Library of Congress Materials Relating the Dead Sea Scrolls to Today

The Publication Controversy

In December 1991, a two-volume edition of scroll photographs was published. This facsimile edition was issued by the Biblical Archaeology Society, an American group headed by Hershel Shanks. It is opened here to a transcription and reconstruction of Some Torah Precepts. The publication of this reconstruction and transcription is currently the subject of lawsuit in Israel and the United States between the reconstructor of the text, Dr. Qimron and the publisher, Hershel Shanks. In March 1993, an Israeli court found in favor of Mr. Quimron.

Robert Eisenman and James Robinson, eds. A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls 1 (Washington, 1991) Printed book. Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress

The Publication Controversy

Reacting to the official team's slow pace of scholarly publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls, two Hebrew Union College scholars developed a computer program that reconstructed Cave 4 texts from a decades-old concordance. Soon thereafter, the Huntington Library announced in the fall of 1991 that it would make available to scholars photographic copies of the scrolls that had been deposited in its vaults. Displayed here is the first part of the reconstruction.

Ben Zion Wacholder and Martin Abegg. A Preliminary Edition of the Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls (Washington, 1991) Printed book. Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress.

The Shapira Affair

In 1883, M.H. Shapira, a Jerusalem antiquities dealer, offered to sell fragments of an ancient manuscript of the biblical book of Deuteronomy. On examination by leading scholars of the day, the manuscripts were found to be forgeries. Disgraced and humiliated, Shapira committed suicide in 1884.

In view of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some contemporary scholars have suggested that the Shapira fragments bear at least a surface resemblance to the Qumran manuscripts and have advocated re-examining their authenticity. Unfortunately, the Shapira fragments were sold at auction in 1885 and have since disappeared.

M.H. Shapira's daughter Myriam penned a thinly veiled fictionalized account of the scandal from the point of view of a devoted daughter. Serialized in France under the title of "La petite fille de Jerusalem," it was then translated into English as "The Little Daughter of Jerusalem" and published in New York and London.

In "The Shapira Affair," John Allegro, a leading scholar of the Dead Sea Scrolls and a member of the original scroll team, examined reproductions of the Shapira fragments in light of their resemblance to the Qumran documents.

John Marco Allegro The Shapira Affair (Garden City, New York 1965) Printed book. General Collections, Library of Congress.

Myriam Harry La petite fille de Jerusalem La Petite Illustration ([Paris] 1914) Unbound serial. General Collections, Library of Congress.

Myriam Harry The Little Daughter of Jerusalem (New York, 1919) Printed book. General Collections, Library of Congress.

The Dead Sea Scrolls: "A Hoax"

In the early 1950s, Professor Solomon Zeitlin of Dropsie University in Philadelphia argued strenuously--on philological grounds--that the antiquity of the Dead Sea Scrolls should be rejected. Subsequent carbon-14 tests on their linen wrappers firmly dated the finds to the late Second Temple Period and laid to rest arguments concerning the antiquity of the scrolls.

Solomon Zeitlin The Dead Sea Scrolls and Modern Scholarship (Philadelphia, 1956) Printed book. Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls were first displayed in the United States at the Library of Congress in October 1949. The scrolls belonged to Mar Athanasius Yeshua Samuel, the head of the Syrian Jacobite Monastery of St. Mark in Jerusalem. In 1954, he placed an advertisement in "The Wall Street Journal" offering "The Four Dead Sea Scrolls" for sale. Purchased for the State of Israel by archaeologist Yigael Yadin, these scrolls are housed today in The Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.

LC and the Dead Sea Scrolls Newsreel 16mm print. Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress.
Mar Athansius Yeshua Samuel's account of his purchase of the scrolls is related in his "Treasure of Qumran." The volume is opened to a photograph of the Library of Congress exhibition in October 1949, showing Mar Samuel with then Librarian of Congress Luther Evans.

Athanasius Yeshua Samuel Treasure of Qumran (London 1968) Printed book. General Collections, Library of Congress.
Alvin Kremer, Keeper of the Collection at the Library of Congress, prepared the two memoranda shown here which document the arrival and departure of the scrolls in 1949, and describe the precautions taken to safeguard the artifacts.

Alvin W. Kremer to John G. L. Andreassen Report on travel to obtain the Hebrew Scrolls (October 24, 1949) Memorandum. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

Alvin W. Kremer to John G. L. Andreassen Travel to deliver the Hebrew Scrolls to the Walters Gallery (November 7, 1949) Memorandum. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

The Dead Sea Scrolls in Translation

The Dead Sea Scrolls have been translated into scores of languages. Displayed here are books that include scroll translations in Yiddish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Arabic, Japanese, and Indonesian.

S. Glassman Megiles fun Yam ha-Maylekh (New York, 1965) Printed book. Hebraic Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress.

Iosif Davidovich Amusin Rukopisi Mertvoga Morya (Moscow, 1960) Printed book. General Collections, Library of Congress.

Eugen Verber Kumranski Rukopisi (Beograd, 1982) Printed book. General Collections, Library of Congress.

M. al-Abidi Makhtutat al-Bahr al Mayyit (Amman, 1967) Printed book. Near East Section, African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress.

Shikai bunsho (Tokyo, 1963) Printed book. Japanese Section, Asian Division, Library of Congress.

Saleh A. Nahdi Nafiri maut dari lembah Qamran (Djakarta, 1964) Printed book. Southern Asian Section, Asian Division, Library of Congress.