The library currently displays digital surrogates of more than 140 Roman de la Rose manuscripts, and the collection continues to grow.
This project first began in 1996 when Stephen G. Nichols, James M. Beall Professor of French and Chair of the Romance Languages and Literatures Department at Johns Hopkins University, approached staff at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library about digitizing Roman de la Rose manuscripts for teaching purposes.
After receiving funding from Ameritech Library Services, the Getty Grant Program, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Eisenhower Library created the prototype Roman de la Rose: Digital Surrogates of Medieval Manuscripts, which came to include six Rose manuscripts from various libraries in the US and UK.
With funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this joint project makes available about half of the roughly 300 Rose manuscripts known to be extant.
In addition to the images themselves, the Rose DL provides metadata that supports the research process.