MINGANA, ALPHONSE (1878-1937)
Alphonse Mingana was a scholar who helped establish the Mingana
Collection (between 1924 and 1929) at
Selly Oak,
in Birmingham, U.K.. Dr. Mingana made three trips to the Middle
East, on behalf of Dr. Edward Cadbury of Selly Oak, and purchased
the many Syriac and Arabic manuscripts which are now preserved in
a collection
which bears his name.
Dr. Mingana collected nearly 660 Syriac manuscripts and over
2000 Arabic manuscripts, including 270 works by Arab Christians
including the oldest known text of the Acta Thomae and an
early copy of works by St Ephrem. He also collected a large number
of Islamic Arabic manuscripts, including two collections of Qur'an
fragments which are said to date from the 8th and 9th centuries.
Articles by Alphonse Mingana
Go Back to Main Index