Palaeography Day

Today I got into reading some manuscripts. In a bizarre coincidence, the two manuscripts I wanted out of the entire UIUC were Post-1650 MS 0159 and Pre-1650 MS 0159. The poor staff at the issue desk were completely convinced I'd asked for the same thing twice, for at least about an hour (while I had run off to lunch so they couldn't double-check with me).

So in honor of the continued ruination of my eyesight, I hereby declare today:

PALAEOGRAPHY DAY.

What does that mean? I'm going to give you links to some palaeography websites so you can see exactly what I'm trying to read. And understand that, when I complain about having to use palaeography techniques to read a student's handwriting, said student has really bad handwriting.

http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/index.html

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/

And, because it can't all be in English:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latin/beginners/

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latinpalaeography/