The Ege mss., 12th-16th cent., consist of original leaves from medieval manuscripts of Western Europe collected by Otto F. Ege, 1888-1951, dean of the Cleveland Institute of Art and lecturer on the history of the book at the School of Library Science, Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
The Medieval and Renaissance mss., 700-1600, consists of individual items acquired from time to time either as a gift or purchased from a variety of sources.
The Near Eastern mss., 700-1915, consist of a collection of individually acquired manuscripts pertaining to the region formerly known as the Near East, now referred to as the Middle East.
The Poole mss. are a collection of 137 ancient, medieval and renaissance manuscripts and single leaves ranging from the 3rd to the 16th century. The collection was formed by George Amos Poole, 1907- , printer, of Chicago, whose interest was in the development of scripts which have had a direct influence on the design of Western printing types, rather than in illumination and decoration. Most of this material relates to religious matters.
The Ricketts mss., 9th-19th cent., are illuminated medieval and renaissance manuscripts assembled by Coella Lindsay Ricketts, 1859-1941, calligrapher, of Chicago, Illinois. Most of the material relates to religious matters.