In Timbuktu, a New Move to Save Ancient Manuscripts

McConnell, Tristan, The Christian Science Monitor

Abdel Kader Haidara carefully picks up one of a dozen small leather-bound books lying on his desk and leafs through the age- weathered pages covered in Arabic calligraphy.

This tiny book is centuries old and one of more than 100,000 manuscripts that can be found on shelves and in boxes in Timbuktu, the ancient Malian city of mud-brick walls nestled between the Niger River and the Sahara Desert.

"The manuscripts are our heritage," says the curator of the Mamma Haidara Manuscript Library, the largest of more than 20 private libraries in the city. "They have been passed from generation to generation. They are the history of Africa, the history of mankind."

But …

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Publication information: Article title: In Timbuktu, a New Move to Save Ancient Manuscripts. Contributors: McConnell, Tristan - Author. Newspaper title: The Christian Science Monitor. Publication date: February 5, 2008. Page number: 1. © 2009 The Christian Science Publishing Society. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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