Library
With the support of the College of Arts and Sciences at Western Michigan University, the Richard Rawlinson Center began building its library in 1994. The library has been the recipient of substantial gifts from the Estate of Edward B. Irving, Jr., and from Audrey Ekdahl Davidson, Clifford Davidson, Otto Gründler, Donald G. Scragg, Thomas Seiler, Paul E. Szarmach, and Elizabeth C. Teviotdale, as well as in memory of Larry Syndergaard. Its holdings now encompass circa 6,000 books, offprints, microforms and electronic resources. These holdings are separate from those of the University Libraries and can be searched using a separate catalog.
The sheets prepared by Peter Clemoes and Malcolm Godden that record manuscript variants in Ælfric of Eynsham's Catholic Homilies, donated to the library by Godden, are fully digitized and available to the public on the website of University Libraries. Also included in the collection is a digitized version of WMU’s copy of "A Testimonie of Antiqvitie" of 1566(?), the earliest edition of one of the Catholic Homilies.
In practice, the library serves as:
- A reference library focused on the culture and history of early medieval England and manuscript research.
- A resource for instructors of MDVL 2000: Medieval Encounters: Voices from the Past.
- A support library for those pursuing the Master of Arts in medieval studies.
The library, housed in the Rawlinson Center at 113 East Walwood Hall on East Campus, is open to students and other researchers 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except when University offices are closed.
Search the Richard Rawlinson Center library's holdings of books, offprints, microforms and electronic resources.
