Every day last week, the Andrew Mellon library hosted the Paleography contest, which challenged students, faculty and staff to transcribe manuscripts from Choate archives. The transcriptions included manuscripts from P.T. Barnum, Joseph Conrad John F. Kennedy, John Dos Passos, and Rosemary Hall alumna Helen Wiseman. To win, contestants had to fill out a transcription submission form for each day of the contest. For students, Lucas Eggers ’21 won first place, and Athena Liu ’23 came in as first runner-up. For faculty and staff, Technology Procurement and Budget Administrator Ms. Tracy Peters won first place, followed by runners-up chemistry teacher Ms. Julie Oxborough-Yankus and Website and Electronic Communications Manager Mr. Todd Jaser.
Paleography involves analyzing ancient forms of handwriting. It includes the ability to comprehend, date, and certify old manuscripts — an important skill for historians. Today, paleography serves as an essential tool for uncovering the past. The techniques that are required aid one’s ability to synthesize information and to put things into context to form more educated conclusions. Eggers said, “We need to make sure that our history keeps up with our present.”
The idea for the event was sparked by a museum in the Netherlands that hosted a paleography contest. Led by librarian Ms. Courtney Jaser, who specializes in instruction and digital services, and assistant librarian Ms. Stephanie Gold, the planning process for the contest at Choate included decisions about which archives to use, the creation of advertisements for the event, and a submission format that was accessible to the community. The contest allowed students to discover people with unexpected connections to Choate.
Ms. Gold said, “The first day on Monday was a P.T. Barnum autograph and we got the question, ‘What does P.T. Barnum have to do with the School?’ and the answer is, we have an autograph collection in the archives that was donated from a parent of an alum, which is unknown to many of our [participants].”
The contest also served as a means to connect the Archives to the library and provide a fun competitive activity for the community. The student prize was a $20 Cafe Ra gift card, and the student runner-up prize was a $15 Cafe Ra gift card. The faculty and staff prize was a $20 Library Wine Bar and Bistro gift card. The library aims to continue this event in the future to help raise more awareness for paleography and the School Archives.
Ms. Jaser said, “We are trying to do more programs like [this contest]. We are doing the March Madness reading book program next month. We like the idea of doing more competitions, getting students interested in the archives, [the] library, and reading.”
