Hill Museum & Manuscript Library to be featured on CBS’s “60 Minutes”
December 21, 2017
"60 Minutes" news correspondent Lesley Stahl and Rev. Columba Stewart, OSB, HMML executive director, walking in Iraq.
The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) at Saint John’s University will be featured on the CBS news program “60 Minutes” at 6 p.m. (CST), Sunday, Dec. 24. (Broadcast time is subject to change. Check local listings.)
“60 Minutes” news correspondent, Lesley Stahl, interviewed the Rev. Columba Stewart, OSB, HMML executive director, in Iraq, where HMML is partnering with displaced Iraqi Christians to digitize thousands of manuscripts that document the region’s culture and history. These collections are at risk of disappearing because of war, looting, disasters and neglect.
To make these digital resources accessible and searchable, HMML developed vHMMLSM, (Virtual HMML), a sophisticated database that allows users to search for manuscripts by country, repository, author, language, genre, date, features, city or even script. Vhmml is one of the world’s largest and most culturally diverse online collection of manuscript images.
HMML is currently digitizing both Christian and Islamic manuscript collections at 16 fieldwork sites in 11 countries. A global cultural organization, HMML’s mission is to preserve and share the world’s manuscript heritage. Established in 1965, HMML has formed partnerships with more than 580 libraries and archives worldwide. HMML has three areas of focus: digital preservation of rare and endangered manuscripts; archiving, cataloging and sharing these resources online; and fostering research and scholarship opportunities into the cultures that produced them.
HMML curates exhibitions, hosts scholars, classes and workshops throughout the year, and is also the home of The Saint John’s Bible, a modern handwritten, illuminated, Bible in English.