Archivo General de Simancas

Written by Claire Gilbert

The Archivo General de Simancas (AGS) is the primary central archive of the Hispanic Monarchy for documents from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, although it also holds documents dating from the medieval period. It is located in the fifteenth-century castle of Simancas in a small village of the same name, ten kilometers from Valladolid. It is a valuable repository not only for the study of early modern Iberian empires, but also for North Africa and the Mediterranean.

Simancas Castle
Simancas Castle

History

The history of the AGS has its precedents in the consolidation of the royal archival depository in the first part of the sixteenth century, first on the orders of Ferdinand II of Aragon and then under his grandson Charles V in the 1540s. Charles’s son, Philip II, made the founding of a permanent physical repository of state documents a priority, not long after founding a permanent capital in Madrid and the royal library in El Escorial (which included a collection of Arabic texts). The site was renovated throughout the sixteenth century in order to transform it from a state prison to the royal state archive, and for several decades the two functions coexisted. In 1599 the military head of the prison-fortress was permanently replaced with the head archivist. All documents pertaining to the business of the Hispanic monarchy were thereafter deposited and preserved in the archival fortress, where historians requested special permission to consult them. The archive was partially relocated during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714), but the documents were subsequently returned to Simancas. In the eighteenth century most documents pertaining to Spanish possessions in and trade with the Americas were moved from Simancas to the Archivo General de las Indias in Seville. During the Peninsular War and Napoleonic occupation (1807-1814), many state papers from Simancas were captured and transported to France, including many papers relating to Spanish enterprises in North Africa, although almost all have since been returned. While most documents pertaining directly to royal administration remained in Simancas, other state documents (including those pertaining to the Inquisition, which confiscated Arabic documents) began to be deposited in or were transferred to the Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid. Today the AGS is part of a modern network of Spanish state archives, run by the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura, y Deporte (Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport, MECD), formerly Ministerio de Cultura. This network also includes the Archivo Histórico Nacional, the Archivo de la Corona de Aragón and the Archivo General de Indias, among several others. A complete list may be found on the MECD website.

Collection:

The AGS houses many documents related to the history of diplomatic and commercial relations between the Hispanic Monarchy and different Muslim powers and communities. Most documents are in Spanish, Italian, and other European languages, but there are documents in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, and possibly in Persian —as part of the Habsburg-Safavid diplomatic correspondence—as well as translations from those languages into Spanish or Italian. These are likely to be found interpolated with diplomatic correspondence and reports. After the eighteenth century, complementary collections concerning diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire were to be found in the Archivo del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores (AMAE) in Madrid. The AMAE was closed last year, and although the documents have been transferred to the Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid and the Archivo General de la Administración in Alcalá de Henares, the AMAE collections are not currently accessible for researchers. Arabic documents produced in or sent to Valencia and Catalunya are more likely to be found in the rich Arabic collections of the Archivo de la Corona de Aragón in Barcelona, where they may be accessed, in part, online via PARES.

The holdings of Simancas, which are vast, are divided into twenty-eight broad collections, within which there are many subdivisions. Collections of particular interest for scholars of North Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Islamic Spain are Patronato Real, Secretarías del Consejo de Estado, Secretarías de los Consejos de Flandes, Italia y Portugal, and Guerra y Marina, although there are documents relating to Islamic Spain, North Africa, and the Mediterranean to be found throughout the archive. The bulk of Patronato Real documents, including treaties between Castile and Nasrid Granada dating from 1406, are digitized and available online at PARES. The other collections must be consulted at Simancas. The most common method of cataloging across the collections is by individual name, place name, and date range, so scholars will want to formulate their research questions in this particular archive following these kinds of keywords through the different collections. There is no standard catalog across the archive, although the online database (PARES) is a good place to start and can support keyword searches other than name, place, and date. The online search is useful if you are not at Simancas but it can only take you so far. The real map to the holdings is to be found in the paper catalogs in the AGS reading rooms, which correspond to specific collections and which are quite heterogeneous in organization and layout.

simancas 1
An interior hall in Simancas archive

The AGS also holds a rich collection of maps and drawings, including of sites in North Africa. The entire maps and drawing collection (Mapas, Planos y Dibujos) has been digitized. More information about the collection and how to consult it can be found here:

The Research Experience:

Researchers can bring only pencils, laptops, and half sheets of paper (provided) into the reading room.  All other belongings are left in lockers in the break room. There are spaces for at least twenty researchers in the reading room, with additional space in a neighboring room, and it is rarely full, except in the summer months.

Since 2013, document requests are now made from one of two computer terminals in the reading room, as part of a now standard practice across state archives. You use the username and password that are issued to you with your research ID (carné de investigador). Document requests are fulfilled as they are received, and it usually takes about 15-20 minutes for the documents to be brought to the reading room. A researcher may request three legajos at a time and there is a limit of 10 legajos per day.

There is an active program of digitization across the Spanish state archives, including Simancas. However, by far the bulk of the materials remain available in manuscript format only. There is no single catalog of the AGS, although the Simancas holdings are partially described online as part of the main archive bibliographic database, PARES. Some of the documentary collections have published catalogs, which may be available in university libraries. The entire catalog collection may only be consulted completely in the Simancas reading rooms. Most catalogs are available for consultation on the reading-room shelves. Some of the collections still rely on seventeenth-century catalogs, which must be requested from the archivist.

The archivists at the AGS provide outstanding research help and can help guide researchers to the right collections and catalogs based on their topics and questions. The best place to start for any researcher is with a copy of the guide, Archivo General de Simancas: Guía del investigador (1962), sadly out of print but available in many university libraries and in several well-worn copies in the AGS reading room. This guide gives a detailed overview of the collections, their subdivisions, and the date ranges in each. The guide is not a substitute for the catalogs, but is an important first step to understand the possible research directions one may take in the AGS.

The AGS also houses a respectable research library collection with books and articles related to early modern Spanish history and in particular related to research topics that may be done from Simancas. The library catalog can be found here. Users should specify “Biblioteca: Archivo General de Simancas.” Researchers can request books to be delivered to the reading room, and this can be a valuable compliment to manuscript research. There are also a range of dictionaries on the shelves that researchers may use as they wish.

The archive staff is kind, professional, and thoroughly knowledgeable about the collection. New researchers will have a chance to speak with the Jefa de sala  (Head of the Reading Room), who will help orient you in the catalogs and give guidance about which collections to search based on your research topic. Spanish is the primary language of communication, and is recommended, although the archivists are scholars themselves and thus possess a range of fluency in other languages. The researchers are also an international group, so for those researchers who do not speak Spanish, it may be possible to find someone to help translate in a pinch. The most prudent strategy would be to arrive with a version of your primary research topic in Spanish, although there will likely be a multilingual and friendly group in the reading room who can help facilitate communication.

Last Will and Testament of Queen Isabella, from the Simancas Archive
Last Will and Testament of Queen Isabella, from the Simancas Archive

Reproductions:

Reproductions are available on CD or in paper, and the format depends on the collection. Some collections have not been digitized, and are only currently available in paper copies. Other collections have been digitized and are only available in digital copies on CD. Prices vary but are reasonable (e.g., 0.15 Euros/page for a black and white A4), and there is a small cost for the CD if digital copies are requested. There are different reproduction-request forms for either digital or paper copies, and both are available in the reading room. It is best to consult one of the archivists or technicians about which form to use since they have an immediate sense of whether a document is available for digital or paper reproduction. Digital reproductions are made much more quickly than the paper copies, for obvious reasons. Because the archive is so well used, the wait for paper reproductions can take between a few weeks to a few months, but the staff does its best to complete reproduction orders as quickly as their resources allow. Reproductions can be sent internationally for the cost of postage and it might be possible to request them from abroad as well.

Access:

The AGS is open Monday through Friday from 8:15 until 14:30 only. In practice, the archivists begin to collect materials by 14:15, meaning that research ends at that time. The Valladolid-Simancas bus arrives around 8:30, meaning that researchers who stay in the village of Simancas have the advantage of an extra half-hour in the archive. There are no long-term closures, and the AGS remains open in August, when some Spanish libraries and archives close. Holidays fall throughout the year, however, and a list of holiday closures (días festivos) is available on the main archive web page.

Entrance to the AGS and any Spanish state archive is open to all. However, a recent change in policy means that you do need to apply for a research ID (carné de investigador) when you arrive, which is applicable at all state archives. If you already have an ID from another state archive, you simply present it at the AGS. In Simancas, as in any of the state archives, obtaining a research ID requires a passport and a short interview, which can best be facilitated if you have a letter of affiliation on hand. It is not a difficult process, but it is important to bring the required materials and be able to explain briefly your interest in the collections. If you are not Spanish, you must bring your passport to the archive each day in order to gain access to the site.

The archive also houses a small museum and exhibition space, which is open in the morning and afternoon, including Saturdays (the archive is not open on Saturdays). Tourists may visit on weekdays from 10:00-14:00 and 17:00-19:00 and Saturdays from 11:00-14:00 and 17:00-19:00.  See the website for more information about guided tours.

Transportation and Food:

Simancas is not far from Valladolid, which serves as the main base for researchers who are not staying in the village. Transportation to and from the archive can be complicated for the uninitiated. If you do not have your own car, you must use the medium-distance bus service, which departs from the Valladolid Bus Station, and the fare is just over a Euro each way (though prices may change). Researchers based in Madrid should take the Alvia train from the Chamartín train station (an early train allows you to catch the 10:00 bus to Simancas, but verify current transportation schedules), or the ALSA bus from either the Moncloa or South Bus Stations. There is also a bus that goes straight from the Barajas International Airport just outside Madrid to Valladolid. Once in Valladolid, the train and bus stations are about a 15-minute walk from one another. The Simancas bus (La Regional) leaves from one of the central bays, and you may buy your ticket from the window inside or from the bus driver. There has been in the past a bono-card which allows you to purchase ten journeys for a slightly cheaper fare. The bus leaves Valladolid at 8:00, but then not again until 10:00, (especially important for researchers coming from Madrid who need to coordinate train schedules). Subsequently the bus leaves every hour. The bus returns from Simancas to Valladolid around 14:15 and 15:15, but the next bus back to Valladolid is not until 17:15. If you miss the 14:15 bus, you should stay and have lunch in the village. An online bus schedule can be found here.

