HMML

On International Women's Day (#IWD2026), learn about women and manuscripts in stories shared by HMML curators and catalogers: hmml.org/stories/tags/series-women

Cataloging is complete for 792 manuscripts in the collection of Johann Christian Senckenberg Library, Frankfurt University, Germany, microfilmed by HMML in 1989–1991. Many of the manuscripts were relocated from religious communities closed during the #Reformation.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4b0Uit4

Finding Common Ground Across Cultures: Building Relationships Through HMML’s Work Dr. Matthew Z. Heintzelman Curator of Western European manuscripts & Special Collections March 25 from 11 a.m.–12 p.m. (CT) Free, virtual Winter Lecture Series RSVP at HMML.org

Manuscript preservation is about people and partnerships. On March 25 (11am CT), join Dr. Matthew Z. Heintzelman as he explores HMML’s early work photographing manuscripts in Austria, contemporary connections, & HMML's approach to collaboration.

RSVP for this free, virtual program: hmml.org/events

The front cover of the printed notebook shows two children studying, with the text in the girl's book shown upside down from our perspective so that it faces her; it says "Homeland: Love for the homeland is part of faith. The palm tree is tall. The date is its fruit." There are blank lines for the student's name, school, and class. Collection of Mar Behnam Monastery in Mosul, Iraq, digitized in 2012 in collaboration with Centre Numérique des Manuscrits Orientaux. View each page in HMML Reading Room (MBM 00512): vhmml.org/readingRoom/view/132382

The rear cover has a blank table for the student to write out their class schedule, and at the bottom there are unit conversion tables for distance and time (10 millimeters=1 centimeter, 60 seconds=1 minute, etc.), and a multiplication table. At the very bottom is an address and telephone number in Baghdad, Iraq, where more of these books could be purchased. Collection of Mar Behnam Monastery in Mosul, Iraq, digitized in 2012 in collaboration with Centre Numérique des Manuscrits Orientaux. View each page in HMML Reading Room (MBM 00512): vhmml.org/readingRoom/view/132382

For #NationalHandwritingDay, a standard student notebook issued by the Iraqi public school system in the 20th century. A Chaldean Catholic priest used the notebook to write a hymn and hagiography for St. Behnam.

Collection of Mar Behnam Monastery, Mosul, Iraq (MBM 00512): https://bit.ly/3Mvgxgj

Where We're Working: Anjuman-i Taraqqī-yi Urdū Pākistān “In November 1947, the Urdu scholar ʻAbdulḥaq entered his library in Delhi for the first time since the independence and partition...”

In this story by Dr. Josh Mugler, we look at the library of Urdu scholar ʻAbdulḥaq (1869–1961), whose lifelong work on behalf of #Urdu language, literature, and culture later earned him the nickname of Bābā-yi Urdū, "the Father of Urdu."

Read on: https://bit.ly/anjuman-hmml

YouTube video by Hill Museum & Manuscript Library Winter Lecture Series: Manuscripts in Partition

"Manuscripts in Partition" lecture from @visithmml.bsky.social

youtu.be/UDcbNJqtlOc?...

Digitization & cataloging is complete for 120 manuscripts in the Cantonal Archives of Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina. For several centuries, Travnik was capital of the province of Bosnia in the Ottoman Empire, and the manuscripts date from that period or earlier. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4biW0Gn

Welcome Lindsay Mahowald, HMML's New Advancement Data Manager “HMML's mission is carried forward by the people who steward its work every day...”

We’re excited to welcome Lindsay Mahowald as she begins her work as Advancement Data Manager at HMML. Learn more: hmml.org/stories/hmml-welcomes-new-advancement-data-manager

Illustrating Costume of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem in the 18th-Century “In 1714, Hippolyte Hélyot began publishing his monumental eight volume history of religious orders...”

Letters, books, engravings, & oil paintings of the costume worn by the Order of St. John of Jerusalem not only articulated their evolution to 18th-century fashion but also figured into public understanding of rank & hierarchy.

Learn more in this story by Dr. Daniel K. Gullo: https://bit.ly/3YKuDgK

The full treatise (DINL 00186 195, pictured) can be accessed in HMML Reading Room: vhmml.org/readingRoom/view/519714

A treatise on witnessing the moon crescent on #Ramaḍān, copied in the 19th century and digitized in the collection of the Isʻāf Nashāshibī Center for Culture and Literature (DINL 00186 195), one of four family libraries in Jerusalem whose collections were digitized by HMML: https://bit.ly/3YKzE94

Manuscripts in Partition Dr. Josh Mugler HMML curator of Eastern Christian & Islamic manuscripts February 25 from 11 a.m.–12 p.m. (CT) Free, virtual Winter Lecture Series RSVP at HMML.org

On Wednesday, February 25 at 11 a.m. (CT), join Dr. Josh Mugler, curator of Eastern Christian & Islamic manuscripts at HMML, as he looks at #Manuscripts in partition—collections that tell stories of borders, upheaval, & resilience.

RSVP for this free, virtual program: hmml.org/events

Postscript -- A Legacy of Female Literacy “In 1994, HMML microfilmed the collection of manuscripts at the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar...”

Margarethe von Rodemachern (1426–1490) was a part of three generations of women who promoted female literacy in an era when virtually no European women were producing secular texts.

