The Book Collection of Helen Anderson will be on display through the end of June during regular library hours.

“My introduction to calligraphy and illuminated manuscripts began when I was teaching at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Portsmouth, RI.  It was an all-girls Catholic school.  The nuns required that all written schoolwork be done in Arrighi’s Chancery Italic, a 14th century style of writing. I had to be a quick study in order to properly instruct my students.

I found a certain beauty in the flow of the letters and the words they created.  It led me to study more on the background of this unique way of writing. After teaching for several years, I became proficient in calligraphy to the point where I accepted several commissions for preparing formal presentations and documents utilizing that form.

When my husband received Navy orders to Italy, I was able to reconnect with Mother Wheeler, one of the nuns for whom I had worked in Rhode Island. She was in Rome, at the Mother House of her order, organizing their archives. She was kind enough to provide me with credentials allowing me to study treasured manuscripts at the Vatican Library. This gave me access to some of the most beautifully illustrated manuscripts in the world, copies of which are on display here in our library.”  Helen Anderson