Josefine FrankE: j.s.frank@bham.ac.ukT: 0121 414 5800 @FrankJosefine

Spreading the Word: An Esmée Fairbairn

Collections Fund Project

Cadbury Research Library

Collects, manages, preserves and makes accessible the University’s collections of rare books, manuscripts, archives, photographs and associated artefacts

Mingana Collection of Middle Eastern Manuscripts

• Over 3,000 manuscripts encompassing Islamic, Christian and Jewish texts

• Over 20 languages, including Arabic, Syriac, Persian, Greek, and Ethiopic

• Dating from 7th to 20th century

Mi’a Kalimat attributed to Ali ibn Abu Talib , 1568-9, Islamic Arabic 1651

The Four Gospels , 17th century, Armenian 1

World-class collection for Birmingham

Edward Cadbury (1873-1948) Alphonse Mingana (1878-1937)

Birmingham – young and diverse

• One of the youngest cities in Europe

about 40% under 25

• Culturally and religiously diverse

42% other than White 46.1% Christians, 21.8%

Muslims, 19.3% no religion

22% born outside the UK

Source: 2011 census figures

Birmingham Council House

University of Birmingham

Our ideaUse the Mingana Collection of Middle Eastern manuscripts 1) To connect local people with

their cultural and religious heritage

2) To encourage pride and confidence in Birmingham’s identity as a city shaped by faith diversity Masnavi-yi Ma'navi by Jalal al-Din Rumi,

early 19th century, Persian 1

Project overview

• Internships• Volunteering

opportunities

• Social media• Exhibitions

• Muslim women’s group

• Interfaith youth group

• Bookbinding survey• Archival research on collection

history

Research & documentation

Work with community

partners

Training Dissemination

Reflections after first project year

• Be brave and experiment because visitors’ responses are unpredictable .

• Working with the most obvious community partners does not always result in the best partnerships.

• There is an almost irreconcilable gap between Muslim scholarship and non-Muslim research on Islam.