Kate Hodgson holding a photograph of a 16th-century book printed by Martin Morin that she investigates in her Honors thesis

Author: Kate Hodgson | Major: Art History | Semester: Fall 2022

My name is Kate Hodgson, and I am a current senior in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and School of Art, majoring in Art History and minoring in Anthropology. This past year, I have worked closely with my research mentor in the Art History department, Dr. Lynn F. Jacobs, and Dr. Larisa Grollemond, assistant curator of manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum on my honors thesis project. After graduating in Spring 2023 from the University of Arkansas, I plan to continue my studies in art history in graduate school.

My honors thesis investigates the intersection of manuscript and print markets in fifteenth and sixteenth century Rouen, France. I examine how Rouen’s unique political and historical circumstances as well as its impressive manuscript tradition during the first half of the fifteenth century prepared the city’s subsequent printing industry to capture the export market for printed liturgical books destined for England. Previous scholarship has cast Rouennais book production as a ‘poor third’ to ateliers in Paris and Lyon, however, the recent, global effort from libraries and museums to digitize their collections of manuscripts and printed volumes necessitates a reexamination of Rouen’s position in late medieval and early Renaissance book markets. Furthermore, an investigation into Rouen’s highly competitive position in manuscript and print industries casts new light on the transition from manuscript to print throughout Europe, as well as the contributions of France’s municipalities to medieval and Renaissance book markets.

I first approached Dr. Jacobs about my interest in writing an honors thesis on medieval manuscripts while taking her seminar class in the Fall of 2021, and she graciously agreed to mentor my research. It was also in Fall of 2021 that Dr. Jacobs introduced me to Dr. Kathryn Rudy at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland as well as Dr. Grollemond at the J. Paul Getty Museum. My thesis topic stemmed from the incredible opportunity to work with Dr. Rudy and her international cohort of Ph.D. students and scholars of medieval art on the Digital Dirty Books project. For this project, I worked closely with digital repositories of medieval manuscripts and while conducting research, I came across a Rouennais manuscript that piqued my interest in the activity of Rouen’s manuscript workshops. I then began working closely with Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Grollemond to develop my thesis topic, and after a year of research, I have just completed the first chapter of my thesis.

I have taken away several important lessons from my honors thesis project. The first, is to be patient. Typically, I want to complete projects as quickly as possible, however, writing an undergraduate dissertation has required me to slow down, stay focused, and realize that Rome wasn’t built in a day. My honors thesis has changed, morphed, evolved, and then changed again. But my mentors have encouraged me to stay focused on long term goals and celebrate short term successes. Another lesson that I have learned is that academic research is not an individual pursuit. Rather, art historical research is highly collaborative and benefits significantly from input and guidance from colleagues and mentors. Before beginning my honors thesis, I was intimidated by the process because I thought the process would be isolating. But I couldn’t have been more wrong! Both of my research mentors have been a constant source of support and guidance for the last year, and I know that my project has benefited tremendously because of the collaborative nature of my project.

Currently, I am working on the second chapter of my thesis which introduces exciting new developments on Rouen’s contributions to the early decades of print. Through examining the workshop of one Rouennais printer, Martin Morin, my thesis introduces new evidence that Rouen outcompeted every major printing center in Europe in the production of English liturgical books. I am very excited to defend my thesis in the Spring of 2023 and continue my research in graduate school.