What is Fragmentarium?

Fragmentarium is an open web-based platform developed for the study and publication of medieval manuscript fragments. Its purpose is to virtually reconstruct dismembered manuscripts by digitally reconnecting leaves, cuttings, and fragments that are physically divided between different holdings and collections.

Features of Fragmentarium include:

• An image database where high quality images of fragments can be uploaded along with descriptive metadata.
• Tools for comparing images side-by-side to identify matches between fragments.
• Collaboration tools allowing researchers to discuss and link related fragments.
• Fragment catalogues that reconstruct parent manuscripts from their surviving dismembered fragments.
• Publishing tools to share manuscript reconstructions with the wider scholarly community.

The Fragmentarium project aims to engage libraries, museums, archives, and individual scholars in a collective effort to document and digitally reassemble dismembered medieval codices. It gives researchers access to fragmented manuscript materials that are often hidden in disparate collections and unavailable for traditional scholarly study.

Overall, Fragmentarium facilitates new research on fragmented primary sources using an open-access platform, increases accessibility to these artifacts, and provides a model for the digital reconstruction and publication of once unified objects that are physically divided across multiple institutions and private collections.

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