A chapter of what it means to be human is at risk of being lost in an ongoing civil war, says David Hollenberg, director of Arabic and assistant professor of religious studies at the UO.

Hollenberg, founder of the Yemeni Manuscripts Digitization Initiative, works with scholars and librarians around the world to preserve priceless manuscripts at risk of being destroyed in Yemen’s war.

Hollenberg shared his work recently in an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud (an Arabic language version also is available). After starting the project in 2007, a more peaceful time for Yemen, he talked about how he was tempted to change his focus as the crisis heated up.

“When the situation changed dramatically for the worst, I actually explored shifting to the humanitarian piece and actually discussed it with my colleagues and we started thinking about it. And I quickly came to realize I was so out of my element in that area and it didn’t seem to make a lot of sense,” he told host, Dave Miller. “It seemed to me that the piece that I could best help with is the piece that we’re set up to help with, which is the manuscript situation.”

For the full story, see, “Preserving Yemen’s History.”