Hill Museum and Manuscript Library
Introduction
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Images
The library was founded in 1965 and features updated reading rooms such as this one.
Backstory and Context
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The history of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library dates back to after World War II, when the Pope Pius XII called on Benedictine Father Colman Barry OSB, who was at the time living here in St. John's Abbey, to develop a plan to preserve sacred manuscripts, many of which had been destroyed in the war. Barry, who became President of St. John's in the 1960s, developed plans to have St. John's Abbey microfilm documents in Europe and store them at the Abbey. After a few years of preparation, the plan got underway in 1964 and researchers were sent to Europe to photograph manuscripts. Eventually, manuscripts would be collected from Africa, South India, and the Middle East. Over time, this collection has grown to the size it is today. Microfilm was the primary medium for preservation until 2003 when manuscripts began to be digitized. The next year, the university transferred its rare book and art collection to the library.
Sources
"History HMML." Hill Museum and Manuscript Library. Accessed April 29, 2015. http://hmml.org/about/history-of-hmml.
Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, via Wikimedia Commons