Cataloging is complete for the 28 microfilm reels of the Donald Davies Microfilm Collection. In 1968, Donald Davies traveled around Ethiopia and Eritrea, microfilming manuscripts with the permission of Abuna Theophilus, the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawāḥedo Church. Davies visited 23 churches and monasteries and microfilmed 38 manuscripts. He deposited copies of these photographs on 28 reels of microfilms at HMML, where they have been available for research ever since. In 1979, William F. Macomber cataloged many of these manuscripts in an unpublished handlist: Catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts from Abbā Garimā, As̆atan (Church of St. Mary), Axum (Church of Zion), Dabra Bizan, Dabra Dāmo, Dabra Libanos, Gunda Gundē, Kebrān, Lālibalā (Church of the Savior of the World, Emmanuel Church), Maqalē, Ura, Kidāna Meḥrat, Monastery of Dabra Dāgā (Church of St. Stephen), Monastery of Lake Zewāy, Dabra Māryām, National Library and Haiq from microfilms in the collection of Dr. Donald Davies, De Land, Florida and Godfrey, Ontario, and of the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota. Additional cataloging work on these manuscripts and others has been done by Dr. Jeremy R. Brown, HMML cataloger of Ethiopic manuscripts. The Davies family generously has given permission for this microfilm collection to be made freely available online in Reading Room.

Donald Davies’ goal for his microfilming project was to create a photographic record of the oldest Biblical manuscripts in Ethiopia as witnesses to the early text of the Bible. Because of this goal, his microfilm collection is a treasure trove of some of the earliest witnesses to the Bible in Ge'ez. This includes the famed Gospel manuscripts from Endā Abbā Garimā Monastery (SEP DAVIES 00001) and (SEP DAVIES 00002), a 12th-century Gospel manuscript from Madḫānē Ālam Church in Lālibalā (SEP DAVIES 00023), and a Gospel manuscript from Dabra Māryām dating to the 13th or 14th century (SEP DAVIES 00012). Davies also microfilmed three manuscripts in the famed monastery of Dabra Bizan in Eritrea, providing important witnesses to the manuscript traditions of Eritrea (SEP DAVIES 00006) and (SEP DAVIES 00007). In addition to Biblical manuscripts, he also microfilmed several manuscripts of the Miracles of Mary, including a manuscript with 61 full-page paintings from Dabra Warq (SEP DAVIES 00013).

This collection has already had significant influence on critical editions of the Ge'ez Bible since it was microfilmed, particularly for the study of the Gospels, and we are grateful to the Davies family for helping make this important collection available to an even wider audience. View now