Library at St. John’s Receives 324K Grant for Digital Manuscript Studies Program

COLLEGEVILLE -- The Hill Museum and Manuscript Library at St. John's University will be creating a new digital platform for manuscript studies.

Thanks to a nearly $324,000 grant and $42,430 in matching funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the library can develop Virtual HMML 3.0.

The first version of Virtual HMML was created in 2015. It was designed for undergraduates, graduate students, scholars, library professionals and anyone else who has a interest in the manuscript studies.

The platform helps users learn about new manuscripts, find new texts, compare different versions of text in several languages and trace the circulation and use of manuscripts throughout time periods and cultures.

Last August, the second version of Virtual HMML launched, which added the Reading Room. The Reading Room made endangered or inaccessible manuscript books available for users.

Version 3 will enhance what is already offered to help users discover more manuscripts and associated metadata as well as allow them to share data for digital humanities projects.

The Hill Museum and Manuscript Library has the world's largest collection of online resources to study manuscript cultures in the East and West.