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Mantor Library To Showcase Selection of History's Greatest Documents

Friday, August 26, 2005

The University of Maine at Farmington's Mantor Library is expected to gain national attention this fall with the arrival of an exclusive collection that includes 47 of the documents central to some of history�s most memorable moments.

Owned by the Indiana-based Remnant Trust, the works range from a 700-year-old manuscript of the Magna Carta to a first edition of the Emancipation Proclamation and dozens of others.

Jointly sponsored by the University of Maine at Farmington and the Remnant Trust, Reading Revolutions is partially funded by the Maine Humanities Council with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities through its We the People program.

The exhibit is unique not only for the rare documents it offers up, but because of the way patrons are encouraged to interact with the documents. Instead of just viewing them through thick glass display cases, people are urged to touch them, exploring the documents with all of their senses.

�What a tremendous opportunity this is, not only for UMF, but for anyone in New England who is interested in the exchange and exploration of ideas,� UMF President Theo Kalikow said. �UMF is proud to host this exhibit, and we hope the public is as excited as we are to see these one-of-a-kind documents.�

Brian Bex, founder of the Remnant Trust, says that just as people who are shopping for a new car like to kick the tires and slide in behind the wheel, those trying to study and understand important ideas deserve a chance to not just see these historic works, but experience them.

�There is something almost ethereal about touching these documents,� he said. When people were first exposed to the works and told to touch, Bex said, �It was unbelievable to watch their body language, their facial expressions and to hear their verbiage.� Something just happens to people when they interact with these documents that cannot be explained, he added.

The appearance at UMF�s library is the first in New England for these documents, which have also been showcased at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana; George Washington�s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia; the Newseum in Arlington, Virginia; the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.; and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Bex, who notes that all 700 plus documents in the Remnant Trust�s collection are booked with appearances through 2009, says that sites are selected based on word of mouth. When the trust first announced its plan to the academic community, more than 1,000 higher education institutions requested the exhibit come to their school.

The goal of sharing the documents, which center on a common theme of individual liberty and human dignity, with the world is to incite discussion. �These things for centuries have been locked up or hidden away in a vault, available to only the super rich,� Bex explains. �But great ideas belong to everybody.�

Bex is optimistic that the experience individuals have with the documents will make them think about big ideas, and not the juicy gossip, latest fads, or headlines of the day. He says he remembers his grandmother telling him as a teenager, �Great minds speak of ideas, average minds speak of events, and small minds speak of people.� At that point, she would point her finger at him and urge him to spend as few minutes in the day devoted to small mindedness.

UMF and the Mantor Library staff are also optimistic about the impact Reading Revolutions can have, not just on the campus community, but on the entire region. Everyone from schoolchildren to scholars to those just curious will be invited to the exhibit. Beginning September 5, docents will be on hand from 1 to 3 p.m. each weekday and during this time, the public can drop by and actually handle the texts. A series of lectures surrounding the exhibits is scheduled throughout their stay, and special accommodations will be made for private groups looking to tour the exhibit outside of the public handling times. The exhibit ends December 9.

�The ideas in these books have shaped all the disciplines that are taught at UMF. So it�s interesting that our lecture series is not dominated by historians. This is not an antiquarian festival,� said Provost Allen Berger, UMF�s vice president for academic affairs. �Instead, we have a political science professor talking about Machiavelli, a religious studies scholar talking about Luther, a geographer talking about Tocqueville. These are living ideas that continue to influence contemporary scholarship. More importantly, they are enduring ideas that need attention and discussion in a democratic society.�

For more information about Reading Revolutions, please call Frank Roberts at (207) 778-7215 or email froberts@maine.edu. A complete list of documents to be featured, as well as lecture times can be found on the Reading Revolutions Web site.