Where are the Scrolls Today?
Since 1965 the original seven scrolls from Cave 1 have been kept in the specially designed Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. In 1967, control of the Rockefeller Museum and the scroll manuscripts housed there passed into Israeli control. The Museum, now the headquarters of the Israel Antiquities Authority, features a scrolls restoration laboratory and climate-controlled storage facility where fragments may be stored and restored when not on exhibit at the Shrine. Scrolls and fragments from both locations are exhibited to the public on a rotating basis at the Shrine of the Book; scholars working on specific scrolls may arrange with IAA staff to work directly with the scrolls in the special facilities at the Rockefeller. The Copper Scroll is housed in the Archaeological Museum in Amman, Jordan, along with some additional fragments from caves 1 and 4. The privately owned Sch?yen Collection, housed in Oslo and London, now owns some 60 additional fragments and other artifacts from caves 1, 4, and 11, which are accessible to scholars on request. These fragments are in the process of being published in the series, The Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection. Additional fragments are in a few university or national libraries, including the John Rylands University Library in Manchester England, the University of Chicago Oriental Institute, McGill University in Montreal, Heidelberg University Library, and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. A few individual scholars also own isolated fragments. In addition, scrolls fragments that seem to have lingered in the hand of private dealers are slowly making their way into the public eye (see 'New Scroll Fragments' ).
If you can't travel all the way to Jerusalem, Jordan, Manchester, or Oslo, stay tuned for Scrolls exhibitions touring near you. Over the past five years a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, organized through the cooperation of the IAA, the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation, and local institutions, has come to major cities in the United States and Canada. Often these exhibits include a lecture series that features well-known Dead Sea Scrolls scholars. Check the Orion Center website, http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/resources/boardExhibits.shtml for announcements of upcoming exhibitions.
If you can't travel all the way to Jerusalem, Jordan, Manchester, or Oslo, stay tuned for Scrolls exhibitions touring near you. Over the past five years a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, organized through the cooperation of the IAA, the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation, and local institutions, has come to major cities in the United States and Canada. Often these exhibits include a lecture series that features well-known Dead Sea Scrolls scholars. Check the Orion Center website, http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/resources/boardExhibits.shtml for announcements of upcoming exhibitions.
