The Importance of Preservation
By Kiara Fitzpatrick ’25
October 2022
Libraries have always been a magical place for me. I remember begging to go to the library after school almost every day, to my father’s obvious annoyance. I could’ve lived there and been perfectly happy. When I was nine, I traveled to Ireland with my family. What stands out the most in my memory is our visit to the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin. Besides being a beautiful, world-renowned library, it is also home to the Book of Kells: a collection of the four Christian New Testament gospels bound into one manuscript around 800 CE. Being a naive nine-year-old and completely unaware of the significance of the text, I just thought it was cool to see something that had been around for centuries.
With ten more years of life experience, I’m able to look back on this visit and put into words why I thought the Book of Kells was so cool. This was something that brought people from all over the world together in a university library. The Book of Kells attracts over 1 million people annually, from scholars to religious pilgrims to nine-year-olds on family vacation. Its written contents are not scripturally unique: the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John can be found in countless libraries, Christian Churches around the world, and some motel bedside tables. But something about this text peaks our interest and has since the 9th century.
While I won’t speak for the pious pilgrims or the studious scholars, I will say that what I found most special about the Book of Kells was its longevity. The Book of Kells has outlasted the Vikings, saw the rise and fall of the Holy Roman Empire, and remained intact through the Irish War of Independence. This relic of antiquity has withstood the test of time, and its effect is unchanged. I find that relics such as these connect us to our past and remind us of what it means to be truly human. There are truths, trends, and questions that withstand time and geography, showing us that the human experience, however tumultuous, is a universal one.
The most compelling reason for me to look to the thinkers of the past is to recognize myself and my experiences in their writings. Questions like the purpose of my existence, how I should live my life, and whether faith is reasonable are things that draw me back to past thinkers over and over. It is comforting to know that these questions I’m having, and the doubts I feel, are not unique to myself: they’ve not only been felt by many of my peers but by thinkers from centuries ago. Soren Kierkegaard is one such mind whose philosophy I’ve delved into time and time again to make sense of my own questions. Specifically in his text, The Sickness Unto Death, Kierkegaard explores themes of depression, despair, and forgiveness of the self which I know are persistent themes across time. He discusses the existential dread which accompanies not knowing one’s purpose or not being satisfied with one’s existence. Whether or not you agree with Kierkegaard’s philosophy, it is difficult to not identify with his questions.
Here at the Hong Kierkegaard Library, part of our collection includes pre-1856 texts that influenced Kierkegaard’s works. In 2020, the HKL received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to preserve 100 of the most rare and valuable works from the pre-1856 collection. With the help of the generous grant, we are now able to preserve and repair centuries-old texts so they may continue to be used by students and scholars from around the world. We are confident these works will influence the minds of 21st century thinkers here on the hill as they chase answers to universally human questions.