Cornell’s Medieval Books

Medieval books were among the Cornell Library’s earliest acquisitions. The University’s first president, Andrew Dickson White, and his librarian, George Lincoln Burr, personally selected many of the manuscripts in this exhibition during frequent buying trips to Europe.

White’s interest in Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts was shaped by his teaching experience, and a belief that instruction in history depended heavily on the use of original sources. He bought manuscripts for their instructional value, and his collection contains illustrative examples of most periods and styles. By 1900, White had amassed a collection of more than one hundred medieval manuscripts, many of them illuminated.

Andrew Dickson White

Photograph of Andrew Dickson White, University Archives.

Although Andrew Dickson White is most often remembered for his collaboration with Ezra Cornell in designing and establishing Cornell University, he was also a passionate, life-long book collector. White began acquiring books during his undergraduate years, and continued to do so until his death in 1918 at the age of 85. He built renowned collections on the French Revolution, witchcraft, architecture, the Reformation, and slavery, abolition and the American Civil War.

In 1891 White gave his 30,000-volume library—the product of forty years of dedicated collecting—to Cornell University. His library remains the cornerstone of Cornell’s research collections, and his medieval books continue to serve as a working historical laboratory, "useful in the instruction of things Medieval."

George Lincoln Burr

Photograph of George Lincoln Burr, ca. 1890. University Archives.

George Lincoln Burr first met Andrew Dickson White in the classroom when he entered Cornell in 1877. White was impressed by Burr, and soon hired him to take care of his growing personal Library. After 1879, the White collection became the product of a partnership between White and his talented librarian. Each traveled to Europe on extended book-buying trips, and both had an astute eye for valuable and uncommon books.

Burr did more than anyone to influence the range and texture of White’s historical collection, and became expert in two of its subjects—the Protestant Reformation, and witchcraft.

University Library Accession Log, 1886

Cornell University Library Acquisitions Department records, 1874-1988. Vol. 3.

Shown here is the University Library’s accession log, recording George Lincoln Burr’s acquisition of several medieval manuscripts in Paris during the spring of 1885. Burr’s purchase, from the bookseller Maisonneuve & Co., included the works of Boethius, St. Jerome, and Cicero.

Psalterium Glossatum

Psalterium Glossatum. Latin manuscript on paper. Erfurt, Germany, early 15th century.

White acquired this early 15th century manuscript Psalter in the 1870s on the basis of a presumed connection to Martin Luther’s seminary in Erfurt. After careful research, however, White and Burr concluded that Luther probably never saw this manuscript. It came from Erfurt’s Benedictine monastery, rather than Luther’s Augustinian monastery. Many of the medieval manuscripts in the collection received this kind of close scholarly attention from White and Burr.