During Eyob Derillo's visit to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto (2023), he discussed the use of Ethiopian Christian manuscripts, as well as rituals around their use, handling, storage, and repair. This conversation was filmed for a video series focused on traditional care practices - the video is viewable here.

The aim of the series is to illustrate the relationship between traditional caretakers and their books, and learn about cultural practices for book care and use. The Hidden Stories project hopes to share this information widely, in order to improve the handling, display, care, and storage of these heritage objects currently living in galleries, libraries, archives, museums (GLAMs), and book conservation labs outside their communities of origin. For more on the series, visit the Traditional Care Practices page here.

Traditional care practices have long been a theme of the wider work of the project. Team members Derillo and Moreton recorded a conversation about Ethiopian amulet scrolls for the Aga Khan Museum exhibition, part of the previous Mellon-funded project, The Book and the Silk Roads. The amulet scrolls conversation and other book-related videos are viewable here, on the Books Along the Silk Roads digital companion.