Persian Manuscript Initiative (PMI)

Preserving Persian culture, building the infrastructure for digital Persian manuscript studies

About Us

The Persian Manuscript Initiative (PMI) is a venture of the Roshan Initiative in Persian Digital Humanities—located at the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland (College Park)—dedicated to the preservation and digital enhancement of Persian manuscripts throughout the world.

Through a unique collaboration with the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library—global leaders in the digital preservation of endangered manuscripts—we are currently working on Persian manuscript projects in India and Pakistan. We are always open to new collaborations, so please get in touch if you have an idea for a new project.

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Our Areas of Focus

Digitization: Working with global leaders in manuscript digitization, PMI will expand the number and quality of digitized Persian manuscripts, focusing in particular on archives in which the manuscripts are in danger due to political instability or lack of funding for proper preservation.

Education and Training: PMI is developing online training materials for teaching both manuscript studies and best practices for preservation and cataloging of Persian manuscripts.

Constructing Digital Infrastructure and Cultivating a Global Community of Users: PMI will develop the digital infrastructure to increase global access to Persian manuscripts. The development of this infrastructure will be coupled with a long-term plan for cultivating a committed global community of scholars and curators that will together increase our knowledge of the Persian manuscript tradition.

PMI Team

Matthew Thomas Miller

Principal Investigator

Assistant Professor of Persian Literature & Digital Humanities, Roshan Institute for Persian Studies, University of Maryland, College Park

Bridget Almas

Senior Advisor

Software Architect, The Alpheios Project

Ahmet T. Karamustafa

Senior Advisor

Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park

Fatemeh Keshavarz

Senior Advisor

Roshan Institute Chair in Persian Studies & Director, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Maryland, College Park

Columba Stewart

Senior Advisor

Professor of Theology, Saint John's School of Theology and Seminary, and Director, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library

Joshua Westgard

Senior Advisor

Systems Librarian, Digital Programs and Initiatives & Digital Systems and Stewardship, University of Maryland Library

Marcia Zeng

Senior Advisor

Professor of Library Science, School of Library and Information Science, Kent State University

Mahmood Alam

Project Specialist

Assistant Professor of Persian, The English and Foreign Languages University (Hyderabad, India)

Hassan Ansari

Member, Advisory Board

Member, Institute for Advanced Study in Near Eastern Studies and School of Historical Studies, Princeton

Arezou Azad

Member, Advisory Board

Lecturer in Medieval History, Chair, Centre for the Study of the Middle Ages, University of Birmingham

Mandana Barkeshli

Member, Advisory Board

Associate Professor at the International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM)

Carl W. Ernst

Member, Advisory Board

William R. Kenan, Jr., Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Christiane Gruber

Member, Advisory Board

Associate Professor of Islamic Art, University of Michigan

Syed Akhtar Hussain

Member, Advisory Board

Professor of Persian, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Evyn Kropf

Member, Advisory Board

Curator, Islamic Manuscripts Collection, University of Michigan

Francis Richard

Member, Advisory Board

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Former Sicentific Director of BULAC Library

Sabine Schmidtke

Member, Advisory Board

Professor of Islamic Intellectual History, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Sunil Sharma

Member, Advisory Board

Professor of Persian and Indian Literature, Boston University

Chander Shekhar

Member, Advisory Board

Professor of Persian, University of Delhi

Ursula Sims-Williams

Member, Advisory Board

Lead Curator, Persian and Turkish Collections, British Library

Persian Manuscript Initiative (PMI)

Preserving Persian culture, building the infrastructure for digital Persian manuscript studies

Interested in helping? Get in touch