The Story of the Recorded Word, a set of four large arched
panels by Edward Laning, were executed for the McGraw Rotunda
of the New York Public Library Main Branch from 1938 to 1942
as part of a Works Progress Admistration (WPA) Project, with
supplies furnished by Isaac Phelps Stokes, author of the
Iconography of Manhattan Island. Laning depicted the story of
the recorded word across each of the murals.

The second mural, The Medieval Scribe, to the right of the
same door, depicts a monk of the Middle Ages in his monastery
patiently copying a manuscript while, behind him him, is a scene
of destruction and rapine. The work of such scribes saved the
thought and history of the past. Before printing, writing existed
only in handwritten manuscripts which were always in danger of loss
or destruction. Such medieval manuscripts were illuminated with drawings,
and decorated with gold, and became art objects of great beauty and value.
The painting dramatizes the important work of conservators.