This microfilm collection of liturgical chant manuscripts was initiated in 1974 with funding from the Dom Mocquereau Foundation, which has provided additional funding each year since for the acquisition of new films. The collection is intended for use by faculty, visiting scholars, and advanced graduate students who have chosen the medieval chant tradition as a subject for research.
The availability of so many sources in a single archive enormously facilitates the research of those whose investigations involve comparing chant repertories or the readings of a chant as they appear in multiple sources. Many scholars who have used the collection have referred to it in their publications--it has been mentioned several times in the Journal of the American Musicological Society and also in other leading scholarly periodicals.
The database is placed here at the disposal of colleagues in accordance with the aims of the International Musicological Society Study Group "Cantus Planus," which promotes cooperation in computer-assisted projects and the exchange of data in electronic form.
Models for the collection include the archive of microfilms developed by Bruno Staeblein at the University of Erlangen and the collection of photographic reproductions of chant manuscripts at the Abbey of Solesmes.
The Dom Mocquereau Microfilm Collection is housed in the Microfilm Room on the first floor of Mullen Library, where microfilm readers, printers, and a scanner are available. The collection is arranged by call number, and a print version of the catalog is shelved with the collection.
