Peter Hofer and his forebears deserve to be called heroes for protecting this book through the centuries. It is one of only two existing copies of The History of the Hutterite Brethren (original German title "Das große Geschichtsbuch der Hutterer") at the Riverview Hutterite Colony near Chester, MT. The handwritten book dates back to the year 1580. Soon after I took this photo and talked to Peter about the risks of keeping it, he had the book relocated to a museum in South Dakota.