Lost and Found in Translation
Language is complex, carrying with it cultural perspectives, emotional subtexts, and implicit assumptions. Translators may try to capture the hidden valences of words, only to find that new meanings are created at the expense of the intended ones.

HMML’s catalogers and curators continue to grapple with the challenges of translation while making our microfilm and digital collections accessible. The objects in this exhibition represent HMML’s multilingual work over the past 60 years, while the featured languages, scripts, and faith traditions reflect HMML’s intercultural vision.

The Rosetta Stone is a famous and dramatic example of a multilingual text allowing scholars to read a once-forgotten language. In this exhibition, we invite you not only to read about each object but to read the object itself. To this end, we have chosen passages that may be familiar to you or accompanied by a language you may know—hopefully inspiring “Rosetta Stone” moments of your own.