BYU Library Special Collections Presentation

My experience at the Special Collections presentation I had the opportunity to visit this week was one I enjoyed immensely. I spent the fall semester in London on a BYU Study Abroad Program, where I got to see in museums and libraries some very old texts and artifacts. That experience made viewing BYU’s collection that much more significant to me. I was impressed by the broad range of our collection.
Something that especially stood out to me was getting to see one of the original 5,000 Books of Mormon that were printed so many years ago. I love history and historical artifacts! I also really appreciated seeing the progression of writing through the history of our world. I have read about the ancient use of papyrus as writing material in my history textbooks, but to actually see and feel it was an incredible experience. No wonder ancient texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls have been not only preserved, but preserved very well. The writings we have today of ancient origin are so extremely important: they provide us with history, with our scriptures, with significant insight into the past. We talked in the seminar about scribes and their role throughout the ages. I wonder if they fully comprehended the degree of importance to which their occupation would later prove.
Recording history would have been such a difficult task, especially considering the resources that would have been available to them. I think I often take for granted how easy I have it today with a pencil or pen and paper, and even keys on a keyboard. I was amazed when our presenter showed us a small stone tablet, no bigger than the palm of my hand, that had writings engraved upon it. We were told that the scribe molded clay into the shape of the tablet, and then engraved the symbols we now see before the clay was completely dry. The intricacy is phenomenal.
I also really enjoyed seeing the books used for the Bible in medieval times. The color and detail added to each page makes it truly a work of art. One book we were shown took eleven years to complete! No wonder books were so rare and expensive. It was also interesting to feel the pages, made from animal skin. Writing and record keeping has always been such a process, but definitely an essential one. We were also shown two pieces of parchment: one hand written and the other printed on the printing press. I was shocked at how identical they were to each other. The invention of the printing press was such a blessing though.
I am so grateful for this opportunity we had to go as a class to this Special Collections presentation. I really learned a lot and enjoyed seeing these ancient records. I also gained a deeper appreciation for the scriptures I’m studying in context of their historical background and the work that went in to making them possible.