A Young Country, an Ancient Manuscript

In this video, we tell the story of how museum founder Charles Lang Freer acquired the Washington Gospels, one of the world’s oldest surviving copies of the first four books of the New Testament, during his first visit to Egypt in 1906–1907. We trace the events through newspapers, Freer’s journal, shipping documents, and photographs. We also reflect on the role this manuscript—and the National Museum of Asian Art—played in the United States’ development as a global power.

Speakers: Dr. Chase F. Robinson, Dame Jillian Sackler Director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, and Dr. Beth Harris, Smarthistory

Washington Manuscript III - The Four Gospels (Codex Washingtonensis); Egypt, late 4th–early 5th century; ink on parchment; National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1906.274