There are several bars and restaurants in Simancas, in addition to a coffee and snack machine in the archive break room. Researchers are generally very friendly and sociable, and will gather for a coffee break at the machine or one of the bars around 11:00, and/or for lunch once the archive closes.

Miscellaneous:

The archive runs small temporary exhibitions based on its collections, which are uniformly excellent and certainly worth visiting. There is no charge associated with visiting the exhibition. Overall, Simancas is an exceptional place to do research, given the richness of the collections, the kindness and professionalism of the staff, and the pleasant reading room and efficient document delivery.

Contact information:

Telephone:

(34) 983 590 003

Address:

Calle Miravete, 8

47130 Simancas (Valladolid)

SPAIN

Website and Email:

http://www.mcu.es/archivos/MC/AGS/

ags@mcu.es

Resources and Links:

The “Guide” to Simancas, a thorough though not detailed overview of the collections, their contents, histories, date ranges and shelfmarks: Angel de la Plaza Bores, Archivo General de Simancas: Guía del Investigador, Valladolid: Dirección General de Archivos y Bibliotecas, 1962.

A recent collection of scholarly essays about the AGS and the work which has been done using its collections: Alberto Marcos Martín (ed.), Hacer historia desde Simancas, Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León, 2011.

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Claire Gilbert is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at UCLA working on translators between Spain and Morocco in the sixteenth century.

Cite this: Claire Gilbert, “Simancas”, HAZINE, https://hazine.info/2014/03/13/simancas/, 13 Mar 2014

Dar al-Mahfuzat al-ʿUmumiyya (Cairo)

Written by Adam Mestyan, with additional comments by Rudolph Peters

Dar al-Mahfuzat al-ʿUmumiyya is an important Egyptian government archive, despite the fact that few people know of its existence. Today, the institution is officially known as the Registry and Property Records Archive of the Egyptian Finance Ministry. It is located beside the Citadel in Cairo, near the al-Rifaʿi and Sultan Hasan mosques. Its documents, containing much more than property-related information, are significant for the administrative and urban history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Egypt.

History

defterhane picture 3
An interior view of the old defterhane building from the second quarter of the nineteenth century

The origins of Dar al-Mahfuzat can be traced back to the defterhane, which was a main depository of government documents. It burned down and was re-established by Mehmet Ali Pasha in 1828. In the nineteenth century, it was variously under the responsibility of the Accountant Office in the Diwan-i Khidiwi, the Finance Ministry (Diwan/Wizarat al-Maliyya), the Cairo Governorate (Muhafazat Misr), or the Ministry of Interior (Wizarat al-Dakhiliyya). In 1905, the institution became a part of the Finance Ministry. In 1929, its name was changed to Dar al-Mahfuzat al-ʿUmumiyya (and some of its documents were transferred to the ‘Abdin Palace as part of an effort to establish a separate royal archive). The post-1952 regime established the National Archive of Historical Records (Dar li-l-Watha’iq al-Tarikhiyya al-Qawmiyya, hereafter DWQ) and ordered the transfer of documents located in the ʿAbdin collection, Dar al-Mahfuzat, and other governmental agencies to this central organization under the Ministry of National Guidance (Wizarat al-Irshad al-Qawmi). However, until a proper building was found, it exercised central control over state historical records only in theory. In the 1960s, DWQ and Dar al-Kutub (the National Library) were united. In 1977, Dar al-Mahfuzat was ordered to join this central organization under the Ministry of Culture (formerly National Guidance), but in 1979 it was re-established as part of the Ministry of Finance. It remained until now as part of the Property Tax Office (Maslahat al-Daraʾib al-ʿAqariyya).

Collection

The exact holdings of Dar al-Mahfuzat are not known officially. There is no public catalog. The best available description is in Insaf ʿUmar’s thesis, especially its appendices (see bibliography below). It is possible that some parts of the collection were already transferred to other governmental offices or to DWQ.

The documents preserved in Dar al-Mahfuzat today certainly include three important collections. 1) The pension dossiers of state employees (Milaffat Khidmat al-Muwazzafin) between the 1830s and 1959 (including non-Egyptian subjects who received pension from the Egyptian state). In these dossiers one can trace the entire careers of state employees and obtain some information on their heirs. These files provide also an insight into the administrative work and cooperation between different branches of the state. 2) The tax-registers of buildings in Cairo (Jaraʾid ʿAwaʾid al-Amlak al-Mabniyya, which once belonged to the Cairo Governorate [Muhafazat Misr]), and possibly of other cities as well. This collection mostly contains documents from the turn of the century to the early 1950s. 3) Tax registers of agricultural lands (Mukallafat al-Atyan al-Ziraʿiyya).

There might be other collections. For instance, registers of births and deaths were stored in Dar al-Mahfuzat at one time but may have been transferred to another office. The sijills of the provincial shariʿa courts, which were present in the 1980s, are now in DWQ. Some dossiers of Dar al-Mahfuzat are presently empty.

The number of documents/dossiers/registers is not known officially. Insaf ʿUmar gives various numbers. Judged by my own experience, there must be tens of thousands of registers concerning taxation and thousands of dossiers concerning state pensioners. Insaf ‘Umar estimates 88,794 dossiers of state pensioners.

Library

There is also a library in Dar al-Mahfuzat. Its collection is significant for the legal history of Egypt: it holds printed books between the 1830s and 1870s, mostly in Ottoman Turkish, which contain the official orders from the governors and various state regulations. There is also a collection of the journal al-Waqaʾiʿ al-Misriyya (seemingly, the full series), and some books in French or Italian about Egyptian law. There are other nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Arabic printed materials concerning taxation or administrative laws. The Arabic material is cataloged in Insaf ʿUmar’s thesis but he does not include the Ottoman Turkish books. As of December 2013, the library was being re-organized.

The facade of the current Dar al-Mahfuzat building
The facade of the current Dar al-Mahfuzat building, seemingly interpreted by an Instragram filter

Research Experience

Dar al-Mahfuzat retains archival functions but it is not an archive per se. It is a functioning governmental office with the responsibility of safeguarding highly sensitive information related to state and private income. Not surprisingly, security is tight. It seems that in the 1980s access was easier. It is also possible that the revolutionary atmosphere in 2011 made state institutions more defensive. Until the autumn of 2013, there was a research (viewing) room (qaʿat al-bahth) with a small staff of four ladies. In the beginning, one employee had to escort me in the building, later I was allowed to move more freely. They were very helpful but not entirely knowledgeable about the holdings.

Researchers can only work three hours per day, from 10:00 to 13:00. This three-hour research period is an official decision and it is printed on every research permission. Therefore, complaints to employees are futile and may be interpreted as disrespectful. It often happens that the requested material arrives late or the researcher is asked to come back the day after. However, almost everything I wanted to look at arrived sooner or later.

There is no digital or printed catalog. In the case of pension files, one has to know the date of the retirement or read all the handwritten registers until you find the name or the profession you are looking for, and then ask for the indicated dossier. Given the limited number of working hours, consulting these pension-registers can take up significant research time. In the case of property taxation, one has to consult a separate office in the Garage Building in Opera Square first, in order to gain information about the pre-1952 administrative arrangements and names of the streets, etc. The staff is very helpful there. Once this information is obtained, one can request the given codes of the registers at Dar al-Mahfuzat.

When a register or a dossier arrives, a security guard also enters the room, and sits next to the researcher (sometimes so close that you may feel restricted in free movement). However, after a time, security is frequently relaxed; I was often left without a “guard” (of course, the ordinary research staff remained in the room).

At my last visit in December 2013, I found the research room closed and some of the employees dismissed. There was a new director and the remaining research employees were transferred to the library which became the new “viewing room.” Still, during this research visit, I could only view the requested material in one of the working offices, among the administrators under the supervision of a security guard. Do not be surprised if you see that an employee eats a sandwich above a one-hundred-year old document. However, the atmosphere, after the first wave of surprise about my presence, was rather kind and welcoming. I could even work more than three hours. Despite the initial efforts of the security personnel to restrict my viewing, ultimately I was permitted to read whatever page of the registers I wanted.

dar al-mahfuzat -storage conditions
Storage conditions of the defters in Dar al-Mahfuzat, picture taken for Insaf ‘Umar dissertation

My advice is to be kind, humble, and persistent. Of course, you can only chat in Egyptian Arabic. Depending on the scope of your research, you must organize your time wisely – it is possible that you have to return time and time again. Be always aware that this is a living part of the Ministry of Finance. In any country in the world this would cause difficulties, especially if you are a foreigner.

Access

Dar al-Mahfuzat is usually open from morning around nine to the mid-afternoon and is located on 2 Shari’a al-Mahjar. However, research is restricted to 10:00  – 13:00, and sometimes four days a week. It is open during the summer.

Permission needs to be requested from the Security Bureau (Maktab al-Amn) of the Property Tax Office of the Finance Ministry, at the left side of the Saʿd Zaghlul Mausoleum. Since there were rumors that foreigners cannot do research, I submitted 1) photocopies of my passport, 2) a letter of recommendation from my university in Arabic (and English) 3) a letter, signed by my Ambassador that I am a scientific researcher, in Arabic (and English) 4) a research plan in Arabic 5) a form to be filled in (you will be given) 6) Two colored passport-sized photographs.

It is crucial that on the form you define the time period of your research as broadly as possible because you will be given only those files which fall within the specified period. For instance, if you focus on the 1880s, you should provide dates between 1850 and 1920 or more, since perhaps the person you are looking for retired much later and you will not even receive the name-registers after the stated end of your period.

The permission process can take months, often half a year. For me it took longer, perhaps because I submitted my request in 2011. After receiving permission, I went to Dar al-Mahfuzat and, despite the permission from the Ministry, was immediately taken by the security personnel to the director, who, after a little chat, gave her permission too. As the office is now under new management, circumstances may be different.

The permission is valid for one year (365 days) with the possibility of renewal.

Dar al-Mahfuzat is not wheelchair accessible.

Reproductions

Dar al-Mahfuzat does not permit the use of cameras or laptops while working with documents. Moreover, the archive provides no photocopying services. Researchers are permitted only to hand copy the documents they consult. You cannot bring a laptop into the viewing room.

