This project has been one of my favorite I have done while at Saint Mary’s. I went into it not really knowing what to expect, however, I realized very quickly how much I was going to enjoy and learn while doing this work. I think that working in the Rare Book Room has given me a better understanding of the history of Saint Marys, a general history of books, and the processes it took to get to where we are today, in regards to print, book structure, and writing as a whole. I have a greater appreciation for the history of books and the process it takes to digitally log into a library. I think there is much to say about the impact that working in the Rare Book Room has had on me. I learned a lot about patience, being detail-oriented, and the overall impact that working with historical objects can have on a person! There was a lot that I enjoyed doing--especially looking at all of the different books and other things within the room--and there was a lot of frustration, often caused by my absentmindedness. One of my main frustrations when working in the Rare Book Room and for this project specifically was my inability to remember where I got the books from and where they went afterward. The aspect of the project, however, where we were digitizing the information that we found was one of the most enjoyable parts of class. Doing research into the books, their publishers, and the families who owned them before we got them was one of the most interesting things I did all year. I think that I was more surprised by the age of some of the books used. One of the books I studied was from 1492, which is a very long time ago. The book was still in pretty good shape, and I could open it and look at the handwriting, the print, and the little imperfections in the book, something that a lot of the books had.

I chose to focus on Dante's works because I am one of Dante's biggest fans. I love all of his works, but I specifically focused on the Divine Comedy, and then, going into more depth, The Inferno, as those are my two favorite works. I think that by having the time to do research into his stories, made this class fly by. The research done wasn’t even just on the stories, but looked at the different publishing companies and the familial crests on the covers of the books, leading to very interesting conversations about who had owned the book before we did. I also think that there is a level of importance that was not realized while doing the project, but now that I am sitting and reflecting, it is hitting me. These books have been around for 500+ years. They will far outlive all of us, and having a digital copy of these stories assures that, even if something does happen to the physical book, their stories will be around forever. This is something that I think is one of the most important things that I got out of this project--the long-lasting effect that this type of work can have on the books and the history of SMC. 

Many different sections are covered in the project, and I think that there is also the impact that having a bunch of smicks do this project and reflect their own school, rather than having a random professor or professional do this work. It shows how we view our own school and the way we want to be represented. This is very important, as identity is a vital aspect of SMC and comes from being on campus and being a part of this community. Because we chose how we were represented through these stories and through the sections that we chose to focus on, we owned our identity in a sense. I hope this is one thing that, when looking at the website, a reader gets out of it--the way that Saint Mary’s students want to portray themselves in the eyes of the public--as educated, well-spoken, and well-rounded students.