An exhibit of rare books and artifacts on loan from The Remnant Trust Collection, housed at Texas Tech University, is now on display at Troy University.
The exhibit, “The Wisdom of the Ages Athenaeum,” features items such as a 600-year-old Torah, a 1350 edition of the Magna Carta and a 1640 edition of “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli, and is available for viewing at the Troy Campus library, located in Wallace Hall. The exhibit will be on display through the first week of December.
“The Remnant Trust is a collection from Texas Tech University that they loan out to libraries and other institutions throughout the country so that students and others can be exposed to these cool old books and documents,” said Dr. Chris Shaffer, Dean of Library Services. “This exhibit gives students the opportunity to actual experience world history up close through these various artifacts.”
The exhibit also features a Cuneiform Akkadian Tablet circa 2500 BC, the first public printing in “The New York Times” of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a first edition of “The Republic of Plato in Ten Books,” illuminated manuscript of the Quran, and many more.
The Remnant Trust is a public organization that share an actively growing collection of manuscripts, first edition and early works dealing with topics of individual liberty and human dignity. The Trust makes the collection available to colleges and universities, and other organizations for use by students, faculty, scholars and the general public.
In conjunction with the exhibit, the Troy Campus Library is hosting this fall a series of speakers who will discuss items related to the display.
Speakers events scheduled are:
- Sept. 10, noon, “Plato’s The Republic,” Dr. Hal Fulmer, Wallace Hall Library;
- Sept. 17, noon, “The Business of Babylon: Making and Keeping Clay Tablets from the Sumerians to the Assyrians,” Dr. Martin Olliff, Wallace Hall Library;
- Sept. 24, 4 p.m., “Adam Smith,” Dr. James Otteson, 129 Bibb Graves Hall;
- Oct. 3, noon, “Machiavelli,” Tom Horton, Wallace Hall Library;
- Oct. 10, noon, “Magna Carta: Then and Now,” Dr. Joseph Kicklighter, Wallace Hall Library;
- Oct. 23, noon, “The Quest for Truth in a Technological Age: The Evolving Dialogue Between Science and Religion,” John Cressler, Wallace Hall Library;
- Oct. 30, 9 a.m., “The Emancipation Proclamation,” Dr. David Carlson, Wallace Hall Library;
- Nov. 12, 4 p.m., “John Stuart Mill,” Professor Daniel Jacobson, 129 Bibb Graves Hall; and,
- Nov. 19, noon, “The Gettysburg Address,” Dr. Hal Fulmer, Wallace Hall Library.
The speaker series is made possible through the Troy University Libraries and the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy in the Sorrell College of Business.
