A race against time: manuscripts and digital preservation

A conversation with Father Columba Stewart, OSB, executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (Collegeville, Minnesota) and Dr. Beth Harris
A Smarthistory ARCHES video

[@CoderatheGreat]

Great video! This is definitely very important for keeping our world heritage preserved for future generations.

[@Sasha0927]

Love that positive bit of hope at the end of the video - way to work! 🥰 In general, after all these videos about the perils of looting, it was nice to hear about the work to preserve manuscripts and make them accessible. It was also nice to hear about the monastic position on education - I agree! Thanks to this channel, Kinnu, Duolingo, and my job, I'm studying all kinds of things and wouldn't have it any other way. Maybe a bit more time to do it, lol.

[@smarthistory-art-history]

Learning is a true privilege, we feel very very lucky that we can learn new things every day.

[@Sasha0927]

@@smarthistory-art-history It's definitely at the apex of human experience. Thanks for spreading that joy to others. ❤️

[@walsayer]

Where is the link to the digitized manuscripts of Timbuktu? Thanks

[@823house5]

vHMML.org

[@mosesmuiruri8291]

True, every manuscript id worth being preserved

[@Survivethejive]

Europeans did a fantastic job of preserving the world’s manuscripts and other artefacts. No other people in history undertook such an endeavour on such a scale

[@hammadthegreat]

yes and unfortunately they have made quite a load of fortune by shifting treasures from around the world by hoarding in their continent. but ultimately they should be honourbale enough to give back these valuables when the countries have become stable and are demand them to be returned like ethiopia

[@nathanielscreativecollecti6392]

Agreed. The collections are magnificent. I also love the new approach of leaving the materials where they are.

[@enrico7474]

Sad Ethiopian noises

[@oltedders]

No one wearing gloves.

[@smarthistory-art-history]

That is correct. Gloves create a greater risk of torn pages and are now commonly avoided with fragile manuscripts.

[@oltedders]

@@smarthistory-art-history Hhmmm? 🤔

[@nathanielscreativecollecti6392]

Baumgartner restoration also talks about this a lot. Turns out, being able to tell when you are touching something fragile is important.