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HMML

@visithmml.bsky.social

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The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) photographs, catalogs, & provides access to manuscripts—partnering with more than 1,500 libraries worldwide to preserve & share handwritten history. Learn more: hmml.org

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HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 1h

This past year, HMML upgraded many of the underlying servers and systems that support HMML’s websites, including Reading Room (vhmml.org), which had a 99.998% “uptime” (online availability) this year.

Learn more about HMML's digital tools for manuscript scholarship: hmml.org/research/digital-tools

Online resources for the study of manuscript cultures.

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 2d

A collection of Urdu poems by Muṣḥafī (1750–1824), including a portrait of the author, is preserved in a manuscript digitized last year in the collection of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Research Library, New Delhi, India.

View each page in HMML Reading Room (FAARL 00032): vhmml.org/readingRoom/view/869605

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 7d

Step into the dramatic world of Baroque Italy, where Artemisia Gentileschi—one of the most celebrated women painters of 17th-century Europe—measured her genius against the towering legacy of Michelangelo.

This free, in-person lecture will be recorded. RSVP: https://hmml.org/programs/events/

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 9d

By October 15, apply for a fellowship to fund your visit to HMML in Collegeville, Minnesota, for research residencies to be completed between January 1 and June 30, 2026.

Learn more: hmml.org/research/fellowships
Application deadline: October 15

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 11d

Did you know that HMML adds information to Wikidata (wikidata.org)? Last year, we added 1,445 HMML IDs to Wikidata from HMML Authority File (haf.vhmml.org), for a total of 11,719 existing Wikidata objects with HMML IDs.

Learn how HMML creates name authorities: hmml.org/stories/the-power-of-a-name

The Power of a Name

NEH grant for cataloging, to create an authority file system database, and work with Library of Congress (LC) and Virtual International Authority File (VIAF)

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 13d

In early modern Europe, the election of a new Grand Master of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem was a momentous occasion.

Dr. Daniel K. Gullo shares examples of its celebration: hmml.org/stories/series-celebrations-the-election-the-grand-master-of-the-order-of-saint-john-in-early-modern-europe

Celebrating the Election the Grand Master of the Order of Saint John in Early Modern Europe

“In early modern Europe, the election of the Grand Master of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem was a momentous occasion celebrated...”

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 15d

🧵(7) For more Porphyrian Trees in the #manuscript collection of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Kaslik, Lebanon, see:

OLM 01372: www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/...

OLM 01367: www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/...

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 15d

🧵(6) The Arabic versions use the name Zayd, a common figure in Islamic tradition. For example, in OLM 00011, folio 38r (pictured): www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/...

Collection of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Kaslik, Lebanon.

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 15d

🧵(5) In place of philosophers’ names like Socrates, Plato, or Cicero, which appear at the roots of the Latin version of the tree, the Arabic Garshuni versions feature Christian names such as Peter, Paul, and John (OLM 00346, folios 11r–10v, pictured): www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/...

Collection of the Lebanese Maronite Order, Kaslik, Lebanon. (OLM 00346, folios 11r–10v)

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 15d

🧵(4) OLM 01367 contains two different works on logic, each featuring its own depiction of the tree (for example, folios 18r–17v, pictured): www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/...

Folios 18r–17v, in a manuscript in the collection of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Kaslik, Lebanon (OLM 01367): https://www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/view/507976

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 15d

🧵(3) Sr. Marie-Thérèse Elia (cataloger of Maronite manuscripts at HMML from 2021 to 2024) identified numerous examples of Porphyrian Trees that were digitized and cataloged in the manuscript collection of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Kaslik, Lebanon.

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 15d

🧵(2) By the Middle Ages, the Porphyrian Tree had become a part of philosophical and religious education (which is why it appears in many works on logic) and its influence extended to Arabic manuscripts.

Pictured (OLM 01367, folios 89r–88v): www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/...