Transportation and Food:

The easiest way to access the archive is by taxi or bus to Sayyida ʿAʾisha or the al-Rifaʿi and Sultan Hasan Mosques.

There are plenty of small kusheri and ful shops nearby.

Future Plans and Rumors

Egypt is in the midst of immense political changes which affect all levels of government bureaucracy including Dar al-Mahfuzat. Researchers should be prepared to navigate a quickly evolving bureaucratic environment while undertaking their research.

There will be possible changes. Look for updates.

Contact information

Though Dar al-Mahfuzat can be reached by phone, I do not recommend calling it directly. First go to the Security Office and request permission in person. There is no website.

Resources and Links:

The most important resources are:

J. Deny, Sommaire des Archives Turques du Caire (Cairo: IFAO, 1930)

Insaf ʿUmar, “Dar al-Mahfuzat al-ʿUmumiyya bi-l-Qalʿa – Nashaʾatuha – Tanzumuha – Idaratuha – wa-Dawruha fi-Khidmat al-Arshif al-Jari” (unpublished thesis, Kulliyat al-Adab, Cairo University, 1983) – available at www.kotobarabia.com

Insaf ʿUmar, “Min Kunuz Dar al-Mahfuzat al-ʿUmumiyya – Milaffat al-Muwazzafin bi-l-Hukuma al-Misriyya,” in: Khamsun ʿAmman ʿala Inshaʾ Dar al-Wathaʾiq, ed. Muhammad Sabir ʿArab et al (Cairo: Dar al-Kutub, 2009), 160-194.

Some material is in:

Al-Wathaʾiq al-ʿArabiyya fi Dar al-Mahfuzat (Cairo: al-Majlis al-ʿAli li-l-Thaqafa, 2007)

Al-Daftarkhana: Dar al-Mahfuzat al-ʿUmumiyya (Alexandria: Maktabat al-Iskandariyya, 2010)

Works of Ibrahim ʿAbduh, ʿAli Barakat, Crabbs, Gran, Hunter, Peters.

Though Dar al-Mahfuzat almost totally missing from these two important studies in English, they provide good context:

Helen Rivlin, The Dar al-Watha’iq in ‘Abdin Palace at Cairo as a Source for the Study of Modernization of Egypt in the Nineteenth Century (Leiden:  E. J. Brill, 1970).

Yoav di Capua, Gatekeepers of the Arab Past: Historians and History Writing in Twentieth-Century Egypt (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2009).

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Adam Mestyan is a Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows, Harvard University and currently writing his first book on the relationship between political power and theater in nineteenth-century Egypt.

Cite this: Adam Mestyan, “Dar al-Mahfuzat al-‘Umumiyya (Cairo),” HAZINE, 3 Mar 2014, https://hazine.info/2014/03/03/daralmahfuzat/

Chester Beatty Library

Written by Melis Taner

The Chester Beatty Library (Leabharlann Chester Beatty) contains Oriental and Western books and manuscripts bequeathed by the private collector Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968).  Located on the grounds of Dublin Castle, the library houses one of the finest manuscript collections of Islamic and East Asian material in Europe and is especially well known for its illustrated manuscripts.6144718-Chester_Beatty_Library_Dublin

History

Sir Chester Beatty was a mining magnate who at an early age began to collect stamps and Chinese snuff bottles. Over time he began to collect European and Persian manuscripts. Following a trip in 1914 to Egypt, he became interested in Arabic materials and acquired several copies of the Quran. His collection grew and came to include Japanese and Chinese paintings after a trip to Asia in 1917. Sir Chester Beatty moved to Ireland in 1950 and there he built a library. His personal collection was bequeathed to the public after his death in 1968. The collection boasts manuscripts, single folios, scrolls, textiles and decorative objects from East Asia, Armenia and Western Europe in addition to over 4,400 Islamic manuscripts. The library’s aim is to preserve and display rare materials belonging to the collection of Sir Chester Beatty and to make them available to the public.

Chester Beatty, collector
Chester Beatty, collector

Collection

The Islamic manuscripts in the collection range in production date from the eighth century to the twentieth century. The majority of the collection is made of some 2,650 Arabic manuscripts, most of which are unillustrated and range in topic from history, religion, jurisprudence to astronomy and medicine. There are 260 Qurans in the collection, which boasts an illuminated Quran copied in Baghdad in 1001 by the famed calligrapher Ibn al-Bawwab. In addition, there is a large collection of Mughal manuscripts and paintings, produced during the reigns of Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The smaller collection of over 300 Persian manuscripts represents fine examples of illustrated literary works, including a luxurious copy of the Gulistan of Saʿdi (MS 10) made for the Timurid ruler Baysunghur. The collection of Turkish manuscripts comprises the smallest group among the Islamic materials and consists of around 160 manuscripts in Ottoman Turkish and Chaghatay. While a small collection in general, the quality of material preserved is very fine in terms of condition and decoration, and is a great resource for art historians in particular.

Funeral of Suleyman
The procession for Sultan Suleyman’s death, from the collection of the Chester Beatty Library

An e-book version of the guide to the collections is available for download on iTunes for $12.99. Printed catalogs of the Islamic collections are available for study in the reading room. The main sources for the field of Islamic history and art are the catalogs of Turkish and Persian manuscripts by Vladimir Minorsky and A. J. Arberry. Arberry’s eight-volume catalog of the Arabic collections are available electronically on the library’s website. Thomas Arnold produced a catalog of the collection’s Indian manuscripts. For the collection of Qurans, one can consult A. J. Arberry’s handlist of Qurans held at the Chester Beatty Library (please see below for references to all of catalogs cited here). While unpublished, researchers may also consult a folder that includes recent acquisitions.

Vladimir Minorsky’s 1958 catalog of the Turkish manuscripts and miniatures is organized with an eye to the style of painting as well as the language of the text. Thus, the illuminated Persian Mathnawi of Rumi is included in the catalog of Turkish manuscripts on account of the style of its illumination. On the other hand, a manuscript made for a Turcoman ruler, with a text in a Turcoman dialect, and paintings that are closer to Persian art than Turkish art, has also been included in this catalog on account of its language. The Turkish collection includes early works such as the Sulaymannama (T.406) composed and transcribed for Bayezid II (not to be confused with the late sixteenth-century History of Sultan Sulayman (Tetimme-i Ahval-i Sultan Suleyman, T.413), a late fifteenth-century deluxe copy of the Divan of Hidayat (T.401), and the fourth part of the late sixteenth-century Siyer-i Nebi (T.419). In addition, there are several manuscripts that contain maps and paintings of holy places, astrological manuscripts, as well as single folios and albums. There are several eighteenth-century copies of Dalail al-Khayrat; a late eighteenth-century illustrated account of El-Hacc Muhammed Edib Efendi b. Muhammed Derviş’s pilgrimage between 1779 and 1780. Along with illustrated and illuminated manuscripts, there are also several waqfnamas, such as that of Davud Ağa, former chief eunuch, or that of the princess Fatima Sultan, daughter of Murad III.

Minorsky’s catalogs are quite accurate and provide a detailed description of the manuscripts, including information about the author, codex size, folio number, binding, script, the name of the scribe, copy date, and provenance, whenever possible. When dealing with anthologies and albums, Minorsky provides information on individual sections and their folio numbers. The catalogs also include an index of personal names, places and tribes, as well as a selection of images. In addition to these catalogs there are dictionaries and reference materials relating to book collecting, bookbinding, calligraphy, Islamic art, East Asian art, Christianity and Buddhism in the reading room.

In 2011 the Chester Beatty Library launched an online and interactive Islamic Seals Database of seal impressions found in the library’s collection of Arabic manuscripts, set up as part of the library’s Arabic Manuscripts Project. The project is still in progress and will include images of seals from the library’s Islamic collection. The researcher or the visitor to the site may contribute by adding information, thus enlarging the database.

Research Experience

The collection is not digitized but researchers may view the originals in the reading room. The reading room operates on an appointment basis so it is most often quite empty and very pleasant to work in, with a large desk and cradles provided for manuscript support. As the reading room works on an appointment basis, the manuscripts are already on reserve for the researcher when he or she arrives. Should the researcher wish to see other manuscripts, they are brought out a few minutes after the request. There is no need to fill out any forms. In the reading room there are two librarians on duty and they have to be present while the researcher views the material. Should one or both librarians have to leave, a guard takes their place. In general, the researcher is not required to use gloves but cradles are suggested when necessary.

Access

Aurangzeb hunting nilgai
Aurangzeb hunting, one of the illustrated miniatures from the collection of the Chester Beatty Library

The reading room is on the second floor of the library and is open from 10:00 to 13:00, and 14:15 to 17:00 Monday to Friday. The library is closed between December 24 and 26, as well as New Year’s Day, Good Friday, and any public holiday that falls on a Monday. From October to the end of April it is also closed on Mondays. It is important to contact the curator, Dr. Elaine Wright, well in advance as the reading room works on an appointment basis. While there is some flexibility in scheduling further sessions, it is best if the researcher contacts the curator for each session in advance in order to avoid any problem that may arise if the reading room is used for another event. One may contact the curator via e-mail with a description of one’s research and background as well as at least some of the manuscripts he or she would like to see. Once the researcher has an appointment through correspondence with the curator, it is quite easy to access the reading room. The guards at the entrance to the library will point the researcher in the right direction. There are lockers at the entrance (which require a 1 euro deposit), where one can leave personal belongings. There is no internet access in the reading room. The library is wheelchair friendly but it must be noted that currently there are problems with the lift service.

Reproductions

Photography is not allowed but digital reproductions for publication purposes are available on request. Reproductions for publication tend to be quite pricey at 17 euros per image. For a new photograph, it is 50 euros. There is also a handling fee of 21 euros if the images or microfilms are sent to the address. However, the curator is kind enough to provide lower quality images for free (up to 20 images) for study purposes only, if they are readily available.

