What Can Happen in a Year?

Abstract

In the last year, drastic changes have occurred in the administration of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ongoing saga of the remaining unpublished material from Cave 4 at Qumran. The dismissal in December 1990 of John Strugnell as head of the international team editing the fragments set in motion a chain of events that culminated with a shocking announcement by the Huntington Library that it would open access to its copies of the material housed at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. As the realization of the traumatic events of the past year settle in, the scholarly community needs to look to the future and establish guidelines to deal better with the next major discovery, so that all humankind will benefit, not just a select few.