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.