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Bach to Baseball Cards
Preserving the Nation's Heritage at the Library of Congress
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Manuscripts
African & Middle Eastern Division
Islamic Calligraphy: The Koran
The Koran
[Islamic Calligraphy]
Calligraphy sheets, some fragments
9th and 10th century
These fragments of the Koran in Kufic script date from the 3-4th centuries A.H./9-10th centuries A.D. More than 200 such calligraphy sheets as well as several items representing most styles of Arabic/Islamic calligraphy are available to researchers through the Near East Section of the Library's African and Middle Eastern Reading Room.
Treatment: "Long fiber" repair was made to the calligraphy sheets using fibrous paper made from the bark of the indigenous Japanese Kozo plant. The fibers are adhered with starch paste, an extremely pure paste that is soluble in water so the repairs can be removed if need be. The surfaces were dusted and cleaned, any distortions in the sheets were relaxed, and crude paper patches and labels were removed from the sheets.
Washington Haggadah
Joel ben Simeon
[Copied and illustrated manuscript "Washington Haggadah"]
Manuscript, 1478
This medieval Hebrew illuminated manuscript, in ink, gouache, and gold leaf on parchment, was copied and illustrated by Joel ben Simeon in 1478. It is known as the "Washington Haggadah" because of its location at the Library of Congress. The vivid illuminations, the charm and humor of the illustrations, and the beauty of the calligraphy have made this one of the most admired of Hebrew manuscripts.
Treatment: Conservators disbound the manuscript, dry cleaned the leaves, reversed discoloration, consolidated pigments and flattened leaves through humidification. They also made minor mends and repairs.
Scroll of Esther
Ashkenazi Megulat
[The Book of Esther]
Scroll, 14 or 15th century
The Ashkenazi Megillat Ether (scroll of the Book of Esther), from the Hebraic Section of the Library, is notable for its age, size, and distinguished calligraphy. It is from the 14th/15th C. Each sheet is approximately 32 inches high, and each letter is 3/4 of an inch. This suggests congregational use when read communally on the festival of Purim.
Treatment: After examination, conservators consolidated unstable ink throughout the scroll. Each parchment sheet was dry-cleaned by brushing and vacuuming and then gently humidified and flattened. Tears and losses were repaired with long fibered Japanese paper.
Persian Wedding Contract
Persian Wedding Contract
[Illuminated Marriage Certificate]
Paper, 1804 A.D.
Persian wedding contracts such as this are unique in that they are considered permanent, and they stipulate how much the groom's family must pay the wife should she become a widow.
Treatment: Conservators de-silked the contract. They then removed earlier paper patches by using limited moisture with poultices. They removed any residual adhesive and flattened the paper, working out as many wrinkles as possible. Finally, they mended the paper using Japanese paper.
Asian Division
One Million Sutra
Hyakumanto Dharani
[One Million Sutra]
Scrolls, 770 AD
The Hyakumanto Dharani are among the world's oldest extant samples of printing, dating from 770 A.D. They are small scrolls consisting of four dharani, passages from a Buddhist sutra used as prayers. The Empress Shotoku, grateful for the end of an eight-year civil war in Japan, ordered that the dharani be printed and placed in "one million" tiny wooden pagodas as memorials to the dead. The pagodas were distributed to 10 temples throughout Japan. There are three original prayers and pagoda in the Library's Japanese collection.
Treatment: Conservators carefully unrolled the paper scrolls and humidified and flattened them. The scrolls were housed between two pieces of plexiglass spaced with a frame of clear polypropylene. The scrolls and pagoda are stored in specially constructed, cloth-covered boxes.
Rare Books & Special Collections Division
Contents of Lincoln's Pockets
Abraham Lincoln
[Contents of Lincoln's Pockets]
When Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865, he was carrying two pairs of spectacles and a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a watch fob, a linen handkerchief, and a brown leather wallet containing a five-dollar Confederate note and nine newspaper clippings, including several favorable to the president and his policies.
Treatment: Conservators made a special box for the objects, repaired the wallet using new treated leather; and repaired the glasses case. They created a special drop-spine box for each item, including the Confederate $5 bill and folded newspaper article.