A Tolkien Dream Come True
Oct. 6th, 2007 08:50 amI first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings when I was in junior high school -- I think I must have been twelve or so. It wasn't long before I was collecting books on Tolkien as a writer as well as anything else Tolkien-related I could get my hands on. I discovered in those days that my state of residence had the honor of being the holders of a vast collection of Tolkien's original manuscripts, at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
JRR Tolkien Collection
What an amazing thing to see that would be, I always thought, and it became a dream of mine to one day go there and do just that. But Marquette was just far enough away to make it awkward, and then I was off to college and grad school and getting married and living overseas, etc. -- and it just never happened.
Well, it happened, finally -- and as recently as this past week!
Thanks to a fellow Ringer who had been to Marquette several times before, I was made aware of a lecture that was taking place in October, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the obtaining of the collection. I had told her in the past that if there was ever the possibity of a moot that involved Marquette, I wanted to be involved. It worked out wonderfully that a couple of us -- including my Ringer friend and![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
agape4rivendell -- were able to get together on the day of the lecture.
The lecture itself was just a much a dream come true as the chance to view the collection. I felt like a real Tolkien scholar, lol!
The following is reconstructed from my notes of what the lecturer shared that really impressed me, plus some things he made reference to which I looked up afterwards and inserted appropriately. I wanted to have a written record of what I had heard and experienced, to serve as a report to those who weren't there -- and of course, as a memory of my dream come true!
It was indeed quite a perfect day, and I shall never forget it!
And I think I'm going to save up my pennies to by Mr. Rateliff's book. I can't wait to find out what other new things there are to be learned from poring over those original manuscripts!
JRR Tolkien Collection
What an amazing thing to see that would be, I always thought, and it became a dream of mine to one day go there and do just that. But Marquette was just far enough away to make it awkward, and then I was off to college and grad school and getting married and living overseas, etc. -- and it just never happened.
Well, it happened, finally -- and as recently as this past week!
Thanks to a fellow Ringer who had been to Marquette several times before, I was made aware of a lecture that was taking place in October, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the obtaining of the collection. I had told her in the past that if there was ever the possibity of a moot that involved Marquette, I wanted to be involved. It worked out wonderfully that a couple of us -- including my Ringer friend and
agape4rivendell -- were able to get together on the day of the lecture.The lecture itself was just a much a dream come true as the chance to view the collection. I felt like a real Tolkien scholar, lol!
The following is reconstructed from my notes of what the lecturer shared that really impressed me, plus some things he made reference to which I looked up afterwards and inserted appropriately. I wanted to have a written record of what I had heard and experienced, to serve as a report to those who weren't there -- and of course, as a memory of my dream come true!
( The Lecture )
It was indeed quite a perfect day, and I shall never forget it!
And I think I'm going to save up my pennies to by Mr. Rateliff's book. I can't wait to find out what other new things there are to be learned from poring over those original manuscripts!
