ARMENPRESS

HMML TO DIGITIZE MATENADARAN MANUSCRIPTS

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS: The Hill Museum and
Manuscript Library (HMML) of Saint John College of
Minnesota University and the Armenian Matenadaran
Institute of Old Manuscripts signed last Friday in
Yerevan an agreement whereby the US-based museum will
help Matenadaran to digitize about 14,000 Armenian
language manuscripts and books and another 3,000 in
other languages.
Matenadaran director Sen Arevshatian said this
technology will allow to create high quality copies of
the manuscripts kept in Matenadaran, many of which are
unique. He said Matenadaran launched years ago
microfilming its depository, but said the new
technology of digitizing is incomparably better, since
microfilms have to be renewed every 40-50 years, while
data on CDs can be kept for centuries.
Colomba Stewart from HMML said the photographic
preservation of manuscripts has been the core mission
of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library for forty
years. He said it is a great honor to cooperate with
Matenadaran.
He said HMML has preserved more than 90,000
manuscripts on microfilm and in digital form. Since
2003, HMML has been capturing manuscript images
through high-resolution color digital photography.
The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML)
currently holds more than 1300 microfilms of Armenian
manuscripts from the libraries of the Mechitarist
Congregation in Vienna and the University of Tubingen.

In 2002, HMML began discussions with leaders of the
Armenian Orthodox and Catholic communities about
preservation of their manuscripts. In April 2004, HMML
announced the inauguration of a new project at the
Armenian Apostolic Catholicosate of the Great House of
Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon. Among the
Catholicosate’s 300 manuscripts are many superb
examples of Armenian illumination.
In March, 2005 HMML began a new preservation
project at the Armenian Catholic Clergy Institute of
Bzommar in Lebanon. The Bzommar collection of more
than a thousand manuscripts in Armenian, Syriac, and
Arabic is considered one of the outstanding manuscript
collections in the Middle East.
Rich collections in Italy and Eastern Europe are
also in need of preservation. By creating a virtual
Armenian library through the use of digital
photography and online access, HMML hopes to create a
lasting resource that will unite a people and their
heritage.