New York Public Library digitizes its Islamic manuscript collection

The New York Public Library has received a $2.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to catalog, digitize, and conserve its Middle Eastern and Islamic manuscript holdings — a collection that has sat largely uncatalogued and therefore invisible to scholars and the public. The project goes beyond scanning: it funds proper conservation, professional cataloguing so items can actually be found, public exhibitions, and curricula for schoolteachers built around the material. That last part matters most. A manuscript behind glass changes little; a manuscript folded into how American students learn about Islamic civilization changes the default story. It is also a reminder that much of the Muslim world's written heritage lives in Western institutions, and that the practical route to access runs through partnership, funding, and professional standards rather than grievance. Institutions that want their heritage seen should study how this grant was won.

This is a QeRN summary by Ahmed Qerni. Read the original at New York Public Library: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2026/01/15/grant-islamic-manuscript-collection.