A Virtual Manuscript Reading Room

FAIN: PX-50046-09

Yale University (New Haven, CT 06510-1703)
Ann G. Okerson (Project Director: March 2009 to June 2011)

A pilot project to create an archive of and gateway to important manuscripts, related manuscript catalogs, and historical dictionaries in Arabic and Persian (19,800 pages) held separately in the collections at Yale University and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Yale and SOAS propose to build a virtual manuscript reading room that will 1) create an integrated set of full-text digital resources supporting manuscript research from manuscript catalogs and dictionaries by converting materials in Arabic, Persian, and Western scripts (Latin, German, Spanish, and French) and depositing these into searchable repositories; 2) augment existing digital collections of Arabic and Persian manuscripts by digitizing selected historical manuscripts, which highlight the contribution made to world knowledge by Middle Eastern philosophers, physicians, and scientists; and 3) develop an infrastructure, scalable for other collections rich in manuscripts and reference materials, to integrate manuscripts with related reference resources by building tools to analyze digitized materials and construct internal cross-references for connecting the materials in the archive. Cross-collection searching will enable patrons to explore the united collections simultaneously.