Photo of MSSI participants and HRL/RCMSS staff in the Special Collections Reading Room

MSSI 2013 Orientation

The Seventh Biennial Medieval Slavic Summer Institute (MSSI) opened on Monday, June 24, 2013, with 11 of the 12 participants in attendance. The orientation was held in the Conference Room (105C) of the Jack and Jan Creighton Special Collections Reading Room of the Thompson  Library.

Predrag Matejic, Director of the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies (RCMSS), welcomed the participants and led the introductions; Rebecca Jewett, Assistant Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts and the Reading Room Manager, reviewed the procedures for conducting research, paging books, etc. Helene Senecal, RCMSS Coordinator, addressed the logistics of the housing and university benefits for the non-OSU students; Lyubomira Parpulova Gribble, HRL Assistant Curator, shared her research interests with the group; RCMSS GA Lauren Ressue introduced the participants to the OSU learning management system “Carmen”; and Daniel E. Collins of the OSU Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures said a few words about the “Readings in Church Slavonic” course that he teaches during the MSSI.

Photo of the MSSI participants and HRL/RCMSS staff at a table in the faculty club

MSSI 2013 Luncheon at the OSU Faculty Club

The participants viewed the online video, Preserving and Accessing the Past: The History of the Hilandar Research Library and the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies, and then toured Thompson Library, where they wound up at a gallery talk about the current exhibit, Travelers to and from Mount Athos: The Translation of Culture, Knowledge, and Spirituality.

Luncheon was held at the OSU Faculty Club, followed by the first session of the MSSI from 2pm to 4pm, where Daniel Collins led the class through a reading of a prayer of St. John Chrysostom in manuscript BAN.13.7.5.