Dr. Josh Mugler joined HMML in 2018 as the Associate Cataloger for Arabic and Syriac manuscripts. In 2020 he was promoted to Curator of Islamic Manuscripts and in 2022 became the Curator of Eastern Christian and Islamic Manuscripts. Mugler holds degrees from Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee and the Divinity School of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. In 2019, he earned his PhD in Theological and Religious Studies from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Mugler has presented at numerous conferences across the U.S. and internationally, and he has published widely. Prior to joining HMML, Mugler taught at Georgetown University and worked as an assistant to the Study of Religions across Civilizations program, which promoted the exchange of U.S.-based and Moroccan-based scholars.

At HMML, Mugler catalogs Eastern Christian and Islamic manuscripts and leads a team of catalogers assigned to these collections. The team works collaboratively across religious and linguistic boundaries to discover connections throughout the manuscript heritage of these diverse communities.

What he enjoys most about his work: “I love having the opportunity to participate in a project that preserves the endangered cultural heritage of communities around the world and makes them available online for both scholars and members of those communities at no cost. I feel very connected to people from centuries ago as I read their handwritten notes on the pages of their manuscripts.”

Stories by Dr. Josh Mugler

•   The Lord’s Song in a Foreign Land
•   Like a Dog
•   Remembering an Earthquake
•   Where We’re Working: Lucknow
•   Zaydī Manuscripts
•   Treatises of Consolation: Muslim Scholars Comfort Themselves and Others Who Have Lost Children
•   Build a Church, Build a Library
•   Johann Wetzstein and the Qurʼan Fragments of Tübingen
•   Censorship Without Censorship
•   Microfilm Milestones
•   Astronomical Technology and Religious Practice in Islam
•   A Man for All Seasonings
•   Ottoman Soap Operas and Other Stories
•   Four Family Libraries in Jerusalem
•   Crossing the Red Sea in the 1640s