Grants & Acquisitions

Abstract

Saint John’s University’s Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) has received a $5 million grant from Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. This is Arcadia’s third grant to HMML and the single-largest gift to HMML in its 56-year history. This five-year grant focuses on digitization, archiving, and cataloging of endangered manuscript collections outside of Europe. These digitized materials will be freely available to worldwide users through HMML’s online Reading Room. This latest grant includes “future-proofing” the digital images by establishing a fund for perpetual archiving of each terabyte of data created in the project. The new grant ensures that HMML will be able to respond quickly to urgent needs throughout the world for the preservation of endangered handwritten culture, complementing support from individuals and foundations for the many facets of HMML’s work digitally preserving manuscripts. While HMML began its mission with projects photographing primarily Latin manuscripts in Western Europe, in the past two decades its scope has expanded, now crossing multiple cultural, religious, and linguistic boundaries. HMML is currently working with preservation partners in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.