The MMF database catalogs almost 1900 items, including:
- All medieval manuscripts at Fordham, whether on parchment, microfilm, microfiche, photocopies, or facsimile;
- Guides to collections of microfilmed manuscripts and selected archival catalogs and bio-bibliographical works that will point students to the introductory information they need to start work on these sources.
The chronological focus is on European manuscripts produced from 500 to 1540. The MMF database includes a variety of searchable fields, including author (medieval and classical), compiler or editor, title, format, source type, contents, and library call number; a complete description of all fields is included in the database codebook below. Users of the database should be aware that the database is primarily a finding aid, not a finished catalog to manuscript sources. Because time was short and our primary aim was to alert users to the presence of this material at Fordham since most was not (and is not yet) listed in the Walsh Library catalog, many fields are not completely entered, the accuracy of some of the information needs checking, and many relevant items are still not included (particularly facsimile editions). We urge all those who find errors, or who are willing to provide feedback and corrections, to contact us via e-mail at: medievals@fordham.edu. A hard copy of the database (organized by author) is deposited at the Center for Medieval Studies at Fordham University, Faculty Memorial Hall, Room 405B. The main task of identifying items and entering them into the database was done by Allison Clark under the supervision of Maryanne Kowaleski, Director of the Center for Medieval Studies, and Michael Wares, Director for Technical Services at Walsh Library, during the summers of 1999 and 2000.