We have another four projects that recently went online to highlight this month, including two from Peru:

• Manuscripts and Documents at the Biblioteca Generale di Terra Santa: the second step [EAP1142]
• The Ancash Community Archive Digitisation (ACAD) Project, Peru [EAP1325]
• Traditional Mongolian Script Newspapers at Sukhbaatar District Library (1928-1935) [EAP1391]
• 19th-century documents from the Peruvian asylum el Manicomio del Cercado [EAP1402]

Manuscripts and Documents at the Biblioteca Generale di Terra Santa: the second step [EAP1142]

This major digitisation project led by Professor Ewa Balicka-Witakowska, followed on from a previous project to digitise manuscripts in the collection of the Biblioteca Generale (BG) at St Saviour Monastery in Old Jerusalem.

The EAP1142 team digitised more than 100,000 pages of manuscripts and documents that date back as far as the 14th century and as recently as the 20th century.

Inside cover of Regulation of the Fratri minori, late 19th century [EAP1142/1/1/50]

 

The Ancash Community Archive Digitisation (ACAD) Project, Peru [EAP1325]

Led by Dr Frank Michel Meddens, this pilot project produced a survey of archival material within two communities near the village of Pamparomás, in Peru. In discussions with members of the town council of Pamparomás, three communities with early Spanish colonial foundation settlement (AD 1532-1615) and possible surviving archives were selected for this survey: Chaclancayo, Cosma and Jimbe. Though the latter was considered too remote to investigate in the time available to project members during the 2022 fieldwork season.

The EAP1325 team also digitised a small sample of documents.

 

Traditional Mongolian Script Newspapers at Sukhbaatar District Library (1928-1935) [EAP1391]

This digitisation project followed on from a previous project to digitise Mongolian newspapers written in traditional Mongolian script. Led by Mr Bayasgalan Bayanbat at the Monsound and Vision Foundation, this latest project digitised the following newspaper titles:

• Unen [Үнэн] (1928-1932)
• Ardyn Undesnii Erkh [Ардын Үндэсний эрх] (1932-1935)

The previous project, also led by Bayasgalan, digitised the following newspapers:

• Unen [Үнэн] (1942-1945)
• Ardyn Undesnii Erkh [Ардын Үндэсний Эрх] (1936-1941)

The editions concern a wide range of topics, including politics, economy, science, education, international affairs and home affairs.

It is noteworthy that while the traditional Mongolian script title remains consistent in each edition of the newspaper, the Cyrillic script and Latin script variants of the title differ across the collection. This is a sign of the Sovietisation of Mongolia during the 1930s and 40s, including an alteration to the Mongolian language, with the traditional Mongolian script replaced with Cyrillic.

Ardyn Undesnii Erkh (28 December 1935), EAP1391/1/2/232

 

19th-century documents from the Peruvian asylum el Manicomio del Cercado [EAP1402]

In another Peruvian project, Ms Irène Favier led a major project that digitised a collection of damaged 19th century medical documents from the Cercado asylum. The documents span from 1859-1920 and include:

• Book of General Expenses of the Lima Insane Asylum (1860-1874)
• Book of the General Budget of the Lima Insane Asylum (1860 to 1874 and from 1885 to 1890)
• Copying books of notes and reports and correspondence of the Lima Insane Asylum (1888 to 1919)
• Statistical Book of the general movement of the Lima Insane Asylum (1888-1899)
• Books of the Women's Admission Registers of the Lima Insane Asylum (1859-1908 / 1915-1919)
• Book of the Men's Admission Registers of the Lima Insane Asylum (1915-1920)
• Medical Records of patients of the Lima Insane Asylum (1900-1914)
• Correspondence book of the Lima Asylum (1888-1899)
• Correspondence book of the Lima Asylum (1899-1919)

The EAP1402 project team

 

 

EAP1470 has started with a bang - an exhibition at the State Archives of the Republic of North Macedonia to celebrate the 140th anniversary of the birth of Milton Manaki. Milton, along with his brother, are known as the first cinematographers in the Balkans. Photographers who left a lasting legacy with their work not only within the Balkans but also further afield. This significant photographic archive will be digitised as part of EAP1470.

Exhibition Poster

The exhibition was officially opened by Minister Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojčevska on 21 August 2022, and is part of the international Cinematographers film festival “Manaki Brothers”, which is traditionally held in Bitola and is supported by the Ministry of Culture.

The display consists of 18 panels that reveal the most significant segments of Milton's work and life, and glass cases containing his photographic equipment, including his Camera 300. Original documents are also on show, as well as a digital exhibition that thematically and chronologically deals with his photographic work.

Panel "Milton and the Archive"

Panel "Beyond National Boundaries"

Milton's Camera Equipment

It is clear from the pictures sent by Goce Stojanovski, Head of the Bitola Department at the State Archive and project lead for EAP1470, the opening was a huge success and we are looking forward to making the Manaki Brothers' photographs available online - it is obvious there are some gems amongst the archive.

