Re: "Free?" she said softly. "All this is free?"

[jones barbara <jones5@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>]

I really enjoyed reading the Gornick piece; thanks for forwarding it, Dan.

It reminds me of a project here at Illinois.  The Krannert Art Museum and
the World Heritage Museum here have always done educational programs for
grade schools; we in the Rare Book Room have not.  Well, after much
consultation with my colleagues at these other two sites, we invited a 6th
grade middle school class (and not from an elitist private school, either,
I might add!) to do a medieval unit in our library.  They are working on
the Canterbury Tales' prologue and the pilgrims; medieval weapons; and
medieval calligraphy.  

The Krannert Museum did a video of the first session, and I can't tell you
how rewarding the experience was for all of us.  And all manuscripts and
rare books are intact.  For those of you who know Vince Golden, he was
magnificent at reading the Prologue in Middle English and challenging the
kids to try their hand at it.    

Even the most incorrigible kids loved the project and I can only hope that
somehow they will remember these kinds of experiences.  

Barbara Jones