Collection of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Kaslik, Lebanon. (OLM 01367, folios 89r–88v): https://www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/view/507976

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 15d

🧵(1) The Porphyrian Tree is a logic diagram used to explain Aristotle's "Categories," as outlined in Porphyry's commentary the "Isagoge.” The tree progressively subdivides “Being” into genera and species, ultimately reaching “Man,” with the names of individual people at the roots.

Collection of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Kaslik, Lebanon. (OLM 01367, folios 16r–15v): https://www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/view/507976

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 17d

A wrapper for a deck of tarot cards made by Joseph Galler, a maker of playing cards who was active in Brussels in the 17th century. The woodcut image depicts allegorical figures of Youth and Wealth.

Collection of Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota (AAP2372): vhmml.org/museum/view/9597

The woodcut image on this card wrapper depicts the allegorical figures of Youth and Wealth, flanking a central cartouche depicting a tree. Text gives the name of the associated manufacturer, “Cartes tres fines de la fabrique de Joseph Galler a Bruxelles."

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 18d

A depiction of the inner-workings of HMML Authority File (haf.vhmml.org), showing the node for the city “Valletta (Malta)” and its relationship properties within the database.

Learn about the making of HMML Authority File: hmml.org/stories/sharing-the-past-to-build-toward-future-scholarship

Reposted by HMML

Óscar Perea Rodríguez @opr71.bsky.social · 19d

Qué maravilla esta, una lengua romance escrita en otro alfabeto diferente al latino. Me viene de perlas para mis clases de literatura aljamiada.

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 19d

🧵(4) At the time, Romanian was written in the Cyrillic script (and was until the early 19th century). Today, this may be mistaken for Church Slavonic. However, as in ASNM 00419, a letter can reveal the true identity of the text: ꙟ (/î/), a character unique to the Cyrillic alphabet used for Romanian.

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 19d

🧵(5) View the full manuscript in HMML Reading Room (collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum, L’viv, Ukraine; ASNM 00419): www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/...

Learn more about HMML’s projects photographing manuscripts in Ukraine: hmml.org/stories/where-were-working%E2%80%93l-viv-ukraine-2022

ASNM 00419 - Ukraine - Lʹviv - Nat︠s︡ionalʹnyĭ muzeĭ u Lʹvovi imeni Andrei︠a︡ Sheptyt︠s︡ʹkoho - Ркк-527 - Reading Room - vHMML

Resources and Tools for Manuscript Studies

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 19d

🧵(4) At the time, Romanian was written in the Cyrillic script (and was until the early 19th century). Today, this may be mistaken for Church Slavonic. However, as in ASNM 00419, a letter can reveal the true identity of the text: ꙟ (/î/), a character unique to the Cyrillic alphabet used for Romanian.

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 19d

🧵(3) A brief note in Romanian appears at the top of folios 1v–5r of manuscript ASNM 00419. This one-line inscription records that in 1672 CE, a woman named Mălina, along with her husband and other family members, purchased the manuscript, probably for the local new church.

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

A manuscript in the collection of the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv, Ukraine. (ASNM 00419)

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 19d

🧵(2) Given this rich cultural tapestry, it is unsurprising to find handwritten notes in Polish, Latin, Ruthenian, or Church Slavonic (in its Eastern variant) throughout these manuscripts. Occasionally, HMML cataloger Dr. Constanța Burlacu finds traces of another language—such as Romanian.

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 19d

🧵(1) The manuscripts housed at the Sheptytsky National Museum in L’viv primarily originate from Western Ukraine—a historical crossroads where Slavic cultures (Ukrainian, Polish, and Ruthenian) intersected with diverse religious traditions, including Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Greek Catholicism.

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 20d

🧵 Learn more about HMML’s collections—approximately 486,000 manuscripts photographed in partnership with more than 1,500 repositories worldwide: hmml.org/collections/

HMML Collections page

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 20d

🧵 44,038 manuscripts were added to the image server for HMML Reading Room (vhmml.org).

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 20d

🧵 79 rare books in HMML’s Special Collections were photographed and made available online.

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 20d

🧵 746,653 primary digital images were created by the scanning of microfilms at HMML.