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Show Mt.Sinm ExpeditionOff to Film 330 A. D. Monastery s Writing^ Will Record 500,000 Pages of Manuscripts for Research by Library of Congress j Special to the Herald Tribune j PHILADELPHIA. Dec. 11.-Quantities of equipment and a numi ber of toe personnel of the first expedition of the American Foundij Uonior the Study of M a n .'ill leave here by ship tomorrow morntn ; bound for St. Catherine's Monas-* - j I tery on Mt. Sinai. The expedition, , 'undertaken on behalf of the Li- , :!brary of Congress, is to microfilm j more than 500,000 pages of ancient manuscripts in what is believed to be the world's oldest ; J Christian monastery. | Going into the holds of the Pas ' Al Ardh of the Marine Transport I Line today were tons of the most modern equipment for the photographic job, which is expected to | take at least three months. In [addition to cameras and films of |many varieties, the party is taking iits own generator for power for | the cameras and a specially built I truck with a refrigeration unit to | protect the photo supplies. Two 1 other trucks and a sedan, all specially built and equipped for the rough terrain over which the party-will have to travel, were loaded also. Other gear included a shortwave radio set, foodstuffs to supplement the local diet and medical supplies of every description. Wendell Phillips, president of •:' the foundation, and William Terry, field director of the expedition, | i were here to superintend the loading but will fly to Egypt later. Members of the expedition sailing I in the Pas Al Ardh include Charles McCollum, chief of motor transport, and Kenneth Brown, airplane pilot and Arabic student. I The importance of the manu- • scripts, written 'in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Syriac and a number of other languages, has been recog-inized for a long time but their • actual contents have been mostly I unknown to Western scholars. It is for this reason that the Library (Continued on page 3, column 2) |