includes the illustration, reading and transcription of some types of modern age documents such as last wills, registry offices and land registers (humanistic and modern cursive writings) and related research methods. The second part, lasting 2 lessons, includes the illustration, reading and transcription of modern and contemporary age documents, such as letters, registers, diaries and office documentation, including typewritten, historical maps and land registers and related research methods. The third part, lasting 3 lessons, includes the illustration of the methods of querying paper and digital catalogues to search for manuscripts; the illustration of the main codicological and textual aspects of the manuscript book for the chronological period considered, in order to formulate a useful description from a cataloguing perspective. The reflection will be concretely based on some codes preserved at the State Archives of Verona. The fourth part, lasting 3 lessons, includes practice in reading and transcribing the main library writings for the chronological period considered, both for the completion of the internal description of a manuscript and for the preparation of critical editions.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

Lectures in archive

Learning assessment procedures

Final exam, lasting 2 lessons, which consists of the transcription, drafting of the summary and commentary notes of a document, or the description of a manuscript accompanied by a short transcription, freely chosen by the students based on their study interests.

Evaluation criteria

The papers will be presented, discussed and evaluated in the classroom during these two seminar-style meetings.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

There is no final grade

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