Making and Knowing Project Published Research and Teaching Companion

The Making and Knowing Project (a Center for Science and Society Research Cluster) celebrates the publication of its Research and Teaching Companion to Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France. A Digital Critical Edition and English Translation of BnF Ms. Fr. 640.  

The Companion provides support and resources for those interested in integrating hands-on learning into their teaching. Many of the resources are connected to BnF Ms. Fr. 640, the remarkable sixteenth-century manuscript containing over 900 recipes for making art objects, medical remedies, and materials for the household and workshop published by the Making and Knowing Project in 2020 as Secrets of Craft and Nature.

From the outset of the creation of Secrets of Craft and Nature, the Making and Knowing Project integrated pedagogy with original research, mentoring students in research that involved texts, objects, and hands-on reconstruction of the artistic processes contained in Ms. Fr. 640. Through hands-on classes, students came to realize that “making” can be a form of knowledge. They uncovered historical questions about materials and the material world that would have been inconceivable through other types of research. 

The Companion contains the fruit of over seven years of teaching with Ms. Fr. 640, which revealed many pedagogical opportunities and challenges. It is a guide to both the practical and pedological obstacles that can keep hands-on efforts from ever being implemented. Thus, in keeping with the Project’s ethos of collaboration, the Companion hopes to ease the path for instructors who wish to integrate hands-on teaching and/or research of materials, objects, and material culture, as well as offer resources to makers, artists, and all those interested in historical techniques. 

Hands-on teaching, learning, and experimentation does not need to be expensive or exclusive; it can be scaled for various levels of learners, budgets, and research spaces. The Companion’s resources are designed to be flexible and users are encouraged to adapt and augment them to suit their needs. The Companion contains 

• Course syllabi 
• Lesson plans for hands-on activities 
• Examples of student projects 
• Hands-On Resources put into use by Making and Knowing Project collaborators, with their tips and observations
• Reflections on the power and pitfalls of hands-on learning 
• Resources for digital projects and text analysis using the data of Secrets of Craft and Nature