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Category: Manuscripts

A short story about Potosi—the largest South American silver mine—in the Library’s Collections (Part 2)

Posted by: Giselle M. Avilés

This is a two-part blog post by Pamela Padilla, 2022 Summer participant in the Library of Congress Internship (LOCI) program with the Hispanic Reading Room, and a Library Science and History graduate student at Queens College, City University of New York.  Click here for the first part of Pamela’s research project. At one point one …

Happy 500th Anniversary, Old San Juan! Acquisitions about Puerto Rico at the Library of Congress

Posted by: Giselle M. Avilés

Puerto Rico is celebrating the 500th anniversary of the founding of Old San Juan, the oldest city in the United States, and we could not be more excited to share two recent acquisitions by the Latin American, Caribbean & European Division (LAC&E) which shed light on the historical details of Old San Juan and the …

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The 22nd Vardanants Day Armenian Lecture Series features “New Topics in Armenian History and Culture”

Posted by: Levon Avdoyan

(The following is a post by Levon Avdoyan, Area Specialist for Armenia and Georgia, Near East Section, African and Middle Eastern Division.) I first heard the rumblings early in 2017: “The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is going to have Armenia as one of its featured countries in 2018!” In Washington, DC rumors are rampant, but this one was …

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333: A Film on the Manuscripts of Timbuktu

Posted by: Anchi Hoh

(The following is a post by Marieta Harper, Area Specialist, African Section, African and Middle Eastern Division.) For almost a millennium, one of the world’s oldest manuscript collections has survived despite the vagaries of the weather, inadequate storage, termites, fire, theft, and wars. These are the manuscript collections of Timbuktu (a city on the edge …

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A Newly Acquired Tibetan Kanjur: The Dragon Tripitaka

Posted by: Anchi Hoh

(The following is a post by Susan Meinheit, Reference Specialist for Tibet, Asian Division) A very attractive task it is to pursue the gradual growth of the Kanjur and Tanjur through the course of many centuries, and to establish the chronology of the translations. (Berthold Laufer, “Notices of Books,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, …

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Waymarks of Benefits in the Library of Congress Collections

Posted by: Muhannad Salhi

(The following is a post by Muhannad Salhi, Arab World Specialist, African and Middle Eastern Division.) While famed for its splendid illuminated illustrations of Islamic holy sites including Mecca, Medina, the Ka’bah and the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), the uniqueness and significance of Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli’s “Dalā‘il al-Khayrāt wa-Shawāriq al-Anwār fī Dhikr al-Ṣalāt ‘alà …

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The Nekcsei-Lipócz Bible, a 14th-Century Illuminated Manuscript from Hungary

Posted by: Anchi Hoh

(The following is a post by Kenneth Nyirady, Reference Specialist for Hungary, in the Library’s European Division.) The Library of Congress possesses more than 1,500 editions of the Bible in over 150 languages. The most famous item in this collection is the 15th-century Gutenberg Bible, on permanent display in the Library’s Great Hall. Also on …