The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-25
RESTORING OLD MANUSCRIPTS
INTERESTING WORK BEING DONE
IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

Book in the Great Collection Is a
Tiny Copy of the Four Gospels in
syriac-The skill of DIR. Frieden-
wald, Who Has Charge of the
Books and Writings, Is EquaIed by
That of Mr.. Phillips, Who Is Custo-
dian of the Maps, and between
Them They Are Bringing About a
/ Great Reformation.
Copyright 1900, by Ruth Kimball Gar
diner1
Washington, March 23.-If it be true, as
certain persons maintain, that the bent
of the mind depends on the character of
the food taken, the rats and mice and fat
brown reaches who live and move ana
have their being in the Capitol at Wash
| ington must be of a superior order of in
tellect. For until a little more than two
years ago they fed on some of the richest
and rarest educational food to be found
in the whole country. The priceless ool-
lections of maps, charts and manuscript
| which are given SO much space in the new
| building of the Library of Congress were
little more than food for vermin in the
old library. The cramped quarters did
nv dlLOlu space LOT the DOOhS alone, WlllS
the less called for though equally valu-
able possessions of the library, were tuck
ed away in dusty attics and slowed pro-
miscu0usly in the dark and damp rooms
down in the crypt of the Capitol.
Heat, cold, damp and darkness had their
way with these priceless things. A tradi-
lion of the library has it that valuable
| maps We're actually used to stop rat holes.
| Nothlng could be done to preserve she pa
pers and many of them were almost for
| gotten Nobody knew what treasures lay
hidden in odd corners till the work of re-
| moVal 10 the new building was begun and
not III months of incessant labor had
| brought the beginning of order QUE of the
| chaos piled on the floors of the rooms de-
| voted TO these two important divisions of
! the library, could the havoc wrought by
years OF unavoidable neglect be rightly
| estimated.
Among the manuscripts which had been
stored away, for period in most cases
| or from fifteen to thirty years. scarcely
tenth. OF the 600 and more volumes was
FOUND Mt TO be handled without rebinding
Among the unbound manuscripts. num-
berlng about no volumes, and 200 odd bun
dies, the damage done was i'm
measurably greater, and only
very small number of all the
manuscripts in the collection were not
in need of the restorer's attention MANY
OF the maps were in tatters; some indeed
were so far gone in ruin that even the
| most skillful restoration could make them
| nothing more than a hint of their former
| selves.
Manuscript Revision,
The northeast pavilion of the main floor
OF the new building has been chosen for
the manuscript division because of its
greater security. The good luck of the
American people prevented any consider
aoe loss OF valuable papers by theft dur
ing All the years they were neglected In
the cubby holes of the Capitol but moth
ing is left to chance in the new library
burglar would need ali the powers of
tne saves of the lamp and the ring to
take him within reaching distance of the
treasures OF the manuscript room To
begln with, 1t has walls seven or eight
| Ieet thlck, and massive doors, which are
locked every night when the building is
closed: An ante-room lies between 1t
ana the corridor, where a Waterman
stands guard
About the wall of the room are cases
fourteen feet in hight. They are faced
with antique oak, and with their Main
glass doors look very much like the book
cases of the average library. But thew
are far from being ordinary cases. Each
one OF them is lined with sheet iron as
a protection against the bookworms and
cockroaches, which are so much dreaded
by librarians. Below the glazed cases are
CUPBOARD and drawers, also sheet iron
| hhed' Tor the keeping of manuscript as
yet unbound or in process of repair and
| restoration. anu
All the cases in the room are kept lock-
ed, and the two keys which unlock them
an are always in the posses
SION OF DR.. Herbert Friedenwald.
| the superintendent of the manuscript al
| vision. For the greater safety of the
treasures in this division of the library
three steel safes are provided The com
binations of their locks are known to only
two persons-the librarian of Congress-
| and DIR. Friedenwald.
Remarkable Little Manuscript
| Whether the manuscripts kept in the
| saIe are the most valuable In the collec-
lon 1t would be impossible to saw. as the
value of manuscript is an indeternipata
something depending wholly on the point
| or view, but one of the treasures Dr
frledenwald guards in the safe is the old
est manuscript in the library II is a tinv
DOCK, only two and half inchs wide nv
tnree ana quarter long, but the quality
| OF lts paper and ink are so durable. and
| the outer cover which protects il so cum
| nlngly contrived that it is in better CON
| dlt1on than many books only f1ftv vears
old' though twelve centuries have gone
| py since 1t was made. 1t is a conv Of
the four gospels in Syriac. and was writ
| ten by one Michael, son of Bar Zaur,a
OF urpish. He evidently had in mind its
use for church purposes. All the fas
| Gays are carefully marked, and the vari-
GUS lections distinctly stated not onlv in
| the text, but also at intervals on the mar
| GIN An inscription on the outer cover
ing states that the book is the property
OF certain bishop, John John The date
| indented is 500. The book is bound in a
pongee-like silk of a dull red color with
tiny lines Of green, and is encased in a
silver gilt box, rudely, but intricateIv
| chased, with Madonna on bne side and
| a crucihXion on the other
Another treasure kept in the safe ,s
Washington's Orderly Book, and the
diary kept by him in 1857, and covering
the period of the federal conventions
IT Is interesting to notice that while The
Diary contains very little Information
concerning the conventions the names ot
| all the people with whom Washington
dined and supped are carefully set down
| Ihese papers, as well as most OF The