Transportation and Food

The library is located very centrally, within Dublin Castle, close to Dame Street and Christchurch Cathedral. Dublin is quite small and walkable but bus routes are also available (lines 13, 40, 123, 27, 77a and 150). As the reading room closes for lunch, one may need to pack a lunch or go to one of the many nearby restaurants and cafes. The Silk Road Café, located within the library/museum, provides Middle Eastern and Irish food and has a good selection of vegetarian dishes.  There are plenty of options nearby as well, from fish and chips stands to cafes, especially on Dame Street. The library also regularly holds exhibitions, which make for pleasant lunchtime perusing. The entrance to the library and museum is free. While the collection is quite small in comparison to some other manuscript libraries, the quality of materials is very high and it is a great place to work with the very obliging librarians and curators.

Contact information
Chester Beatty Library
Dublin Caste, Dublin 2
Phone: (+353 1) 407 07 50

Chester Beatty Signage
Chester Beatty Signage

Resources and Catalogs
Chester Beatty Library main site

Islamic Seals Database

Arberry, A.J. The Chester Beatty Library: A Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts and Miniatures. V.Minorsky. Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co. Ltd. 1959-1962.

Arberry, A.J. The Koran Illuminated: A Handlist of the Korans in the Chester Beatty Library. Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co. Ltd. 1967.

Arberry, A.J. The Chester Beatty Library, A Handlist of the Arabic Manuscripts, Dublin, 1955-64. Volume 1, Ar 3000-3250.Volume 2, Ar 3251-3500Volume 3, Ar 3501-3750Volume 4, Ar 3751-4000Volume 5, Ar 4001-4500Volume 6, Ar 4501-5000Volume 7, Ar 5001-5500Volume 8, Indices.

V. Minorsky. The Chester Beatty Library: A Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts and Miniatures. Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co. Ltd. 1958.

Wilkinson, J.V.S.. The Library of A. Chester Beatty, a Catalogue of the Indian Miniatures. London: Oxford University Press, 1936.

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Melis Taner is a doctoral candidate in the History of Art at Harvard University

Cite this: Melis Taner, “Chester Beatty Library,” HAZINE, 21 Feb 2014, https://hazine.info/2014/02/21/chester-beatty-library/

Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo

Written by Dzenita Karic

The Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo (Orijentalni institut u Sarajevu) is a public research institution dedicated to the study of the Arabic, Turkish and Persian languages and literatures, both in general and, more specifically, for Bosnia’s Ottoman past. It was formerly one of the most important institutions for conducting research on the Ottoman heritage of the former Yugoslavia, although today, regrettably, it is better known for its most tragic fate: it was burnt down to the ground in 1992. Despite this, it still contains a modest collection of manuscripts and documents in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Bosnian, all of which have been digitized, and two collections of reference literature.

The current building of the Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo
The current building of the Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo

History

The Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo was established in 1950 by the government of the People’s Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RBiH). Between 1992-1995 it was proclaimed an institution of special relevance to RBiH, and after the war it came under the jurisdiction of the Canton of Sarajevo. The history of the Institute can be roughly divided into two parts, before and after the year 1992, which marks the beginning of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the first period, the Institute housed the manuscript collection and archives (in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Persian and Bosnian) of the National Museum. Apart from the collection and preservation of these materials, the Institute undertook research on the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans in the Ottoman period, as well as the study of the languages, literatures and art of the Middle East. The Institute at its peak contained 5,263 manuscript codices covering fields from astrology and theology to epistolography and poetry, and the oldest manuscript in the collection was from the eleventh century. However, in May 1992, the Institute was hit by incendiary shells coming from the Serbian positions and the vast majority of the manuscript collection and archives was burnt and irrevocably lost.

The Institute of Oriental Studies after it was burnt down in 1992
The Institute of Oriental Studies after it was burnt down in 1992

Collections

Manuscript Collection

Today the Institute’s manuscript collection contains 53 preserved codices from the former collection of the Institute, 34 newly bought codices, and 21 codices received as gifts from individuals or institutions. The oldest codex in the collection contains two works and dates back to the fifteenth century. In spite of the relatively small number of manuscripts, Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Persian and Bosnian works are represented in collection. The collection comprises manuscript copies of the Qur’an (either whole Qur’an or certain suras), commentaries on the Qur’an and related theological fields, prayers (ad’iya), works in Sufism, philosophy and logic, politics, medicine and pharmacopia, history, astronomy, astrology, grammar, adab, diplomas (ijazat), qanunnames, fatwas, epistolography, and a number of majmuas. Apart from the manuscript collection, the Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo preserved nine sijills from the pre-war collection. The sijills are from various Bosnian cities (Mostar, Travnik, Jajce, Ljubinje, Prijedor, Visoko) and date mostly from nineteenth century though a few are from the seventeenth century.

The manuscripts in the new collection are of interest not only for their calligraphic value, but also for the fact that a certain number of them are autograph works of Bosnian authors in Arabic, Turkish and Persian. Researchers of Bosnian history and culture will also note the significant number of manuscripts by local copyists.

Printed Volumes and Special Collections

Since its establishment in 1950, the Institute’s researchers have published the results of their work in Monumenta Turcica (which contains translations and facsimiles of historical sources), Special editions (a series of monographs), and the journal Prilozi za orijentalnu filologiju (Contributions to Oriental Philology). The published studies largely focus on the history and literature of Ottoman Bosnia and the Balkans. These publications, however, are mostly in Bosnian, which makes them less accessible to a wider academic public. Some of this journal’s articles are now of crucial value since they are our sole source of information about manuscripts and documents which were lost in 1992.

Apart from these publications, the Institute’s library contains more than 10,000 volumes and 180 serial journals (around 50 are in local language(s) and 130 in foreign languages). The largest part of the library collection contains books on Ottoman history (especially the Ottoman Balkans), general history, literatures and cultures of Bosnia and the Middle East, Islamic art and architecture, etc. The secondary literature is predominantly in Turkish, English and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, but works in Arabic, Persian, French and German can also be found. A second, separate library collection is the Hadžibegić Library, named after Hamid Hadžibegić, one of the Institute’s researchers who donated his private library to the center in 2001. This library comprises more than 1000 volumes, as well as a certain number of journals. The works are primarily in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian but there are also some in Turkish, especially when it comes to books dealing with Ottoman history, architecture and literature. There is also a significant number of dictionaries, grammars and language instruction books.

One of the documents salvaged from the Institute of Oriental Studies
One of the documents salvaged from the Institute of Oriental Studies

Research experience

The Institute has two comfortable reading rooms, one larger and one smaller. A paper catalog is available though there is no computer catalog. The material listed in the paper catalog is digitized, and can be seen upon request (on CD). Researchers can see the original material, but only in the presence of the librarian or archivist. The manuscript material and the sijills can be seen the same day upon arrival. The same applies for the reference literature from both of the two library collections. Manuscripts, however, have been digitized and may be viewed as high-quality photographs on the computer.

The librarian and the archivist (who are also researchers at the Institute) are very helpful. They speak English and Turkish. The rest of the staff (eighteen researchers in total, consisting of Arabists, Ottomanists, and Persianists) can be consulted if there is any specific question related to the material.

Access

The Institute is officially open to researchers and students Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 11:00, but they can usually stay until 15:00. There are no long-term closures and researchers can come in every part of the year, but they should keep in mind national as well as Islamic religious holidays when the Institute is closed for a day or two. It is highly recommended for the researchers to send an email announcing their visit a couple of days prior and to remember to bring their passport (in the case of foreign researchers and students) or ID (in the case of Bosnian citizens). They are supposed to email the librarian of the Institute, Ms Mubera Bavčić. The whole process is very straightforward. The library membership fee is 10 KM (approximately €5).

The Institute is not wheelchair accessible.

Reproductions

Digitized manuscripts and the archive material is available for free in CD format, but the researchers should keep in mind that the amount of material which will be given is limited. The reference material can also be copied for 0.20 KM per page (€0.10).

Transportation and Food

The Institute is located on the campus of the University of Sarajevo. It can be reached by bus, tram (all the tram numbers apart from number 1), or a twenty-minute walk from the center. The Institute is also a five-minute walk from the Faculty of Philosophy.

Across the street from the campus, there is a shopping mall with several eating options, of which the small restaurants in the mall and the adjacent building are the most suitable in price and quality.

Contact information

The Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo has a website with some useful information; however, it is only available in Bosnian at the moment.

Website: www.ois.unsa.ba

Address: Orijentalni institut u Sarajevu

Zmaja od Bosne 8b

Sarajevo 71 000

Phone: 00 387 33 225 353

Email address: ois@bih.net.ba

Resources and Links

The catalog for the collection is not accessible on the internet. There are three paper catalogs published by the Institute, however, only the latest one deals with the collection in its present state:

Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo. Catalogue of Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Bosnian Manuscripts (prepared by Lejla Gazić).  London-Sarajevo: Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation and Institute for Oriental Studies, 2009.

These are the paper catalogs of the material no longer existing in the Institute:

Orijentalni institut u Sarajevu. Katalog perzijskih rukopisa Orijentalnog instituta u Sarajevu (obradio Salih Trako). Sarajevo: Orijentalni institut u Sarajevu (Posebna izdanja), 1986.

Orijentalni institut u Sarajevu. Katalog rukopisa Orijentalnog instituta – Lijepa književnost (obradili Salih Trako i Lejla Gazić). Sarajevo: Orijentalni institut u Sarajevu (Posebna izdanja), 1997.

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Dzenita Karic is a researcher at the Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo, currently working on a project of Hajj travelogues in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Cite this: Dzenita Karic, “The Institute for Oriental Studies in Sarajevo,” HAZINE, 10 Feb 2014https://hazine.info/2014/02/10/oriental_institute_sarajevo/

 

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives (Jerusalem)

Written by Anat Mooreville

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, known as the JDC or the Joint, is an international Jewish philanthropic organization started after the First World War to assist Jewish refugees in Eastern Europe and Palestine. With records of activities in over ninety countries dating from 1914 to the present, the JDC Archives are a significant resource to understand not only American Jewish relief efforts abroad, but also Jewish social, cultural, political, and economic conditions around the world. For the Middle East, the JDC Archives include records created primarily between 1940-1977 from Aden, Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey. Middle East specialists will find this archive particularly useful for conducting research on Jewish history in the Middle East and North Africa in the second half of the twentieth century. The archive has two locations—Jerusalem and New York City.

