Your Librarian
Hazine: For Researchers of the Diverse Islamic Worlds
Hazine: For Researchers of the Diverse Islamic Worlds
Hazine publishes archive reviews, interviews, long-form essays, and resource guides for researchers using library and archival collections in the Middle East and Islamic world.
Ottoman History
- Historians of the Ottoman EmpireOpen Access (freely available, at least for now) biographical database of Ottoman historians. From the homepage: "... intends to comprise all the historians who have lived and produced within the geographical limits of the Ottoman Empire -- regardless of the language in which they wrote. The reference book will thus cover works of history primarily in Turkish, but also in Arabic, Persian, Armenian, Greek, and other languages."
Speeches
- Egyptian Political Speeches 1765-The Library of Alexandria (BiblAlex) website includes 1,765 Egyptian political speeches in text and audio going back to 1881
General Archival Databases
These databases cover a variety of topics and geographic areas. They are included here because there is significant content of interest to researchers in the Arab & Islamic worlds, and the Middle East.
- ArchiveGridArchiveGrid allows users to locate important archival collections related to their projects or near them. The site includes more than 1,400 archival institutions and over 7 million records for archival materials.
- Archives Unbound This link opens in a new windowArchives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that support the research and study needs of scholars and students at the college and university level. Collections in Archives Unbound cover a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages forward-from Witchcraft to World War II to twentieth-century political history.
- Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981 This link opens in a new windowDigitized files from Foreign and Commonwealth Office departments concerned with the Middle East, as well as relevant selections from Prime Minister's Office files and Defence Intelligence files. The documents include diplomatic correspondence, dispatches from UK ambassadors and envoys, meeting minutes, and maps. Module I covers 1971-1974, including the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and oil crisis. Module II covers 1974-1978. Module III covers 1979-1981, including regime change in Iran and the start of the Iraq-Iran War. Part of Archives Direct.
- U.S. Middle East Peace Policy and America’s Role in the Middle East Peace Process, 1989-1993 This link opens in a new windowRecords from the George H.W. Bush administration about the Middle East peace process between Israel, Palestine, and related Arab states from 1989 to 1993. Part of Archives Unbound.
Manuscripts
- Fihrist, A Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate WorldFihrist is a catalog of combined holdings of the contributing Libraries of the UK and Ireland. All participating libraries have been selectively collecting manuscripts from all subject areas, and of various geographical origins, dating from the 7th to the 19th century CE. When applicable, links to the digitized versions of the manuscripts are included in the item record.
- Manuscripts of the Muslim WorldManuscripts of the Muslim World provides public access to digital editions of more than 500 manuscripts and 827 paintings from the Islamicate world broadly construed from Columbia University, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the University of Pennsylvania with signifiant contributions from Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College.
- Oriental Mss. from the Univ. of Edinburgh Image CollectionsA large part of the Oriental Manuscript Collection consists of Arabic and Persian manuscripts. Arabic manuscripts include commentaries on the Koran; traditions of the Prophet and Imam; prayers; law, general history and biography; medicine, mathematics, philosophy and ethics; and, grammar, rhetoric, poetry, prose, tales, dictionary, and controversy. Persian manuscripts include theology, history, biography, and travel; mathematics and astronomy; ethics, poetry, music, composition and proverbs, tales and romances; grammar and dictionary; and, agriculture and war. The Arabic and Persian manuscripts include the World history of Rashid Al-Din, and the Chronology of ancient nations of Al-Biruni, from the 14th century A.D. Hindustani manuscripts include history; poetry and tales; and, astrology. Turkish manuscripts consist of material acquired in Astrakhan and includes several early Ottoman texts, divans of Neva'i and items of dialectical interest.
- Yemeni Manuscript Digitization InitiativeThe private manuscript libraries of Yemen, estimated at 50,000 codices, constitutes the largest and most important set of unexamined Arabic manuscripts in the world today. The Yemeni Manuscript Digitization Initiative presents, for the first time, access to manuscripts from three private libraries in Sanaa, Yemen, and virtually conjoins them to additional Yemeni manuscripts held by the Princeton University Library and Staatsbibliothek, Berlin.
- Digital Database of Ottoman Salnames and Nevsals from ISAM LibraryFrom Turkiye Diyanet Vakfi's Islam Arastirmalari Merkezi, this database includes Ottoman imperial and provincial salnames and nevsals. As of the moment, 523 pieces are available in the database as full-text PDFs at http://ktp.isam.org.tr/ web address.
Digital Repositories
- Farabi Digital LibraryThe Farabi Digital Library is home to the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture's collection and includes Ottoman Periodicals, Ottoman Yearbooks, Voyages in Middle East, Qurʾān manuscripts and more.
- Mamluk Bibliography Online This link opens in a new windowThe Chicago Online Bibliography of Mamluk Studies is an on-going project of the Middle East Documentation Center at the University of Chicago, the aim of which is to compile comprehensive bibliographies of all primary sources relating to the Mamluk sultanate of Egypt and Syria, as well as all research and discussion--scholarly and popular--germane to the subject. The project takes the form of two bibliographies: the primary and the secondary. For more information, please see About The Chicago Online Bibliography of Mamluk Studies.
- Islamic Medical and Scientific (IMSE) DatabaseCollection of resources pertaining to Islamic perspectives in the broad field of bioethics. This is a collaborative effort of two Georgetown Libraries, the Bioethics Research Library (Washington) and the School of Foreign Service-Qatar Library (Doha).
- al-MeshkatIncludes text-based, searchable materials in writings from the long course of Islamic civilization
