HMML Global Operations: Ethiopia

Ethiopia


  • Region

    Africa
  • Country

    Ethiopia
  • Cities

    Addis Ababa, cities and sites across Tigray, Gojjam, Shewa, Wallo, and other provinces
  • Repositories

    National Archives and Library Agency of Ethiopia (NALA), The Institute for Ethiopian Studies at Addis Ababa University (IES), numerous church and monastic libraries, including Abba Garima, Agwaxa, Gishen Mariam, and Gunda Gundē
  • Languages

    Geʻez, Amharic, and Arabic
  • Project Dates

    1974–1994, 2006, 2013
  • Partners

    Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library (EMML), Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Ethiopia was HMML’s first project with Eastern Christian manuscripts and its first in Africa. That pioneering effort in the 1970s created the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library (EMML) a collection of some 9,000 manuscripts from across Ethiopia, allowing a full view of Ethiopic literature for the first time. Cataloger Dr. Getatchew Haile received a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of his life’s work on the collection, publishing a 10-volume EMML catalog with William Macomber between 1975 and 1993. Also in HMML’s microfilm collections are scans of non-EMML material from the UNESCO and Ernst Hammerschmidt Tanasee projects of the 1960s. Born-digital work in the 21st century has focused on collections that were not included in the EMML, notably manuscripts from the 15th-century monastery of Gunda Gundē (over 200 manuscripts photographed with Michael Gervers and Ewa Bailicka-Witakowska in 2006), Agwaxa Monastery (photographed by the same team in 2007), and the famed two-volume Abba Garima Gospels from the monastery of Endā Abbā Garimā (photographed in 2013)—all in Tigray Province. The collection also includes manuscripts from a recent collaboration with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church; the Ethiopian Manuscript Digital Archive (EMDA); manuscript images from Steve Delamarter's Ethiopian Manuscript Image Project (EMIP); and Islamic materials of Harar provided by the Sherif Harar City Museum.


Ethiopian manuscripts in carrying cases, Yeha, Tigray Province
Ethiopian manuscripts in carrying cases, Yeha, Tigray Province
Abba Garima Gospel book (<a href='https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/132896'>AG 1</a>)
Abba Garima Gospel book (AG 1)
Abdullahi Ali Sherif, Sherif Harar City Museum, Harar
Abdullahi Ali Sherif, Sherif Harar City Museum, Harar
Gospel book in monastic church in Yeha, Tigray Province
Gospel book in monastic church in Yeha, Tigray Province
Crossing Lake Tana in the Amhara region of the Ethiopian highlands using a traditional reed boat
Crossing Lake Tana in the Amhara region of the Ethiopian highlands using a traditional reed boat
The monastic council at Abba Garima Monastery, Tigray Provinces
The monastic council at Abba Garima Monastery, Tigray Provinces
Ethiopian manuscript containing Miracles of Mary (<a href='https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/201729'>EMML 9002</a>)
Ethiopian manuscript containing Miracles of Mary (EMML 9002)
In 1974, Dr. Sergew Hable Selassie (left) shows an EMML manuscript to the patriarch of the Ethiopian church, Abuna Theophilos in Addis Ababa
In 1974, Dr. Sergew Hable Selassie (left) shows an EMML manuscript to the patriarch of the Ethiopian church, Abuna Theophilos in Addis Ababa
Ethiopian boys reading a Geʻez manuscript, Yeha, Tigray Province
Ethiopian boys reading a Geʻez manuscript, Yeha, Tigray Province
Digitization training in 2007 at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa
Digitization training in 2007 at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa
Manuscript from Gunda Gundē (<a href='https://w3id.org/vhmml/readingRoom/view/138153'>GG 151</a>)
Manuscript from Gunda Gundē (GG 151)

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