An OSE trachoma treatent center in Casablanca c. 1954
A sample photograph from the JDC archives: an OSE trachoma treatment center in Casablanca c. 1954

Collection

The JDC Archives are located in two centers, one at the JDC’s New York City headquarters and the other in Jerusalem in the Givat Sha’ul neighborhood. These centers are not equal in size and scope. The Jerusalem archive is the larger and more comprehensive of the two; in fact, all the records of the New York archive are available in Jerusalem in microfilm format.

The archive in Jerusalem houses the records of JDC field offices throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, along with the records of JDC operations in Israel. The bulk of the Middle Eastern and North African records of the JDC are part of the Geneva Files (1945-1977), which were subsequently shipped to the JDC Archives in Jerusalem after the Geneva Office—opened in 1957 as the European headquarters of the organization—was closed in 1977.

Although this review focuses on the Jerusalem archives, I will briefly outline what is available in the New York collection. The New York archive houses American headquarters communications with governments, national and international agencies, and JDC field offices. The bulk of the archival record concerns relief, rescue and support activities in Europe between 1914 and 1945. Later materials concern JDC activities in the Displaced Persons (DP) camps of Germany, Austria, and Italy, and JDC activities in Eastern Europe during the Communist period. For the Middle East historian, the New York archives detail the medical, educational, vocational and relief activities in Palestine starting in 1914 through the Second World War. These include institutions established to help the disabled and orphans. A detailed list of these files are available online through the finding aids (search by country). They also contain information on refugee and aid activities in North Africa during the Second World War.

The JDC Archives includes over three miles of text documents, 100,000 photographs, a research library of more than 6,000 books, 1,100 audio recordings including oral histories, and a collection of 2,500 videos, covering 90 countries throughout the twentieth century.  Many of the collections are arranged chronologically, others by subject or office of origin (e.g., Geneva, Rome, Istanbul). At the same time, the JDC is an active Jewish humanitarian assistance organization. All JDC historical records older than thirty-five years are open to the public with the exclusion of materials containing information that the JDC believes would adversely affect its ongoing work.

For the period following the founding of the State of Israel, the JDC Archives in Jerusalem contain files related to Malben (נֶחֱשָׁלִים בְּעוֹלִים לְטִפּוּל מוֹסְדוֹת “Institutions for the Care of Disabled Immigrants”), the social service organization created jointly by the JDC, the Jewish Agency, and the Israeli government in 1949. Malben provided institutional care and social services; established hospitals, clinics and old-age homes; trained nurses and rehabilitation workers; and fostered the development of private and public organizations in Israel for the care of the disabled. Files also document missions and programs to help settle Jews from North Africa and the Middle East in Israel. For example, the JDC organized Operation Magic Carpet, which evacuated about 48,000 Jews from Yemen to the newly established State of Israel and Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, which brought approximately 120,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel.

Records related to the Middle East and North Africa document the JDC’s medical, educational, and vocational support in these regions from the late 1940s through the 1970s. These social efforts were wide-ranging and expansive. In North Africa, JDC initiated public health programs with OSE (Œuvre de secours aux enfants) to combat diseases such as tuberculosis and trachoma. The JDC frequently offered assistance to local Jewish educational organizations such as Ozar Hatorah and Alliance Israelite Universelle. Numerous country reports document local demographic, economic, political, and social conditions from the perspective of the JDC’s staff.

The photography collection of the Middle East and North Africa is quite large and can be fully searched by title, description, date, subject, location, photographer, and other fields on the JDC Archives’ online catalog. To see the range of photographs available, we recommend the galleries on Algeria in the 1960s, Tunisia in 1950s, and early Palestine.

A sampling of the range of materials available in the JDC archives include correspondence, committee and board meeting minutes, field reports from worldwide staff, financial statements; memoranda, lists of aid recipients and supplementary allocations, program descriptions, passenger lists, cables, supply lists, restitution laws and statutes, summaries of statistical reports, personnel files, legal files, case files, conference proceedings, lists of names, audits, brochures, press releases, pamphlets, and news clippings.

A JDC poster from the First World War
A JDC poster from the First World War

Research Experience

The JDC Archives is in the process of digitizing its collections. While the photo database is fully available online, other text resources are only partially available. The online catalog is a good place to begin your search, and some documents can be accessed through the website directly, but keep in mind it is in no way exhaustive, especially for Middle Eastern material. There is a very brief finding aid for the Geneva Office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 1945-1954 records, but it does not detail the Middle East/North Africa collection. The records of the Istanbul office (1943-47) or the Geneva office (1955-1978) are not available online. You can learn more about how to search the online database by viewing the archive’s video tutorials or reading its guide. The JDC Archives staff has access to a more comprehensive online catalog that is password protected.

To access the full catalog of the JDC Archives in Jerusalem, one must first e-mail Shachar Beer to make an appointment to visit. Only one or two researchers are allowed at a time, as the archive is located in one of the working offices of the JDC. On your first visit, Mr. Beer will give you a stack of binders that contain the full catalog. Unfortunately, they are not arranged by country, and it is advisable to spend the first day examining all the binders for relevant material and noting the title and file code that you wish to order during subsequent visits. Researchers should note that since March 2013 the archive has been in the midst of reclassifying its files and consequently the code which appears on the physical file may differ from its new classification. You therefore may not be able to order material on your first day. Material can only be ordered once a day and is limited to five or six boxes (more if the material is microfilmed). These should be ordered in the morning or emailed to Mr. Beer before your visit. The time of retrieval of material is not routine, but it usually arrives from the warehouse before 11:00. Once requested, it usually takes about thirty minutes to an hour for material to be prepared for the researcher. One should also coordinate with Mr. Beer the time of arrival to the archives in the morning, which can be as early as 9:00 or as late as 11:00, depending on his schedule.

Since the JDC Archive in Jerusalem only accommodates one or two researchers per day, I would recommend allotting at least a few days for research to get the most of out of your scheduled visits. It takes some time to become familiar with the full holdings because they are not online, and one can only see a limited number of files per day.

There is one microfilm machine, as well as a spare office and a conference room in which Mr. Beer directs researchers to work with original files. The catalog does not indicate whether the file exists in microfilm or only as an original. Since the archives are in the office of a working NGO, it is mainly full of JDC staff, the archivist, and perhaps one other researcher.

Access

In order to visit the archives, one must fill out an application located online. Once permission is received (usually less than a week), you need to email Mr. Beer to schedule an appointment.

Although the stated hours of the Jerusalem Archive are Sunday-Thursday 9:00-15:00, the actual hours depend on the appointment times scheduled with Mr. Beer. Generally, researchers may work at the archive until the JDC office closes around 16:00.

Reproductions

Reproduction services (photocopy and microfilm printing) are not available. You are allowed to use a digital camera to photograph files and microfilms. There is a one shekel fee for each photograph. Researchers tally their own photographs and report them to Mr. Beer at the end of each session. In some cases, Mr. Beer will waive the fee for photographs of microfilm material.

A cable regarding operations in Yemen
A cable regarding operations in Yemen

Transportation and Food

The archive is located in the industrial park neighborhood of Givat Sha’ul in West Jerusalem. It is not easily accessible from downtown Jerusalem. Buses 33 and 67 stop outside the archive, and it is about a ten minute walk from the Kiryat Moshe light rail station.

There are many chain restaurants and cafes in the archive building and nearby that cater to the business crowd. There is free coffee and tea in the archive itself. You can also bring your own lunch and eat it in the archive.

Miscellaneous:

The JDC Archives offers a fellowship to conduct research in either the New York or Jerusalem Archives. Check the website for details and application.

Future Plans and Rumors

The archive is in the midst of digitizing its collection, so the state of the online catalog and available digitized files is constantly changing.

Contact information

JDC Archives

Beit Hadefus Street 11, Lobby 2, Floor 3

02-653-6403

General information: Archives@jdc.org.il

Archivist: Shachar Beer <ShacharB@jdc.org.il>

Resources and Links

The online catalog is sophisticated and contains 900,000 digitized pages. However, it is not complete, especially in regards to Middle Eastern and North African materials.

The archives website is quite expansive and details the history of the JDC, the archives, and contains various finding aids and resources on how to search the archive.

**Information about the history and holdings of the collection comes from the JDC Archives website.

Anat Mooreville is a doctoral candidate in the UCLA History Department where she studies twentieth-century Jewish and Middle Eastern medical history.

Cite this: Anat Mooreville, “The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives (Jerusalem), HAZINE, 2 Feb 2014, https://hazine.info/2014/02/02/jdc/

Women’s Worlds in Qajar Iran

Written by Christopher Markiewicz

Women’s Worlds in Qajar Iran (WWQI) is a digital archive of materials related to the social and cultural history of Iran during the Qajar period. The archive seeks to aid scholarship on women’s history and gender history by making freely available online a vast array of writings, photographs, financial and legal documents, artwork, and everyday objects contained in private and public collections around the world. In this way, the project seeks to assemble a digital archive of Iranian culture during the long nineteenth century (1796-1925) with a focus on women and issues of gender.

Two women in European dress from the Olga Davidson Collection - feature image
Two women in European dress from the Olga Davidson Collection.

Background and History

The idea for a digital archive of Iranian material on women’s history originated in the early 2000s. In 2009, Afsaneh Najmabadi, along with four scholars of Iranian history (Nahid Mozaffari, Dominic Brookshaw, Naghmeh Sohrabi, and Manoutchehr Eskandari-Qajar) were awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities to assemble a digital archive of documents from a number of private collections and public institutions. The original idea for the project arose from an awareness of the state of Iranian archival resources and of the possibilities afforded by emerging digital technologies. Firstly, the project members recognized the need for assembling an archive for Iranian history in the absence of extensive institutional archival collections. In contrast to the large state archives for the Ottoman Empire, which are preserved by various state institutions in Turkey and the Middle East, no analogous institutional archives exist for Iranian history prior to the twentieth century. Despite this lack of formal institutional archiving, the project members knew of the existence of significant numbers of documents from the nineteenth century that have been preserved in the private collections of families throughout Iran. Secondly, the development of high quality digital technologies made possible the establishment of a virtual archive composed of disparate collections held in various locations. Rather than construct a physical archive on the basis of a state’s backing, the project has endeavored to collect (or “fabricate” in the words of Najmabadi) within a single website a digital archive of material from around the world.

