Yale Library announces the return of 12th-century manuscript to the Republic of Poland

Yale University Library has announced the transfer of a liturgical manuscript known as the Cistercian Collectar (Beinecke MS 883), from the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library to the Republic of Poland. The library welcomed representatives from Poland to New Haven on Jan. 29 to retrieve the manuscript in person. 

The formal transfer of the manuscript was held in the Gates Classroom in Sterling Memorial Library, where Marta Cienkowska, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, signed the agreement on behalf of the Republic of Poland. Cienkowska thanked the library for its cooperation in the restitution of the manuscript and its commitment to provenance research.

Yale Library will continue to maintain a fully digitized version of the manuscript in its digital collections for use by researchers worldwide.

Michelle Light, director of the Beinecke Library and associate university librarian for Special Collections, said, “We are honored to return this manuscript to Poland. I hope this act will strengthen our shared commitment to ethical stewardship, and deepen scholarly and cultural collaboration.”  

Also speaking at the event was Beinecke Library curator Agnieszka Rec, who works at the intersections of medieval studies, the history of science, and material history, especially in the paleography and codicology of early books and manuscripts. Earlier in the day, the Polish delegation received a tour of Beinecke Library and viewed highlights from the library’s Polish literary collections. 

The Cistercian Collectar dates to the 12th century and served Polish clergy and scholars for centuries as part of the library of Ląd Abbey, of the Seminary Library in Poznań, and, on loan, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków. From 1926 until at least 1937, the Collectar was held by the Archdiocesan Archives in Poznań. Following the annexation of Poznań by German forces in 1939, the Archdiocesan Archives suffered a chaotic dispersal of its collection, as did other confiscated libraries in the occupied territories. The manuscript, which was reported as a war loss in 1966, reappeared on the London rare book market in the 1990s.

Given the broader context of the systemic confiscation, dispersal, and/or destruction by Nazis of Polish cultural heritage, the library agreed that the Republic of Poland’s account of the manuscript’s unauthorized removal from the country was the most likely explanation. The library decided, based on the unique facts and circumstances of this case, to return the manuscript to Poland.

The Beinecke Library, opened in 1963, fosters research, teaching, and knowledge creation by extending access to one of the world’s largest collections of rare books, manuscripts, and other research materials. Beinecke Library’s deeply researched exhibitions, vast collections, and iconic architecture make it one of the most visited destinations at Yale and Yale Library’s primary repository for Special Collections. 

For more information, contact Karen Peart or Patricia Carey.

Images: Close-up of open pages of the Cistercian Collectar, displayed on a table in the Gates Classroom in Sterling Library; Michelle Light, director of Beinecke Library, addressing the group gathered for the ceremony; Michelle Light and Marta Cienkowska, Minister of Culture and National Heritage for the Republic of Poland, signing the transfer agreement; (left to right) Agnieska Rec, Early Modern curator at Beinecke Library; Michelle Light; Marta Cienkowska; Elżbieta Rogowska, deputy director of the Department of Cultural Heritage; Tomasz Śliwinski, counselor for Restitution of Cultural Property; (left to right); library staff and members of the Polish delegation that visited Yale on Jan. 29. Photos by Harold Shapiro