Re: Gregorian University

[Zandbergen@xxxxxxxxxxx (Rene Zandbergen)]

Claudio Antonini wrote:

> I've had a few email communications with Ms. Eleonora Barbieri, who works
> at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Gregorian University, and asked
> her if how we could find information related to our purposes (the Voynich
> Ms.). She was very kind to talk to people at the Jesuit's archives and said
> that they are willing to help. I still have to get the specific email. In
> the meantime, is it possible to prepare some specific questions for them?

Excellent!
Yes, indeed, this should be possible. Are you familiar with the 
contents of my web page about the history of the Voynich MS?
(http://www.voynich.nu/history.html)
Most of the questions we could ask can be taken from there, and
I'd be more than happy to help you compose them. (I also have more
background info that will be useful, and which I'll be glad to
share with you).

However, let's first look at a few more fundamental questions:

The history of the Voynich MS after it was received by Kircher is
closely connected with the history of other MSS - in fact complete
collections of  them, and there are many unanswered questions
related to these. This means that any information found will be of
wider use than just our purposes. It also means that other
researchers (professional ones with research grants and letters of
introduction) have preceded us.

We also have to realise what is the extent of the information we may
hope to find. Certainly, we could learn more about what happened to
the MS after it was received by Kircher (or more fundamentally: *if*
it was received by him at all). More interesting for us will be to
find new information about the earlier history of the MS, but we
must realise that chances are slim...

When you mentioned archives, did you mean the Archives of the Pontificia
Universita Gregoriana (APUG) or the Archives of the Society of Jesus
(ARSI)?
I've had an E-mail exchange with the latter (in the person of Fr. J. De
Cock S.J.), who was also very friendly and helpful, and as soon as I
am in Rome again, I intend to visit him at the ARSI. He said that there
have been many people searching his archives for material related to
Kircher, but they usually went back empty-handed.

Still, I think that there is a good chance here of learning something
new, possibly of interest also beyond 'just' the Voynich MS. Some of the
information we have is coming from the personal correspondence of W.
Voynich and will be unknown to the people at the Gregoriana or the ARSI!

Please regard this as an introductory reply. I will now look for my
notes and start thinking about some good questions.

Ciao, Rene