n. (sing. abbr. ms, pl. abbr. mss)a handwritten documentSmith 1938a, 20The “manuscripts” (bound volumes, as distinguished here from “records”—deeds, documents, correspondence, and other loose papers) are shelved in a series of wooden “bays,” each with beautiful, carved doors and wooden shelves within.Bauer et al. 2023, 467More accessible are holdings of the two-decades-old Bibliotheca Alexandrina, such as handwritten Arabic manuscripts and primary sources documenting the history of Egypt’s second city.an unpublished documentNuermberger 1941, 250“Collection” is used herein to refer to any body of manuscripts constituting a unit by reason of its centering about one person, one family, an institution, or a society. . . . “Collection” is also used on occasion to refer to the entire manuscript holdings of an institution.Van Schreeven 1942, 169Thus far discussion on classification has been centered on archival classification. Many archival institutions, however, possess not only archives, as such, but also historical manuscripts not necessarily archival in character. In some instances historical societies have the custody of the archival records of the state. Such instances complicate the formulation of classification schemes. We are told that archival collections should be classified on the basis of governmental organization, and not by subject groups. It is true, though, that historical manuscripts are generally arranged by so-called subject groups, such as personal papers, business records, church records, and so on.Browne 1953, 215The word document, furthermore, does not mean only manuscripts or typescripts.Evans, Harrison, and Thompson 1974, 425MANUSCRIPT. A handwritten or typed document, including a letterpress or carbon copy. A mechanically produced form completed in handwriting or typescript is also considered a manuscript.APPM2 1989, 1.0AAny text in handwriting or typescript (including printed forms completed by hand or typewriter) which may or may not be part of a collection of such texts. Examples of manuscripts are letters, diaries, ledgers, minutes, speeches, marked or corrected galley or page proofs, manuscript books, and legal papers.Forstrom 2009, 460The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is Yale University’s principal repository for literary papers and early manuscripts and rare books in the fields of literature, theology, and history.(usually pl.) synonym for manuscript collectionVan Schreeven 1942, 176We have further noticed that although the matter is complicated by the necessity of making the manuscripts immediately available, finding aids should be based on a fixed and integrated classification scheme.Mearns 1957, 316Meanwhile, in metropolitan Boston the Houghton Library concedes to the Massachusetts Historical Society manuscripts connected with New England history while reserving literary manuscripts for itself; the Massachusetts Historical Society surrenders genealogical manuscripts to the New England Historic Genealogical Society; and the Boston Public Library forswears manuscripts relating to early Boston business history in favor of the Baker Library. Clearly, there are enough papers to go around.Lovett 1958, 259Baker Library has been actively collecting business records since 1927 and now has at least the equivalent of 75,000 volumes. Incidentally, we refer to business manuscripts rather than records or archives, since the material, after it comes to us, is no longer in original custody.Dewing 1968, 36The Beinecke manuscripts, however, do not constitute an archival fonds (although, as will appear below, they include dispersed portions of several fonds); instead, they make up a collection, an aggregate of discrete items selected and assembled from disparate sources.Berner and Bettis 1970, 275, fn. 1For the purposes of this paper a modern definition of “manuscripts” has been used, which describes them as a “group of papers (manuscript or typescript, originals or copies, of letters, memoranda, diaries, accounts, log books, drafts, etc. including associated printed or near-print materials), usually having a common source and formed by or around an individual, a family, a corporate entity, or devoted to a single theme”; (National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, Information Circular No. 2, revised; Aug. 1966).Evans, Harrison, and Thompson 1974, 426MANUSCRIPTS. Documents of manuscript character usually having historical or literary value or significance. All manuscript records may thus be regarded as manuscripts, but generally the term is used to distinguish nonarchival from archival material. Included in the term are bodies or groups of personal papers with organic unity, artificial collections of documents acquired from various sources usually according to a plan but without regard to provenance, and individual documents acquired by a manuscript repository because of their special importance.Gracy 1977, 3Manuscripts, on the other hand, are “(1) bodies or groups of personal papers with organic unity, (2) artificial collections of documents acquired from various sources usually according to a plan (as a collection of autographs) but without regard to provenance, and (3) individual documents acquired by a manuscript repository because of their special importance”—in essence, everything not archives.Williams et al. 1977, 341Robert Warner observed that many small societies began collecting archives and manuscripts with little prospect of providing proper professional care for these records.Wilsted 1993, 26Both the 1980 code and the current code of ethics principally address relationships between three groups: archivists and other archivists, archivists and researchers, and archivists and donors. While the ethics of collecting archives and manuscripts primarily affects the latter group, it also affects the other groups in lesser ways.Bauer et al. 2023, 461Presently, the manuscript collection numbers around 1,800, mainly in Arabic, and covering subjects such as medicine, astronomy, theology, Islamic law, and botany. Of these manuscripts, nearly 1,400 have been microfilmed, and a continuing digitization effort has resulted in several hundred digitized manuscripts.a draft of a book, article, or other work intended for publicationRendell 1983, 309For example, we find that in many cases institutions have not noted whether a manuscript is the original corrected and revised version or is a final typescript as sent to a publisher.
