Hill Monastic Manuscript Library Appointment

Collegeville, Minn. - The Hill Monastic Manuscript Library at Saint John's University recently announced the appointment of Shaun Sommerer as its new director of development and marketing. Sommerer began his duties on July 1. For the past two years Shaun has served as director of development for the Diocese of New Ulm, where he established a comprehensive development program, including planned giving and grant writing. Prior to that he worked in academia as a chemistry professor, most notably as assistant chair of physical sciences at Barry University in Miami, Fla. Sommerer received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from SJU in 1984, his master's degree in chemistry from South Dakota State University in 1987, and his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Florida in 1991. Sommerer is also currently working on a master's degree in theology at the Saint John's School of Theology· Seminary.

The Hill Monastic Manuscript Library has the dual purpose of preserving handwritten manuscript treasures on film and making them available to scholars. Since the library was established as a sponsored program of SJU in 1964, it has systematically microfilmed complete collections of manuscripts in libraries and archives throughout Europe and Africa. The manuscripts, now preserved on microfilm at Saint John's, were largely written by hand and have been preserved by Benedictine and other libraries. Through the production of catalogs and other tools of access, HMML has become a national resource for the documentation and study of the historical periods represented. This "collection of collections" at Saint John's contains nearly 30 million pages of microfilmed documentation.