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Facsimile of Dead Sea Scroll Available for Display

An exact-size facsimile of the great Isaiah “A” scroll on simulated parchment paper has been produced by the Dead Sea Scroll Project of the School of Theology in Claremont, California. The Dead Sea Scroll facsimile has been printed from the original color photographs of the scroll. The full 24 feet of the Scroll with its 54 columns of clear Hebrew text, reproducing the entire 66 chapters of Isaiah will be given to churches, synagogues, educational institutions, and interested persons who make a contribution of $35 or more to the Dead Sea Scroll Project. An explanatory text in English accompanies the Isaiah Scroll. The facsimile Scroll makes an impressive and unusual display.

Also available from the Dead Sea Scroll project are microfilms of Cave I manuscripts and fragments, and a slide-lecture entitled, “The Qumran Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls”. The slide-lecture includes 80 color slides, a written text and a 65 minute cassette tape. The slide-lecture may be rented from the Project.

The Dead Sea Scroll Project was established by Dr. John C. Trever to house and preserve a unique photographic record of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The first American to see the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948 when the first four were brought to the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem by a Syrian monk, Trever immediately made superb color slides of the scrolls. These slides provide the only accurate record of the original documents as they appeared soon after their discovery.

In addition to preserving the unique photohistory of the scrolls, the Project maintains an educational center which displays a group of Dead Sea Scrolls copied by hand in the original script by Dr. Manuel Vider, a radiologist from Temple University whose avocation is calligraphy. Vider has reproduced fourteen of the major Dead Sea Scrolls including the Isaiah “A” Scroll, the “War Scroll” and six copies of the “Temple” Scroll. Dr. Vider has also copied the Isaiah “B” Scroll which, Dr. Trever says, closely approximates the text Jesus read in the Synagogue of Nazareth as recounted in Luke 4:16–20.

Visitors are welcome at the educational center of the Project where other displays portray life in Bible times. Contributions to the Dead Sea Scrolls Project and all correspondence about obtaining a facsimile of the Isaiah “A” Scroll for display or renting the slide-lecture may be sent to the School of Theology at Claremont, Dead Sea Scrolls Project; West Foothill Blvd. at College Avenue; Claremont CA 91711.

Pilgrimage Conference

The first international conference to discuss the phenomenon of “Pilgrimage: The Human Quest,” will be held May 14–May 17, 1981 at the University of Pittsburgh. Experts in geography, history, religion, art and anthropology will meet with government administrators, tourism experts and religious leaders to share ideas, information and perspectives on the human quest to reach the holy places.

Each year millions of people participate in long journeys to visit churches, shrines, temples and monuments in Jerusalem, Rome, Mecca, Benares, Moscow, London and Washington. The sheer numbers of these pilgrims, the vast quantities of resources committed to them and their shrines, the substantial risks taken by both the pilgrims and the nations involved make pilgrimage of great interest to both laypersons and experts.

Sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh and Simon Fraser University of British Columbia, Canada, the conference will provide accommodations for participants at the University of Pittsburgh. The cost of the conference is $10.00 per day for accommodations plus the registration fee. For further information contact: Dr. E. A. Morinis, Conference Organizer; Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University; Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A1S6. Telephone 684–291-4492/3146.

To provide useful information to its readers, BAR will announce new academic programs, exhibits, symposia and other items of interest to the archaeological world. Send your announcements to BARlines; 5400 Greystone St.; Chevy Chase, MD 20015. Allow approximately 6 weeks until publication.

Facsimile of Dead Sea Scroll Available for Display