Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage: January 2025. Special Report
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Special report dedicated to twenty-five years of the Medieval Slavic Summer Institute (1999-2024) - 12 biennial MSSIs sponsored by the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies [RCMSS], the Hilandar Research Library [HRL], and the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures [SEELC], formerly the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures [SEELL], at The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio). Predrag Matejic (University Libraries) taught "Slavic Palaeography," and Daniel E. Collins (SEELL) taught "Readings in Church Slavonic." RCMSS Coordinator Helene F. Senecal handled visitor logistics, and HRL Assistant Curator M.A. Johnson provided research and teaching support. Photos by M.A. Johnson, Helene F. Senecal, Jessi Jones, Daria Safronova, and Hope M. Wilson
Description
The first MSSI in 1999 was 3 weeks long, subsequent institutes have lasted 4 weeks. The most recent MSSI 2024 was the 12th biennial institute. There have been 133 full-time, in-person participants mostly from North American & European universities; the top 10 institutions represented are: Ohio State (40 participants), Univ. of Michigan (9), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (8), Univ. of Cambridge (6), Univ. of Toronto (5), Univ. of Chicago (4), Univ. of Kansas (3) & UCLA (3), Central European Univ. (2) & Harvard (2). In 2024, Atmoja Bose became the first participant from the Univ. of Delhi (India), and Aleksa Karajić (Univ. of Belgrade, Serbia) the first from a Slavic country. We had previously focused on instructing students who did not have access to experts and manuscripts in Slavic Cyrillic at their home universities such as in Serbia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Russia. Predrag Matejic taught MSSI 1999-2017, Daniel E. Collins – MSSI 1999-2019; M.A. Johnson took over from Predrag in 2019, and Bojan Belić (MSSI 1999) has taught Church Slavonic since MSSI 2022. From the beginning there have been guest lecturers, including the Very Rev. Dr. Mateja Matejic in 2003. Professor Jenn Spock’s practicum in reading Muscovite cursive has been a staple since 2006, and Professor Eric J. Johnson’s Western manuscript codicology and printing since 2011. Whenever possible, MSSI alumni are hired as RCMSS graduate research associates; since 2015, MSSI alumni have been invited back as MSSI guest lecturers.