Michaelle Biddle, Wesleyan University Library

Conserving Africa’s Islamic manuscript heritage

Africa has a rich Islamic manuscript heritage that is in danger of being lost due to lack of preservation and conservation efforts. These manuscripts document the rich intellectual, cultural and social history of West Africa and are of interest to scholars working in a wide range of fields – history, religion, jurisprudence, poetry and others. The origin of manuscripts in Arabic script in Africa is traceable to the 9th century contact of Muslim Northern Africa with sub-Saharan West Africa through the long established trans-Saharan trade links. With traders came Muslim scholars and intellectuals, they were frequently the same, who not only spread the Islamic faith but also served as aides to indigenous rulers. As a result Arabic manuscripts accumulated over the centuries in places like Bornu, a leading centre of Qur’anic studies until the 1950s, and Kano, a major trading and cloth production centre, and Timbuktu, a major intellectual centre of West Africa.

Africa is a challenging land – enormously rich in human and natural resources, politically unstable, rife with insecurity and violence, weather that varies from tropical to desert, culturally and linguistically diverse. Africa is breathtakingly beautiful.

My primary focus has been on the preservation and conservation of Islamic manuscripts and historical records widely dispersed throughout northern Nigeria where printing did not replace manuscript copying in a substantial way until the 1930s. It is estimated that 80% of Nigeria’s Islamic manuscript heritage is still in private collections.

My interest in West Africa dates to my teens when I first read Heinrich Barth’s 1849-1855 Discoveries and Travels in West and Central Africa, one of the greatest explorers and recorders of Africa. This was followed by university studies in Middle Eastern anthropology, archaeology and history, an internship at the School of Oriental and African Studies, a stint in London’s African and Islamic antiquarian book trade, and an apprenticeship as a paper and book conservator with Roger deCoverly, with particular emphasis on the conservation of 19th century and Islamic materials. I also have professional degrees in librarianship, archival management and archaeology.

Since 2008 I have been engaged in preservation and conservation efforts in Northern Nigeria. This is the land of Bornu with its thousand year old Saifawa dynasty, the seven cities of Hausaland and the Sultanate of Sokoto, an area rich in history and culture and varied, with 250 languages and over 400 ethnic groups. I began firstly with a 4500 km road trip to assess the condition of nineteen publicly and privately held Islamic manuscript collections. This was followed the same year with two classes held in Sokoto at Uthman Danfodio University, named for the great 19th century jihadist, and in Kaduna at the National Archives. The course was called Conservation in a Box, as everything one would need for elementary paper conservationwas supplied in a box, including a table that could be disassembled for easy transport. The primer I complied for this course has now been downloaded over 1400 times. These projects were funded by the U.S. State Department. The projects that followed have been funded by Nigerians.

In 2009 I headed up a nine-person conservation team to clean, stabilize, house and box the multi-generational Modibbo Fufore collection of over 400 manuscripts, all infested with mold, rodent remains, frass and dust. A few months later I returned to head a five person team to stabilize the great 17th century Chukkunga Qur’an in Yola. This was immediately followed, by popular demand, another basic paper conservation course held at Arewa House in Kaduna. It was to be limited to eight but blossomed to twenty-eight participants including 13 ‘observers’.

In 2012 I headed up a small team to undertake emergency cleaning and housing of the National Collection of Museums and Monuments’ Jos Museum Arabic Manuscript Collection, the second largest collection of manuscripts in Arabic script in Nigeria, and the oldest, having been established by early British colonial administrators. This collection was also in the worst condition of any of the nineteen collections I had surveyed in 2008. In 2013 I taught a by-invitation-only advanced paper conservation course to twelve upper level curators and administrators from all across Northern Nigeria. Last year I was asked to assess the European conservation efforts on the Timbuktu manuscripts now housed in Bamako, the capital of Mali. Later this year I will hopefully be completing the establishment of the first paper conservation laboratory in Nigeria.

These varied projects - a five week research tour, teaching multiple courses, a two-week project on a single book, a four-day project on a collection with fifteen hundred manuscripts, an assessment of a multi-million Euro project, and establishing a paper conservation lab have revealed many of the challenges that anyone engaged in preservation and conservation efforts in Africa will encounter. This paper will cover lessons learned – pitfalls as well as accomplishments - that should be of interest and of probable use to anyone else engaged in preservation and conservation projects in the developing world.