The project has focused on women in nineteenth-century Iran for several reasons. First of all, the archive seeks to address a lacuna in Iranian social history with regard to women and gender issues. The absence of more scholarly work on women’s history for Iran is surprising considering the relatively rich material produced by women or related to women from the period which sheds light on the daily lives, social relationships, and cultural activities of Iranians during the Qajar era. Moreover, much of the material preserved in private family collections—including marriage contracts, diaries, and photographs—provides a detailed and unique view of women’s worlds. In this way, the nature of the archival material preserved in disparate private collections demands scholarly attention to aspects of women’s history.

WWQI website homepage.
WWQI website homepage.

Collection

Initially the project envisioned an archive of 3,000 images. By April 2013, the collection had grown to more than 33,000 images. The majority of the archive’s images are owned and held by forty-three private collections. In addition to these collections, WWQI has partnered with ten public institutions to make available a number of other documents and objects on the project’s website.

In general, the private collections consist of individual families’ records and therefore reflect the eclectic documents and material objects preserved by a single family over the course of several generations. In some instances, the private collections consist of the personal archives of a local notable, such as a mujtahid or kadkhuda, and consequently contain an array of financial and legal material that had been entrusted by a number of families to the local leader for safekeeping. The images found within the private collections usually range from documents of legal significance, such as marriage contracts and sales of property to documents of a more intimate world, such as photographs, diaries and letters, as well as antiquated objects of daily use. Assembling this digital collection from a disparate array of smaller collections enables scholars to develop a more thorough understanding of various social phenomena. For instance, WWQI has managed to gather and make available more than 300 marriage contracts from Muslim, Jewish, Armenian, and Zoroastrian communities. This sort of collecting allows for more systematic approaches to issues such as kinship and family. Similarly, the inclusion of large numbers of photographs invites researchers to examine relatively underused historical sources. Unfortunately, given the nature of these private collections, which are largely the holdings of relatively prominent families, the archive mostly reflects the interests and priorities of the urban upper class. WWQI is aware of this shortcoming and is working to alleviate the imbalance by actively soliciting archival contributions from families with significant rural ties.

The other major source for WWQI’s image archive is provided by a number of public institutions in Iran and abroad. These institutions range from important libraries, such as the Majlis Library in Tehran and Tehran University Library, to academic institutions, such as the Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History and the Institute for Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies. The documents provided by these institutions tend to include state-produced material, published documents, and art objects. In this respect, the collection contains a number of journals and educational pamphlets, as well as legal documents.

The project has at least two great virtues. Firstly, by including objects of material culture (photographs, art, and instruments), the archive invites historians to practice their craft in new ways. For instance, the inclusion of large numbers of photographs from different families living in the same period enables researchers to read images not only as solitary documents from which evidence is extracted but as a comprehensive storehouse of social information which evoke an image of the age. Similarly, objects may yield equally surprising insights. Professor Najmabadi recounted one such experience while interviewing a family in Yazd. Despite initially doubting the usefulness of the family’s possessions, one family member returned to the conversation with kitchen ladles in hand, upon which had been engraved generations of family birthdays.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the archive’s digital nature allows for the relative ease of its expansion. As contributors to the collection maintain all of their rights of ownership, the archive need not engage in complicated arrangements to transfer and preserve material. In this way, the growth of the archive is only limited by individuals and institutions’ willingness to share images of their collection for scholarly use.

Curtain tassel from the Bahman-Bayani collection.
Curtain tassel from the Bahman-Bayani collection.

Research Experience

Researchers may search and access the archive’s collections through its website. The website is nicely designed with an easy to navigate interface and is fully functional in both English and Persian. Moreover, all of the documents within the collection are clearly and effectively labeled. While the site provides a platform to search and browse the archive’s collection, all of the images are digitized and hosted by Harvard University Libraries, so users are linked to Harvard’s library page once they have located a particular document that they would like to view.

There are three ways to locate material using WWQI’s site. The site has a simple search function located on the homepage which allows researchers to identify material according to names of people or places, the type of document (e.g. letter, marriage contract), or subject (e.g. politics and government, clothing and dress, kitchen ware). As it is hard to know how subjects are defined within the collection, it is probably best to browse the list of subjects provided from a link on the homepage.

Users may also locate material by browsing within particular collections. Here users will get a good idea of wide variety of disparate holdings that collectively constitute the project’s archive. This function will be of particular use to those interested in surveying the range of material preserved and donated by a single family.

Lastly, users may browse the archive’s holdings. This method is probably the most effective way to become familiar with the wide range of material available on the site. Users may narrow their browsing to a reign within the Qajar period or browse within a particular document genre (audio files, manuscripts, letters, etc.). In addition to these two subfields, users may also browse according to person, place, or subject, as well as view all of the archives materials which have been either translated or transliterated into Latin letters.

Acknowledgement:

I would like to thank Professor Najmabadi who provided me with a copy of a paper she presented on the project at Brown University in October 2013. Most of the details in this article originate from this paper.

20 January 2014

Christopher Markiewicz is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago where he studies fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Islamic history.

Cite this: Christopher Markiewicz, “Women’s Worlds of Qajar Iran,” HAZINE, 20 January 2014, https://hazine.info/2014/01/20/qajar-women-archive/

Google Ngram: an intro for historians

paludisme et ses amis

Written by Chris Gratien and Daniel Pontillo 

Digitization is changing historical research, and few digitization projects have done more to revolutionize the way we write history than Google Books. This project, in partnership with a number of libraries, has rendered once rare and difficult-to-access printed books increasingly ubiquitous commodities available for download through Google and partner sites such as Hathitrust. This has multiplied the value of rare books that once slumbered in the obscurity of research libraries. Now they can be searched and consulted with unprecedented speed and used to form corpora of historical, cultural, and linguistic material. The change is not simply about accessing more data; it is about new ways of organizing and interpreting that data afforded by its new digital form. The Google Books Ngram Viewer is one important example of how digitization can transform the types of research questions asked and answered in the social sciences and the humanities. It features a simple web interface to Google’s rich database of scanned texts from centuries of publishing in English, as well as other languages, such as French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Hebrew, and Chinese.

For researchers enticed by this description but unsure what an n-gram is or how to use it, we offer this brief introduction. An n-gram is simply an instance of a word or phrase within a corpus, where n is a variable representing the number of words. Google’s service allows researchers to track the relative frequency of n-grams over time and generates plots (called T-transformations) to illustrate and contrast the usage of words and phrases over years. While the causal link between language use and the statistical patterns found in published materials is not necessarily linear, Ngram can offer a window into shifts in human language and society by substantiating putative trends formerly described only qualitatively and offering new questions and potential areas of inquiry, particularly when interpreted within an informed historical context.

Ngram has yet to make a big splash among academic historians, who are perhaps less accustomed to using and evaluating statistical data than linguists. However, given that Ngram draws on the very sources used by historians and has the power to represent information about them in a diachronic manner, we believe that it has much to offer researchers. Moreover, the visualization of this data presents in supremely legible form a representation of important historical points that make Ngram ideal for classroom and conference presentations.

Yet, at the same time, just as digitization has created the potential for “cherry-picking” data from searchable texts without proper care for context, Google Ngram has the power to mislead scholars that ask the wrong questions. In order to elaborate further on the benefits and hazards of the Google Ngram viewers, we will start with a basic “historian’s example” of how Ngram can be used and follow with an example from linguistics that demonstrates how to make the most of Ngram searches.

A Historian’s Example

When writing the history of disease, it is relatively easy to formulate a narrative based on dates marking certain influential medical discoveries. For example, in the case of malaria, we know that Charles Laveran identified the parasite that causes malaria in 1880 and Ronald Ross first identified the parasite within the mosquito in 1897, which subsequently led to the discovery that mosquitos transmit malaria between humans. Yet, this tells us little about how understandings of disease changed over time, and how former notions regarding disease persisted alongside new ones.

One of the challenging questions faced by disease historians is thus how to represent changing understandings of disease quantitatively rather than with anecdotal evidence. Google Ngram offers one possible avenue. Malaria is a relatively new term in the English language that nonetheless predates the aforementioned discoveries. Its etymology is rooted in medeival Italian mal aria (bad air) and refers to the idea that the disease was caused by dirty emanations from swamps and rotting organic matter. However, the term malaria became the standard way of referring to the disease only after the discovery of the parasite. Before this, there were various ways of referring to the unique symptoms of recurring fever and chills associated with malaria.

When did people stop getting ague?

The above n-gram diachronically charts the relative prevalence of two words roughly referring to the same illness in the English language. The first, ague (a-gyu), is now an exceedingly rare term that few English speakers would recognize today. Variations of this word were once common in a number of European languages. It comes from the Latin term for “acute fevers (febris acuta)”, the most glaring symptom of malaria. The second, is the word malaria universally applied today in reference to that illness in English. The graph shows the respective fates of the two terms over the centuries. The term malaria began to spread during the early nineteenth century and rose in importance, we presume, due in part to medical research and writings on its causes and effects. The two terms were of nearly identical importance in 1880 when Laveran first discovered the parasite. Following this discovery, we see a rise in the occurrences of malaria in written English (Laveran in fact used paludisme which became “paludism” in English). Use of the word malaria peaked around the World War II era, when malaria was a major killer among Allied military personnel in the Pacific theater and research into the use of DDT in combating the illness was at its height. Meanwhile, ague continued to wane as the cause and symptom of malaria were merged. However, its use lingered in the intervening decades, representing the remnants of past understandings of disease. This n-gram shows a similar trend in the medical vocabulary of the French language, indicating an epilinguistic phenomenon regarding understandings of disease.

Paludisme et ses amis

In the above case, we have used n-gram to represent graphically a trend that was already vaguely understood but hard to visualize in a quantitative manner. The n-gram does not necessarily make the discovery on its own, but it certainly helps us to strengthen our claims. We can also use Google Ngram Viewer to stimulate new questions. For example, we might ask how the rise of medical science has led to a shift whereby diseases are increasingly identified according to their cause rather than their symptoms by making similar queries for other well-known diseases. Yet, here we must note that Google Ngram raises more question than it answers. To illustrate the benefits, limitations, and hazards of Google Ngram further, we will delve into the contentious and vogue issues of identity, labeling, and political correctness.

