Missouri State University received a $9,959 grant from the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme (EAP), which is funded by Arcadia. Edward Proctor, associate professor of library administration, is the principal investigator for the “Digitization of the Manuscripts and Xylographs Held by the Tibetan Yungdrung Bon Library of the Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India” project, which is designed to conserve materials that could possibly be destroyed by a calamity.

“This project and grant grew out of research conducted during my sabbatical into the libraries of the Tibetan Diasporas in India,” said Proctor. The project will involve the preservation of materials salvaged from ancient Tibetan monasteries after the cultural revolution.

The Menri monastery holds the world’s largest collection of manuscripts and block-print books concerning Bon, the pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet.

“Bon predates Buddhism by thousands of years, and accounts for much that is distinctive in the Tibetan form of Buddhism, which differs dramatically from that practiced in other parts of the world,” said Proctor.

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