Bridwell Library makes headlines
In the wake of the announcement of a $2.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, which itself follows a major planning grant from the same foundation, Bridwell Library continues to make news for the dedication and expertise of its team. Elisa McCune, special collections and integrative projects librarian, has made news this summer for her work on a rare Texas treasure: an ancient Bible with secrets in its past.
Discovering a distant past in Boerne, Texas
As a graduate of the history of the book program at the University of London, Elisa holds extensive knowledge on the historical context and evolution of publishing, printing, and the practice of reading. Her Master’s thesis, The 1614 Low German Bible of Boerne, Texas: An Examination of its Origins and Lasting Influence in the Lives of Nineteenth Century Immigrants, investigates the unique origins and journey of the rare “Boerne Bible,” identified as one of seven copies of its kind. Elisa’s expertise in the field yields unique insights into the important artifact, and even though the Bible retains some mystery, its digitization and accessibility on The Portal to Texas History will enable further investigation and encounters with the sacred and culturally significant text.
“I tell people I’m really lucky to get to use my experience from my history of the book degree pretty much every day at Bridwell,” says Elisa. “The history of the book is intrinsically bound up in the history of the Bible – books look how they look largely because of Bibles and Christianity. We have great collections here, not only in Bibles, but in fabulous artists’ books, fine press books, manuscripts, etc., and it’s wonderful to see all of the different iterations and expressions of one of my favorite objects.”
Upcoming at Bridwell Library
It should not be unexpected for Bridwell to continue to make news – according to Elisa, there’s much to be excited about soon. “I’ve been slowly working on getting our manuscript collection digitized and ready to go up in the SMU Libraries Digital Collections, which is exciting,” she says. “We also did a pilot project with the anthropology department in the fall to get our cuneiform tablets 3D scanned and printed, and that was a lot of fun. I hope to get more of our bigger antiquities scanned and printed so that we have a large selection of items for classes and other visitors to interact with, while keeping our physical collections preserved for display.” Bridwell’s work to preserve and make antiquities and other collections accessible will continue with the construction of an antiquities museum at the library, enabled by the Lilly grant.
This post was supported by Elisa McCune. In her role as special collections and integrative projects librarian at Bridwell, Elisa preserves and makes accessible special collections and facilitates collaborations for various projects. For more on Elisa’s background and expertise, read the piece featured in NPR.