With its historical relics, worn but sturdy wood reading table and hundreds of ancient books lining the walls, it’s easy to imagine friars hard at work in the Guardian Angels Friary Library.

For generations, the library served as the spiritual and scholarly database for friars – first the Benedictines, followed by the Franciscans. However, over two decades ago, the friary closed; the library largely forgotten.

Now, a Chaska High School junior is seeking to preserve a selection of the volumes for perpetuity.

As part of a project necessary to earn an Eagle rank in the Boy Scouts, Alexander Kennedy is digitizing 32 of the library’s books.

“I’m trying to preserve the history of these books,” Kennedy said. “They contain the story of our community and some information on the early settlement history of Minnesota.”

Kennedy also hopes to create more awareness of the library, located on the second floor of the 1868 brick friary, adjacent to Guardian Angels Catholic Church, 218 West Second Street, Chaska.

Guardian Angels welcomes the help. “The history is important to them here. They’re very connected to the generations of people who have come here,” said Lynn Amal, Guardian Angels business administrator, of the parishioners. She noted that some families have attended the school or church for five generations.

For Kennedy, it’s the perfect project. “I’ve always been interested in books since I was a child,” he recalls. “When I had to go to a Notre Dame football game, I got bored halfway through and wanted to go to the college’s 12-story library.”

Neil Kennedy remembered his son reading books from a young age. Even as a baby, he put them right side up and never tore a page, he recalled. “He was already decoding words before he went to school,” Neil said. “He always had a passion for books.”

OLD BOOKS

This past summer, Kennedy and a group of fellow Boy Scouts from Troop 174 photographed the historic tomes, taking meticulous notes and saving the digital images. Kennedy expects that he and the other Boy Scouts will spend 250 hours on the project, by the time they’re finished.

Many of the books in the library are printed in German – reflecting the region where many of Chaska’s pioneers originated.

“German theology is pretty well known worldwide for being exact, and so they would have wanted to read what was happening and keep current,” Amal said, of the early friars.

“I was surprised at how much stuff in the library was in German, including U.S. newspapers up to World War I,” Kennedy said.

The oldest book scanned by Kennedy has been “Den Fand Christendom,” by Johann Arndt, published in 1856.

Kennedy said the favorite book he’s digitized has been the 1896 “Das ist des Deutschen Vaterland,” by Joseph Kurschner, which is filled with photographs of Germany, before the sites were devastated by two world wars.

“I stuck primarily to printed books. However, I did take pictures of one old handwritten journal that looked like it may be related to the organization of the early parish,” Kennedy said.

HILL LIBRARY

Kennedy got the idea for the project after reading an issue of his father’s “The Economist” magazine. The article noted how the St. John’s University Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) in Collegeville, Minnesota had microfilmed books in war-torn Timbuktu in Mali and the Middle East.

The library has guided Kennedy throughout the project and loaned him the camera stand he used to photograph the books. “HMML was very pleased to mentor Alexander for his project. This was the first time HMML has assisted a student with a local digitization project,” said Erin Lonergan, with the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library.

Digital preservation accomplishes two goals: it creates backups in case the original is lost; and it allows internet access for fragile books and manuscripts, Lonergan said.

“Founded in 1965, the initial scope of HMML’s work was Benedictine monastic libraries in Austria and Germany, at a time when a nuclear war in central Europe seemed a real possibility,” Lonergan said.

“Since 2003, HMML has been working extensively in the Middle East and India as well as in Europe, Ethiopia Mali and Yemen. In its 52 year history, HMML has photographically preserved over 50,000,000 manuscript pages from over 580 libraries, from 26 countries.”

The next step for Kennedy is editing photos of book pages, which he plans to do at St. John’s University this weekend.

He intends to give copies of his finished product to HMML and Guardian Angels, as well as the Chaska and Carver County historical societies, if they’re interested.

“We definitely want to make this available to people to see,” said Amal. “For people who love history, it’s just an amazing find.”

INTERESTS

Kennedy’s own interests could fill a book.

He makes films with friends, and likes to write science fiction stories, drawing inspiration from authors such as Orson Scott Card (“Ender’s Game”) and J.R.R. Tolkien (“Lord of the Rings”).

Kennedy, whose parents are Neil and Natalie Kennedy, also enjoys the great outdoors, usually with his scout troop.

“My favorite trips have included backpacking 104 miles in the high desert of New Mexico (Philmont), backpacking across Isle Royale, and for this summer, canoeing in the Canadian region of the Quetico,” Kennedy said.