The idea for one of the biggest moments in Clint Morrison’s life began as a joke with a professor.
Morrison, a PhD Candidate studying Late Medieval Literature, purchased an engagement ring for his girlfriend Toni Franken in February 2019. The couple met at a university-sponsored graduate student speed dating event in late 2017.
“Neither of us expected anything to come of it,” said Morrison, but the two met up a few weeks later for dinner and tea in the Short North and their relationship blossomed.
Morrison, who had taken several classes in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library (RBML) and worked extensively with the collection, told RBML curator Eric Johnson of his plans to propose.
“I suggested doing a manuscript-based proposal,” said Johnson. “I was half-joking at the time, but Clint held onto that initial idea and then came to me with a plan about how he wanted to do it, and when.”
“The more I thought about it, the more that I loved the idea,” said Morrison. “Our second date had ended with a visit to the 11th floor of Thompson Library and several of our dates and adventures had ended in little bookstores in Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. A love for books—their stories and the stories they contain—in a lot of ways brought us together, so where better to take the next step in our relationship than with some of our favorite books and manuscripts at RMBL?”
With help from Johnson, Morrison gathered fragments and manuscripts from the collection that fit the couple’s interests.
“One of our most unique collections of materials is our assembly of medieval textual and illuminated manuscripts dating from the mid-11th to the end of the fifteenth centuries,” said Johnson. “It was this collection that inspired Clint's special rare books-based proposal."
The two worked together to set up tables and group the documents into themes, eventually leading to the star of the curated collection: a 15th-century marriage certificate, with the ring hidden nearby in an inkwell box.
“Clint had told me we were doing a special showing of manuscripts to some of our good friends, who just happened to be videographers and photographers,” said Franken, a graduate student working on her doctorate in the College of Veterinary Medicine. “Clint has always been so generous in sharing his love and knowledge of the manuscripts he works with, so I had interacted with some of the items, and similar, in the past, but there were pieces I hadn't seen before. He even pulled items relevant to my career field, including a leaflet from a veterinary manuscript and a bestiary.”
“We got to the last table, and he had me guess about the character and meaning of the leaflet in front of me,” said Franken. “He gave me hints, leading me to the realization that it was a marriage certificate.”
“Toni later told me that was ‘the moment’ she realized what I was about to do,” said Morrison. “She couldn’t wait to know what the significance of the blue box labelled ‘inkwell’ was—so I don’t really know how much she was paying attention to my prepared talk about the betrothal document. I slid the ring-box out and got down on one knee… She said yes!”
“It was honestly perfect for us, and so sweet and beautiful,” said Franken. “I couldn't have ever imagined it happening that way, and that made it so special.”
The couple plans to wed in 2021, after Franken finishes her graduate study.