Manuscript conservator sought for US Embassy in Nigeria

    **** Moderator's comments: Please respond directly to the Mr.
    Mendelsohn.

    Subject: U.S. Embassy Abuja Nigeria request for assistance to
        identify a U.S. expert on conservation of manuscripts
    Monday, July 23, 2007 10:13 AM

    I am writing to seek your advice about identifying a U.S.
    conservation expert who would be willing to travel to Nigeria
    for a period of approximately one month (or maybe a bit longer)
    to conduct a survey of Islamic manuscripts to identify what
    needs to be to begin a conservation project and to make
    recommendations to this end. The U.S. expert would work closely
    with the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy and under
    the auspices of the Arewa House, Centre for Historical
    Documentation and Research, Ahmadu Bello University. The Arewa
    House is a premier cultural institution located in Kaduna. It
    would be necessary to travel to Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and
    possible Maiduguri to visit publicly and privately held
    manuscript collections.

    Nigeria has a rich Islamic manuscript heritage that is in danger
    of being lost due to lack of conservation efforts. The U.S.
    Embassy has been working closely with the Arewa House and took
    the first steps of funding a Symposium on Preserving Nigeria's
    Scholarly and Literary Traditions and Manuscript Heritage held
    last March. The first project to result from the Symposium will
    be to bring a U.S. conservation expert to survey manuscripts and
    to make recommendations on how best to proceed in order to begin
    working with Nigerian institutions to facilitate a conservation
    project.

    If you would be able to recommend a conservation expert please
    email me at mendelsohnhn [at] state__gov with the person's name and
    contact information.

    Henry Mendelsohn
    Information Resources Officer
    Public Affairs Section
    U.S. Embassy Abuja
    +234 9 461 4329

Jennifer Hain Teper
Conservation Librarian
809 South Oak Street, 2nd Floor
Champaign, IL 61820
217-244-5689
Fax: 217-333-2630


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:19
                 Distributed: Wednesday, August 8, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-19-016
                                  ***