UCLA Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies | Richard & Mary Rouse Manuscripts

Richard and Mary Rouse have ethusiastically devoted their efforts to promote medieval and Renaissance studies at UCLA and they are the driving force behind the establishment of the Center’s History of the Book Lecture series. Richard Rouse, Professor Emeritus in UCLA’s Department of History, has mentored many students, both in his paleography classes and through his work with CMRS Research Assistants. Mary Rouse served as managing editor of the CMRS’s internationally respected journal Viator for twenty-two years, prior to her retirement in 1999. Together, Richard and Mary have spent their lives studying the history, production, and use of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, and the history of the libraries through which these manuscripts passed.

Richard and Mary Rouse Medieval Manuscript Collection at UCLA

Over the years, they have gathered an impressive manuscript collection of their own, and in the autumn of 2003, the Department of Special Collections of UCLA’s Charles E. Young Research Library hosted an exhibition of some of the Rouses’ medieval manuscripts, in conjunction with Richard and Mary’s announcement of their plans to give the collection to UCLA. On display were individual leaves and complete volumes, representing a number of different countries (Austria, Czechoslovakia, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland).

The Rouses’ collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts is a splendid addition to the Special Collections of UCLA’s Young Research Library, where it will be a valuable resource for students, teachers, and researchers in the years to come. Great libraries are formed through the collaboration of private and public resources, and the Rouses hope that their gift will encourage others to contribute to UCLA’s medieval and Renaissance manuscript holdings.

The exhibition “Medieval Manuscripts from the Collection of Richard and Mary Rouse” at UCLA’s Special Collections can be seen online at http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/special/rouse/rouseindex.htm .