Learn more in this story by Dr. Jennifer Carnell: hmml.org/stories/postscript-a-legacy-of-female-literacy

Getting it in Writing: Knowledge Preserved and Passed on in Handwritten Catalogs “On a recent chilly October morning, I reached for one of HMML’s copies of...”

Here's an example of the use of manuscript catalogs in contemporary cataloging: hmml.org/stories/gett...

#FeastOfSaintPaul'sShipwreck #History #Manuscripts #Books #Libraries #SaintPaul

Contesting Saint Paul’s Shipwreck “The most famous weather event in Maltese history occurred in the first century CE when...”

The most famous #Weather event in Maltese history occurred in the first century CE, when a Mediterranean tempest sundered a ship carrying the Apostle Paul from Lebanon to Rome. The location of the shipwreck has been frequently contested. Learn more in a story by Dr. Daniel K. Gullo: bit.ly/48HtomX

February 23 is the deadline to apply for Intermediate Classical Armenian, a language and paleography course held from July 5–25, 2026, at HMML in Collegeville, Minnesota. All course fees, meals, and lodging are sponsored by @dumbartonoaks.bsky.social.

Apply: hmml.org/programs/intermediate-armenian

Dr. Ani Shahinian, cataloger of #Armenian manuscripts at HMML, generously answered five questions to share insights into her experiences working with Armenian manuscript collections.

Learn more: hmml.org/stories/meet-dr-ani-shahinian

Manuscripts in Partition Dr. Josh Mugler HMML curator of Eastern Christian & Islamic manuscripts February 25 from 11 a.m.–12 p.m. (CT) Free, virtual Winter Lecture Series RSVP at HMML.org

Manuscripts tell stories of borders, upheaval, and resilience. On February 25 (11am CT), Dr. Josh Mugler shares ways that manuscripts bear witness to the consequences of partition and how we can reconnect what was thought to be lost.

RSVP for this free, virtual program: hmml.org/events

YouTube video by Hill Museum & Manuscript Library Winter Lecture Series: Building a Digital Library

Here's the @visithmml.bsky.social webinar from yesterday. It was especially interesting on the process of moving digital images from the field to tagged, backed up, and usable MS facsimiles, and on details of the photographic process in the question period at the end. youtu.be/CXR18p1M1sc?...

Sandwiching a Forbidden Text “The advent of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century led to...”

We often think of book censorship as denying access to texts. Dr. Matthew Z. Heintzelman consider cases where censorship of information was used as a way to preserve access to books, altered to hide their affiliation with Martin Luther: hmml.org/stories/series-books-sandwiching-a-forbidden-text

Digitization & cataloging is complete for six manuscripts in the collection of the Naqshbandī Sufi lodge of Husni Numanagić (1853–1931) in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4sDva1A

#Libraries #Books #Manuscripts #History #BookSky #Reading

Past Events Catch up with HMML's past events.

Thank you! Yes, a recording will be posted to hmml.org/programs/pastevents.

March 6 is the deadline to apply for Introduction to #Arabic #Manuscript Studies—a virtual, one-week intensive course held from June 22 to 26, 2026.

Apply today: hmml.org/programs/arabic-mss-studies

Free, virtual program happening today at 11am (CT)! Registration: secure.hmml.org/a/winter-lec...

Tomorrow, noon EST, @visithmml.bsky.social: "How do you preserve and share MSS? How do you start with a...physical book, transform it into carefully maintained digital images, and then provide free, round-the-clock access to it for anyone, anywhere in the world?"
secure.hmml.org/a/winter-lec...

A book of funeral liturgies in Syriac, copied in 1883 CE. Collection of the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Baṣrah, Iraq. (CAB 00001)

Digitization & cataloging is complete for one manuscript (CAB 00001) in the collection of the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Baṣrah, Iraq: a book of funeral liturgies in Syriac, copied in 1883 CE.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4hWpyL3

A reel of EMML microfilm containing photographs of a 13th-century manuscript (EMML 1832) in the collection of Ḥayq Esṭifānos Monastery in Wallo Province, Ethiopia.

A close-up view of a miniature opening the Gospel of Luke, digitized from the same microfilm copy (image 1) of the manuscript (EMML 1832).

From 1973 to 1994, the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library (EMML) project photographed 9,000+ manuscripts in Ethiopia. The microfilm copies sent to HMML are now fully available online—digitized over the past 20 years. Wayne Torborg tells the story behind this milestone: https://bit.ly/4bslCAH

Happy to announce that this position has been filled. Thank you to all who applied!

The Extraordinary, Ordinary Work of Building a Digital Library Wayne Torborg, Dr. Catherine Walsh, and John Meyerhofer January 28 from 11 a.m.–12 p.m. (CT) Free, virtual Winter Lecture Series RSVP at HMML.org

How do you transform a fragile book into carefully maintained digital images & provide free, round-the-clock access for anyone, anywhere in the world?

On January 28 at 11am (CT), join us for “The Extraordinary, Ordinary Work of Building a Digital Library,” a free, virtual program: hmml.org/events

Notarial Archives of Malta: HMML Repository Notarial Archives of Malta: HMML Repository

For those who don't already know, @visithmml.bsky.social has 168 digitized and freely accessible sixteenth-century registers from the Notarial Archives of Malta online! hmml.org/collections/... #earlymodern #skystorians