"Manuscripts ask something of us. They ask us to look more closely, to listen more carefully, and to recognize the threads that bind us across time and place."
—Dr. Audrey Thorstad, director of programming at HMML. Read more: mnhum.org/learning-beyond-language
www.mnhum.org
For centuries, handwritten books--manuscripts--have been woven into the fabric of everyday life in Ethiopia. They are clues, documenting what people over thousands of years thought important enough to share. It is incredible what these voices from the p...
Dr. Josh Mugler, curator of Eastern Christian & Islamic manuscripts at HMML, presents today at a workshop in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Details: https://bit.ly/4nHQst1.
Learn more about HMML's projects to preserve manuscripts located in Bosnia and Herzegovina: https://bit.ly/4wAxM2t
The #Hajj—the pilgrimage to Mecca—takes place this year between May 26–29.
Dr. Ali Diakite and Dr. Paul Naylor share a variety of travelogues documenting this important experience, written by pilgrims from West Africa: hmml.org/stories/series-travel-west-african-hajj-travelogues
Meet Mary Hoppe, digital projects assistant at HMML since 2011: hmml.org/stories/meet-mary-hoppe
"It’s extraordinary how digitization allows the ability to enhance the image and see the fine detail not easily viewed in the original piece. There are constant surprises and connections.”
For #InternationalArchivesWeek, consider how digitized copies of manuscripts can preserve access to a manuscript's contents, provide a record of ownership if the object is removed, and provide access to cultural heritage if a community is displaced.
Learn more: hmml.org/stories/reversal-of-fates
Dr. Columba Stewart, executive director of HMML, will be part of a roundtable on "Digitizing Endangered Heritage: Opportunities, Challenges, and Global Inequalities."
• Date: May 20, 2026
• Language: English w/ simultaneous interpretation into Arabic
• Platform: Zoom
• RSVP: https://bit.ly/43eXig6
The German artist Albrecht #Dürer was born 555 years ago, on May 21, 1471. There are 27 prints of Dürer's work in HMML Museum, viewable online (vhmml.org/museum) or in-person by visiting HMML in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Pictured: Dürer's "Agony in the Garden" (AAP2200): vhmml.org/museum/view/144
“The Hajj--or the Pilgrimage to Mecca, present-day Saudi Arabia--is one of the pillars of the Islamic faith, undertaken at least once...”
The Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library (EMML) has photographs of 9,000+ manuscripts microfilmed in Ethiopia from 1973–1994. Manuscript descriptions from the complete 10-volume EMML print catalog are now represented and expanded upon online in HMML Reading Room. Details: https://bit.ly/3PBBIPM
At the center of the personal seal of Zawditu, Empress of Ethiopia, is the Conquering Lion of Judah (see EMML 524): https://bit.ly/4lBgg93
Learn more about Empress Zawditu and her impact on the church libraries of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in a story by Dr. Jeremy R. Brown: https://bit.ly/4bPiHl8
