The Hill Museum and Manuscript Library at St. John’s University will be featured on the CBS news program “60 Minutes” at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 24.
Lesley Stahl, news correspondent for “60 Minutes,” interviewed Benedictine Father Columba Stewart, 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.
Additionally, HMML is currently digitizing both Christian and Islamic manuscript collections at 16 fieldwork sites in 11 countries. As a global cultural organization, HMML’s mission is to preserve and share the world’s manuscript heritage and 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 also 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.