English
English
French
French

Upon seeing the types of data that Google Ngram Viewer can visualize, many historians will probably begin by searching for new or old words related to their topics of study, for example, juxtaposing “Native American” with “American Indian” or putting “Moslem” and “Muslim” side by side. Such searches can result in some surprising indications that encourage further inquiry. The two plots above show the use of the word “savage” and “barbarous” diachronically, with English being on the left and the French translations “sauvage” and “barbare” on the right. While these pairs are good translations for each other, we must acknowledge that they may not be used in identical ways in both languages. They also serve as multiple parts of speech, but Google can account for that (see below). It is also important to note that comparing results from different corpora is statistically problematic because the overall size, the relative quantities of certain document types and distribution of topics in the source materials may differ dramatically. Any statistical biases that result from such differences in the distribution of sources can skew the results. Due to the very massive size of these corpora, the results should nevertheless give us a rough illustration of an underlying trend. In this case, the plot suggests that the word “savage,” which was more commonly mentioned in English than “sauvage” in French ca. 1800, has steadily declined in usage, particularly after 1900. Given the politically incorrect connotations due to its association with various forms of racism and cultural superiority as well as colonialism, this seems intuitive to us. Yet, what is then harder to explain is the parabolic rise and fall of “sauvage” in French, which apparently enjoyed an uptick at the end of the 1950s, precisely as colonialism was on the wane.

These graphs may inspire us to ask further questions; however, they may also be used to illustrate the perils of using n-grams to speculate about sociolinguistic phenomena. For example, if we try to interpret this data in terms of its extra-linguistic meaning, we might say as is commonly and anecdotally observed that the French language has not been impacted by a movement towards political correctness in the same way that English has. While a discussion of these graphs in terms of those questions may make fun and interesting table conversation at Franco-American get-togethers in New York and Paris alike, this is an example of reading something into Google’s data that it simply is not equipped to tell us (just search for even less politically correct words in Ngram and you’ll see data that further proves our point). The message to historians seeking to utilize n-grams is simply that as in all studies of history, unsystematic evaluation of evidence and lack of consideration of contexts will lead to mistakes. The comparative study of political correctness would certainly be a fascinating one, but Google Ngram will not be able to do all the work. Yes, you will still have to read books. Fortunately, Google has digitized many of them!

All of this being said, it is also helpful to remember that Google Ngram utilizes a linguistic corpus organized according to the standards of modern computational linguistics, which is to say that for historians to maximize the utility of n-grams, they will benefit from acquaintance with the ways in which linguists put them to use. Learning what the data represents and how it is intended to be used will both enable researchers to ask more precise question and extract more meaning from their searches.

A Linguist’s Example

Just as digitization tremendously impacts historiography, the horizon of linguistics research has shifted considerably due to the massive increase in availability of language use data in the past several decades. This rise in availability has been accompanied by advances in quantitative methods that permit the statistical patterns in records of human language to be investigated with unprecedented empirical rigor. Linguists now use corpus data to explore questions about language use ranging from raw lexical or phrasal occurrence frequency to patterns in syntax, word meaning, pragmatic interpretations and discourse structure.

These tools are of course not without limitations. Large pools of linguistic data are difficult to organize, and the types of testable hypotheses are tightly constrained by the level of annotation that accompanies the raw data. In this context, annotation can be as simple as tagging each string with its part-of-speech (POS)—a technique known as automatic probabilistic tagging, or it can be as complex as encoding texts into abstract tokens and embedding them in formal representations of discourse structure. As an example, The Penn Tree Bank, the first widely used annotated corpus, offers basic syntactic and semantic information about its constituent sentences. There are also newer specialized corpora such as The Proposition Bank, which is annotated with the semantic role of verbs, allowing for the automated distinction of agent/patient status that would otherwise be conflated by POS alone.

Part of what makes the Google Ngram Viewer so useful for linguists is the same benefit offered to historians, which is that unlike most of the annotated corpora currently available, it offers the option for exploring diachronic questions. The organization of language use data by year opens a category of inquiry about language change that was previously much more speculative. Before Google Ngrams, there were a handful of comparatively small and temporally limited corpora such as the The Diachronic Corpus of Present-Day Spoken English and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). It should be noted that Google’s corpus, while much larger than these, lacks their breadth of unique tokens due to its hard lower threshold on occurrence; it only includes results that occur at least forty times. This leaves precise questions about the origins of novel words or phrases unanswerable, and it prohibits any type of inquiry about rare constructions or very low-frequency words. Nonetheless, the sheer volume and temporal range of the corpus offers unique advantages for certain types of research.

As discussed above, historians might find Ngram useful for exploring the history of certain concepts or identifying historical fluctuations in the importance of topics, but what types of questions would a linguist ask? One typical question about language use that might be asked with Google n-grams regards the historical shift in English complementizer drop patterns. The examples below illustrate how the complementizer “that” may be dropped in many English constructions.

1. Chris knew (that) he would relent on his promise.

2. Kellen thought (that) they wouldn’t mind watching him eat his dinner.

Exploring this issue will require more specialized searches than those conducted above. Fortunately, Google Ngram Viewer allows us to look at the relative frequency of these two possible constructions across nearly two centuries of language use data. The plot below shows the result of this comparison for a particular verb (suggest) that may take a complementizer phrase as an argument.

That Deletion

This change and crossover between the two plots shows us that the typical syntactic pattern for this particular verb underwent a significant historical shift. Collecting trends of this type across different classes of verbs might offer some insight into the pressures underlying this change more generally. This type of shift may for example correlate with known historical events or the rise and fall of publications aimed at certain social registers.

The value of this tool for linguistics researchers is evident, but we would like to stress that making use of basic syntactic information included in Google Ngram’s corpus can benefit social scientists as well. Certain questions couched in language change may offer intriguing insight into changes in cultural trends and standards. The plot below effectively contrasts the proportion of all instances of the pronoun “he” that were followed by the word “works” to the proportion of all instances of the pronoun “she” that were followed by the word “works”. Google Ngram’s division operator allows us to compute these ratios very easily. This measure roughly represents how often, when discussing either a female or male subject, the subject was described as working. Using this more complex n-gram query, we can ask about the relative change in discussion of female work while ignoring the well-known baseline bias for male subjects in published work. We can read the rise in frequency of the feminine phrase as a rise in published discussion of female behaviors as “work” and hence a sort of rough proxy for the increase in socio-cultural normativity of female employment at least within the domains of constituent texts. It is also interesting to note the visible trough in frequency for both bigrams that chronologically coincides with the Great Depression.

work

While Google n-grams may lack the type of granularity necessary for detailed network-level analysis and fine-grained modeling of language change—and one must resist the temptation of presuming strong causal links where there is only correlation, these examples illustrate the breadth of inquiry that is possible. The sheer size and availability of this tool make it a potentially indispensable resource for research in any field where the use of language might reflect broader aspects of human behavior, such as in psychology, linguistics, history, or anthropology.

The Need for Digitization

In many ways, Google Ngram Viewer further substantiates what has increasingly been argued within the social sciences and humanities since the linguistic turn. Conceptual categories are not stable, and n-grams not only support this claim but also offer ways of studying even the most subtle changes in word use and conceptual nuance through mark-ups that allow researchers to control for the frequency of words in different parts of speech. Yet, it also reveals some disconcerting realities among various fields of study from anthropology to linguistics that have long railed against the reification of Eurocentrism and the universality of the “Western experience.” The Google Books corpus is formed out of the holdings of American libraries and limited by the constraints of current OCR technology (which is for the most part only widely available for European languages). Historians of the Ottoman Empire will find this tool considerably less useful than those who study US or Mexican history, and those who want to make comparative studies will be forced to remain within this Western context.

However, if we assume that the Google Ngram Viewer is not the first and last of its kind, this tool portends an exciting future of corpus-based analysis. As OCR technologies improve to encompass handwritten texts to counteract the biases of a solely print-based representation of linguistic change, the conclusions we can make will grow stronger. This development further emphasizes the utility of digitization projects, and we wish to stress that in regions of the world such as the Middle East where market forces may not push the development of sophisticated OCR, public or private funding for digitization and the expansion of text-recognition will be critical to securing the place of important historical languages such as Arabic or Ottoman Turkish within the growing corpus of human linguistic data.

__________________________________________________________________________

Chris Gratien is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at Georgetown University researching the history of disease and ecology in the Ottoman Empire.

Daniel Pontillo is a doctoral student in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at University of Rochester.

11 January 2014

Cite this: Chris Gratien and Daniel Pontillo, “Google Ngram: an Introduction for Historians,” HAZİNE, 11 January 2014, https://hazine.info/2014/01/11/google-ngram-for-historians/ ‎

Gazi Husrev Begova Library

Written by Nir Shafir

Gazi Husrev-Begova Biblioteka (hereafter GHB) is the largest collection of Islamic manuscripts and documents in the Balkans. Located on the premises of the mosque complex of the same name in Sarajevo, the well-catalogued collection and brand new library is one of the premier locations for the study of the Ottoman Empire in general and the Balkans in particular. At the beginning of 2014, the library will officially open a state-of-the-art building to researchers and the general public.

The entrance to Gazi Husrev Begova Library
The entrance to Gazi Husrev Begova Library

History

Like many manuscript libraries in the Islamic world, the collections of Gazi Husrev Beg Library coalesced as it aggregated the manuscripts and papers of various medresas, Sufi lodges, and private libraries over the years. The complex that houses the library was constructed by that great sixteenth-century benefactor of Sarajevo—the eponymous Gazi Husrev Beg. Starting with a medresa, dzami, hanikah, and a market, it grew to include various tombs and a clock tower displaying lunar time. In 1697, however, Eugene of Savoy razed Sarajevo, supposedly destroying many of the books and ledgers in the process. While the medresa was endowed with a small group of books, a separate library building was only built for the medresa in 1863. (Two other library buildings in Sarajevo predate this library though they are no longer extant.) In the twentieth century, the library began to incorporate the collections of other institutions and private individuals. The first volume of the catalog was published in 1963 and followed by subsequent volumes of equal detail over the years. During the 1991-1994 war, the manuscripts and defters were hidden away in private homes and bank vaults and so they were spared the fate of the Oriental Institute collections, which were completely destroyed in a fire started by the shelling of Serbian artillery. In January 2014, a new, ultra-modern library building, built with the generous donations of the Qatari royal family, will be opened. The al-Furqan Foundation has also supported the continued publication of the high quality catalog. The library has recently completely digitized its collections, which continue to grow today through the donations and bequests of individuals.