L-R: Maja Andovska Ilijevska (Director of Centre for culture Bitola) , Goce Stojanovski (Head of the Bitola Department at the State Archive and project lead for EAP1470),  Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojčevska (Minister for Culture) , H.E. Matthew Lawson (Ambassador of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland) and  Meri Stojanova (Director of the Museum in Bitola)

 

We are pleased to announce the dates of the Webinars for Applicants to Round 18. The call goes out on 19^th September and we encourage anyone interested in submitting an application to attend the webinar which will give a broad overview of the requirements of the Programme and things to take into consideration for this latest round.

We will hold two identical webinars, in the morning and afternoon to accommodate different time zones:

Wednesday, 21^st September 2022 at 11.00 to 12.00 BST and 15.00 to 16.00 BST

During the webinars, we will discuss the EAP Round 18 application process and we will answer any questions. Please send any questions you might have in advance to [email protected].

Please register for your webinar of choice at the following links.

11.00 to 12.00 BST: Morning: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oOXGYCJZSTW-NxTOwMIhtQ

15.00 to 16.00 BST: Afternoon: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kfg89TC-R2GiNK1fHgXIPA

We look forward to seeing you!

We are delighted to be partnering with Chevening to offer a professional development fellowship.

The Chevening Fellow will develop a community crowdsourcing project to improve the discoverability of approximately 10,000 digitised West African manuscripts within the EAP collections. We are keen to ensure these manuscripts are assigned titles in Arabic script, making them more accessible to local researchers.

The fellowship will be based with the EAP team and offers the chance to spend 12 months 'behind-the-scenes' at the British Library. It is open to anyone based in Mali, Niger, Nigeria or Senegal.

For more information please visit the Chevening website.

The closing date is 1 November 2022.

This month we are highlighting four pilot projects that have recently been made available online, from Indonesia, Kenya, Russia, and Tunisia.

• Early Cyrillic books and manuscripts of old believers communities in Kostroma, Russia [EAP990]
• Family Manuscript Libraries on the island of Jerba, Tunisia [EAP993]
• Endangered manuscripts digitised in Kampar, Riau Province, Indonesia [EAP1020]
• County Council of Nairobi Minute Books digitised at McMillan Memorial Library, Nairobi, Kenya [EAP1357]

Early Cyrillic books and manuscripts of old believers communities in Kostroma, Russia [EAP990]

Led by Dr Ilya Nagradov, this project (awarded in 2018) digitised a total of 174 books and manuscripts located at traditional residing places of old believers in the Kostroma region of Russia.

Old Believers are Eastern Orthodox Christians who follow a form of Christianity that pre-dates the reforms of Patriarch Nixon, who aimed to unite the practices of the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches in the mid 17th century.

The EAP990 project team digitising

Family Manuscript Libraries on the island of Jerba [EAP993]

This pilot project, led by Dr Paul Love, digitised manuscripts and documents located at the private residence of the El Bessi family. The manuscripts originally belonged to the endowed collection of the al-Bāsī mosque in Waligh, Jerba (Tunisia), which operated from the 18th to the early-20th century.

The texts in the El Bessi library deal with a variety of religious topics including law and theology, as well as biography and poetry. Alongside religious texts, however, the collection holds several works on rhetoric and language as well as the sciences. While many of the manuscripts were written by Sunni-Muslim authors from the Hanafi and Maliki schools of Islam, others were authored by the minority Ibadi-Muslim community on the island. Ibadis are neither Sunni nor Shi’i Muslims and most of their texts today remain in private collections like this one. Having been protected for centuries by Ibadis, collections like this one and many others on the island of Jerba are in danger of being lost forever.

Almost all items are in Arabic, although Turkish appears occasionally as a language of commentary or marginal notes.

This pilot project led to a follow on major project, which has digitised a further seven Arabic library collections in Jerba, Tunisia; the results of which will hopefully go online later this year. But in the meantime, the EAP993 project has produced nearly 100,000 digital images to keep you busy until then.

 

Endangered manuscripts digitised in Kampar, Riau Province, Indonesia [EAP1020]

This pilot project, led by Mr Fiqru Mafar, produced a survey of manuscripts located in the Kampar region of Indonesia.

The team also digitised manuscripts at 11 different locations.

The dates of the manuscripts range from the 17th century to the 21st century. The oldest manuscript can be dated back to 1668.

The front cover of al Quran, EAP1020/5/1 (left); A stamp, EAP1020/2/3 (right)

County Council of Nairobi Minute Books digitised at McMillan Memorial Library, Nairobi, Kenya [EAP1357]

Led by Ms Angela Wachuka, the EAP1357 team, including digitisation coordinator Maureen Mumbua, digitised minute book volumes for the County Council of Nairobi, Kenya from 1920s-1950s.

This collection, located at the McMillan Memorial Libary, provides unique visual documentation of Kenya’s politics, history and culture during the colonial era, by capturing the City Council’s meeting notes concerning parliamentary matters,  historical events and daily life in this significant period. 

