Introduction to the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library

The Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library (EMML) began as a joint project of the central administration of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library (HMML) of Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota; and the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. In 1971 His Holiness Abune Theophilos, Patriarch of the EOC, concerned over the disappearance of the Church's literary heritage, asked Professor Walter Harrelson of Vanderbilt University if he knew of any financial resource to microfilm its manuscripts. Upon his return to the United States, Professor Harrelson contacted Professor Julian Plante, Director of HMML, and secured his cooperation in beginning the project.

Ethiopian Patriarch Abuna Theophilos and Dr. Sergew Hable-Sellassie examine manuscripts for the EMML microfilming project. Abuna Theophilos died a political prisoner of the post-revolution Ethiopian government, ca. 1979 (Photograph taken early 1970s)

HMML raised money for the microfilm project in the United States, obtaining important grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation. Microfilming started in 1973, with the contract given to the University Microfilms International (UMI), Ann Arbor, Michigan. Under the terms of the contract, UMI stored the microfilm negatives and distributed copies to EOC, Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES) of the Addis Ababa University, the Addis Ababa EMML office, and the HMML.

The field office in Addis Ababa, where the filming took place, was directed by Professor Sergew Hable-Selassie, who served the project until 1978. The director was assisted by a committee composed of native scholars and the two Americans, Harrelson and Plante.

The project microfilmed manuscripts from church and monastic libraries, private libraries, souvenir shops and bazaars. One of the major problems the project encountered was convincing the owners of manuscripts to permit filming. For example, even the National Library and the Library of the IES did not permit all their manuscripts to be filmed. Another problem was selecting the manuscripts to be filmed. Normally, age of the manuscript would be the determining factor, but some manuscripts (such as EMML 204) were modern copies of much earlier texts that were otherwise inaccessible. The decision to microfilm collections in their entirety has turned up some treasures, but also has resulted in a huge collection of psalters, missals, and other books of ritual.

Political upheavals in Ethiopia affected the project. In 1974 the armed forces took over political power in Ethiopia, and the political atmosphere created by the new military socialist government forced the resignation of the director. The joint project was interrupted in 1987, but filming continued until 1991. Unfortunately, a second wave of upheaval then prevented the resumption and extension of microfilming from Shoa to the major regions of literary tradition, such as Gonder, Gojjam, Tigray, and Eritrea. There are still microfilms in Ethiopia that have yet to be shipped to the United States, and there are hopes that filming will continue again.

The EMML project has proved the value of preserving manuscripts on microfilm. Since they were filmed, some of the manuscripts have been dispersed; others have simply disappeared. EMML’s manuscripts make significant contributions to the study of the history of Christianity in general and the Ethiopian State and Church in particular, and scholars have edited many texts from this project. Of about 8000 manuscripts on microfilm, close to 5000 have been catalogued and published in ten volumes (1975-1991), prepared jointly or separately by William F. Macomber and Getatchew Haile, under the title A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville. The eleventh volume with a description of 1000 manuscripts will be published shortly. The project of putting online the information in the catalogues is already underway. It can be viewed at the Library's web site http://www.hmml.org and manuscript copies, either on film or paper, can be ordered from the web site as well as the catalogues.

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