Municipal Council of Nairobi Minutes of Proceedings of The Council and of the Several Committees Thereof for the Month of May, 1940 (EAP1357/1/1)

In 2021, the British Library launched a project to establish a network of institutional hubs as a framework for local training and outreach work. We are very happy to announce that the School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University, Kolkata has been chosen as the EAP Regional Hub for South Asia. The SCTR has been associated with eight EAP projects. As a Regional Hub, it will carry out activities through a series of workshops in collaboration with the British Library. 

Workshop on 14 September 2022 

The first workshop will take place on Wednesday 14 September 2022. We welcome individuals, institutions and organisations in South Asia who are interested in applying for EAP grants and understanding the nature of a digitisation project workflow. We especially encourage first-time applicants to attend this workshop. All applicants are requested to write a paragraph or two about why they wish to participate. 

The workshop will be held in hybrid mode, i.e. in-person at Jadavpur University and online. The workshop will feature instructional videos by British Library staff, which will give an overview of caring for items before and during digitisation as well as imaging equipment and standards. In-person speakers will include past EAP grant holders from the School who will share their experience and expertise and provide practical instruction on various aspects of digitisation. 

Please note that while participation in the workshop is free, no financial support can be provided for travel, board and lodging. 

RSVP and any queries: [email protected] 

Last date for enrolment: 22 August 2022 

Digitisation for the project EAP1247 "Songs of the Old Madmen: Recovering Baul Songs from the Note-Books of 19th and 20th Century Bengali Saint-Composers", where SCTR, Jadavpur University acted as the Archival Partner.

The British Library's International Team is seeking an International Engagement Manager to work with partners across the world and lead on setting up international hubs for EAP.

You would be working across both the International Office and the Endangered Archives Programme with a focus on skills and knowledge exchange. You would administer the already established International Library Leaders Programme, as well as setting up the Endangered Archives Programme Regional Network Hubs. These hubs would involve creating partnerships with institutions in various geographic regions and working with them to deliver a series of training sessions and workshops.

The closing date is 16 August 2022 and if this sounds interesting, do look at the job description on the British Library website.

We have another 4 new projects online to bring to your attention. This time from Indonesia, Iran, India, and West Africa:

• Bima Manuscripts [EAP988]
• Zoroastrian historical documents and Avestan manuscripts [EAP1014]
• Private records of leading business families of Early Colonial Bengal [EAP1104]
• Pulaar Islamic Texts: Six Archives of the Taal Families in Senegal and Mali [EAP1245]

Bima Manuscripts [EAP988]

Led by Dr Titik Pudjiastuti, this pilot project digitised 205 manuscripts that represent the history and culture of Bima - one of the provinces in Nusa Tenggara Barat, in the eastern part of Sumabawa Island, Indonesia.

In 2016, these manuscripts survived an avalanche and flood that affected the region. And this project has gone some way to helping protecting the manuscripts against future natural disasters.

Bismillahirrahmanirrahiim [A treatise of the spirits (Ruh)], EAP988/1/1

Zoroastrian historical documents and Avestan manuscripts [EAP1014]

This major project was led by Dr Saloumeh Gholami. It digitised 11 manuscripts containing more than 8,000 pages. It also digitised more than 15,000 historical, economic, and legal documents regarding the religious minority of Zoroastrians in Iran.

The collection came to light in February 2016 in a Zoroastrian house in the Priests' Quarter [Maḥalle-ye dastūrān] in Yazd in Iran. Arabab Mehraban Poulad, a famous Zoroastrian merchant from a priest family, had accumulated and archived his own documents and Avestan manuscripts as well as the documents of his father and grandfather over the course of his lifetime. This collection now belongs to his grandchild Mehran Pouladi.

The EAP1014 team digitising the archive.

Private records of leading business families of Early Colonial Bengal [EAP1104]

Led by Dr Tridibsantapa Kundu, this major project digitised the private records of 11 leading business families of colonial Bengal. This project built on the EAP906 pilot project, also led by Dr Tridibsantapa Kundu, where 25 business families were approached and a survey of the various collections was produced.

These collections are important for understanding the Bengali business community and their strategies in dealing with the English East India Company and the British Raj.

Cheque or money receipt issued by King Hamilton & Co., EAP1104/9/3

 

Pulaar Islamic Texts: Six Archives of the Taal Families in Senegal and Mali [EAP1245]

Led by Dr Mohamed Mwamzandi and Dr Samba Camara, this project digitised manuscripts written by some of the most influential Haalpulaar (speakers of Pulaar) Islamic scholars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Pulaar is a variety of the Fula/Fulani language spoken by over five million people in the West African countries of Senegal, The Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea, and Mali. About 40 million Africans use varieties of the Fula/Fulani language. And you can read more about these manuscripts and the project to digitise them in a blog post written by the project's co-lead, Dr Samba Camara.

Left image: left to right. Dr. Nzale, Mountaga Ba, Kerry Bannen, and Dr Camara; Right image: A view of the Mount Tapa. in town of Koniakary. in southwestern Mali.