Collection

The library’s main collections consist of Islamic manuscripts, printed books, documents such as court records, and photographs. The manuscript collection contains around 10,500 volumes in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Bosnian (in Arabic script). Of these languages, the first two tend to predominate. Given that many of the books in Sarajevo apparently did not survive its razing in 1697, the manuscript collection is heavily weighted toward topics, authors, and copies from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The collection seems to include a much higher than average concentration of moralistic, dogmatic, and sermon-like texts than other manuscript collections and so researchers can find a wide array of texts condemning practices like tomb visitation or tobacco smoking. Similarly, there is a large number of manuscripts copied by medresa students, as evinced by the surfeit of treatises on education. While such treatises were popular throughout the Ottoman Empire, the local origins of many of these copies provide researchers a glimpse of the local intellectual

Eugene, the dude that burned down Sarajevo in 1697
Eugene, the dude that burned down Sarajevo in 1697

culture. Researchers can gain further insight into this local culture by reading the small but significant number of treatises written in Bosnian, the vernacular of the region. These treatises, too, are often prayer books or moralistic exhortations. At the same time, the collection points to the many Bosnian scholars who traveled to Syria, the Hijaz and Istanbul in the early modern period. There are, of course, a good number of older and more “precious” books and the library’s promotional brochure highlights some of these.

In addition to its manuscripts, the library contains one of the largest collections of early print in the Balkans. The library’s holdings comprise over 25,000 printed treatises in Arabic, Turkish and Bosnian (in Arabic scripts). In addition, it also has a collection of around 35,000 books in Bosnian and other European languages in Latin script.

The library also houses various documents from the Ottoman period. Of these, the most comprehensive are the court records (sijillat) of Sarajevo and the more limited collections for the neighboring cities of Mostar, Tuzla, and Fojnica. For Sarajevo, these records exist primarily for the eighteenth century, starting from 1707 and ending in 1852. Records from before that period are presumed to have been destroyed in the razing of the city in 1697. Three volumes of sixteenth-century court records do exist, however, for the years 1551-1552, 1556-1558, and 1565-1566. For Mostar there are two registers covering 1766-1769, for Fojnica a single register covers the years 1763-1769, and a partial register from Tuzla exists from the first half of the seventeenth century. In addition to this, there are 1,600 endowment charters (vakifnama), 500 as individual documents and 1,100 within the court record defters. Paired with these, there are around 5,000 documents produced by the Ottoman bureaucracy. Library patrons consult these documents as digital copies.

Finally, the library houses a special collection documenting the Muslim community of Bosnia. The community’s archives cover the period of 1882-1993 and complement the large collection of 5000 photographs, postcards, and posters held in the library. The library also holds complete collections of many nineteenth-century Muslim newspapers from Sarajevo.

One of the many photographs from the library's collections
One of the many photographs from the library’s collections

Research Experience

The manuscript collection of Gazi Husrev-Begova Library, along with those of the other manuscript libraries in Sarajevo, bears the distinction of being extremely well-cataloged. The eighteen-volume printed catalog, written by numerous individuals, is essentially divided into two: the first nine volumes or so describe collections present in the library until around 1970 and the second half details acquisitions after that date. In both halves, works are categorized topically. The catalogers made a smart choice to maintain the conceptual unity of each codex: all the treatises in a mecmua, which comprise the vast majority of volumes, are listed after the first entry. Codices are placed under specific topics according to their first work, which means that the topical organization of the catalog is slightly loose. Researchers should browse through indices of every volume of the catalog if they are looking for particular authors or titles. The catalogers were particularly attentive to the details of manuscript production; they mention copyist names, owners, locations, physical characteristics, as well as any unique aspects or contents of a manuscript in each entry. Excellent indices exist for author name (in Arabic and Latin scripts), title, copyist, owner(s), and location. Mistakes, while present, are rare. The catalog is written in Bosnian, but there should also be an English translation available. The catalog often quotes material directly in Arabic, so researchers can simply read the quoted text. There had been an electronic catalog available, although the library removed it recently from its website due to poor performance. In its place, the library is actively developing a new electronic catalog that it hopes to roll out in the coming months.

The printed works in the library have traditionally received less attention than the manuscripts although this is quickly changing. The library has recently finished cataloging them and once the new electronic catalog is online, researchers should be able to access the catalog of printed works. Some of these printed treatises were even part of the collections of the Ottoman-era libraries from the eighteenth century, though the new catalog might not list the original collection name for each entry, and therefore researchers must go through the volumes individually to find this information.

The main reading room of Gazi Husrev Begova Library
The main reading room of Gazi Husrev Begova Library

It is very pleasant to conduct research at Gazi Husrev-Begova Library, especially since the opening of the new building. The building has a large general reading room with excellent desks and ample windows overlooking the medresa complex. The desks have good overhead lamps. The reading room should eventually have a large collection of reference material but is empty for now.

To request a manuscript researchers should first browse through the printed eighteen-volume catalog of the library. A Bosnian- and English-language copy of the catalog is kept behind the reception desk and the staff will let you browse a couple of volumes at a time. Once the library introduces the new computer catalog, researchers should also be able to use the single computer terminal at the reception desk to find relevant manuscripts. You must stand to use this computer since it was not set up for consultations longer than a few minutes. Once researchers identify a manuscript they wish to consult, they can fill out a form and request up to twenty manuscripts at a time. After twenty minutes to an hour, the digitized copies of the manuscripts are transferred to a computer terminal in a second reading room behind the reception desk for consultation. If library patrons wish to buy copies of the digitized manuscripts, they must fill out a further form that is then sent to the director for approval. The staff might let you simply delete unwanted files on your terminal and burn the remaining images onto a CD or they might prepare the specific pages you request. Researchers can request to see the physical copy of the manuscript only after receiving permission directly from the director of the library.

The reception desk at GHB
The reception desk at GHB

The new GHB library was largely designed with digital research in mind. The quality of the digitized manuscripts is generally high, though there are the occasional low-resolution images. Generally speaking, the binding of a manuscript is photographed though this might be limited to the cover itself. Conveniently, an information slip from the catalog listing its title and author precedes the digital copy of each work, even separate treatises in a mecmua. The only inconvenience is that researchers cannot access the digitized manuscripts directly from the computer catalog.

The staff of the library are extremely helpful and professional. The working language of the library is Bosnian, though employees at the reception desk should be able to speak English, Turkish, or Arabic.

Researchers should note that as the library settles into the new building, new protocols and procedures will be instituted, so some of this information might change in the near future.  For instance, there is a large reference library of books in Bosnian, English, Arabic, Turkish, and more available to researchers, but it is not currently on the shelves. The library, however, is constantly striving to improve researcher experience and will make changes as needed.

Access

The library is open Monday to Friday, from 8:00 to 15:00. It is closed on the weekends along with secular and religious holidays. Researchers are advised to talk to the receptionist to keep abreast of religious holidays in Bosnia, which can be a bit different from those in other Muslim countries.

The library, like all research institutions in Sarajevo, is very welcoming to researchers. After a short registration process, in which researchers might need to provide a formal ID, researchers can access the collection.

The main entrance of the library might not be wheelchair accessible, but researchers in wheelchairs should be able to enter from the employee entrance on Mula Mustafe Bašeskije Street.

Reproductions

Digital reproductions are provided in the form of a CD. The price is a somewhat costly at €1 per exposure and the CD will be ready for pick-up three days after the initial request. The delay is a bit odd, since all the material is already digitized, but researchers in a hurry might be able to expedite the process with the help of an accommodating staff member. In the future, the library hopes to introduce a system that will allow researchers to request digital reproductions remotely. Researchers are not allowed to take their own photographs as they are not allowed to see the original manuscript or defter.

Transportation and Food

The library is located in the center of the old city of Sarajevo and is easily accessible by the tram. Researchers can alight at either the cathedral or the last stop— Baščaršija. The very modern looking library building is located in between the two stops, next to the Gazi Husrev Begova Dzamija complex and the  Old Synagogue/Jewish Museum. If researchers stay at hotels or hostels near the historic center, the library is easily reached by foot.

There is no shortage of eating options near the library as it is in the center of the historic city. Next door there are a variety of cafes and burek sellers as well as quite a few more touristy restaurants. There is also a small café in the library itself that serves Turkish tea, Bosnian coffee, and espresso.

Miscellaneous

The library also houses a museum in the basement that exhibits certain rare manuscripts and various material artifacts related to writing, reading, and daily life in Sarajevo. Various marble inscriptions from Sarajevo dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are also displayed in the basement for the time being. There are also conference facilities in the library itself.

The library's museum
The library’s museum

Since 1972, the library has also published a journal titled Anali Gazi Husrev-begove biblioteke, of which free copies are available online. The informative journal highlights the historical research of scholars from the area. Although the journal is written in Bosnian, researchers can render the text searchable and then copy the text into Google Translate for a relatively functional translation.

Future Plans and Rumors

The library will officially open to researchers on January 15, 2014. Some of the protocol listed above will inevitably change as the library streamlines and refines its procedures. As stated earlier, the library hopes to reintroduce a new computer catalog on its website and even provide researchers the chance to request copies remotely.

Contact information

Gaza Husrefbeg no. 46  Sarajevo 71000 Bosnia and Herzegovina

info@ghb.ba

Phone: +387 33238152, +387 33 264 960

Fax: +387 33205525

Resources and Links

Gazi Husrev Begova Biblioteka main site

Annals of Gazi Husrev Begova Library

23 December 2013

Nir Shafir is a doctoral candidate at UCLA researching the intellectual history of the Ottoman Empire during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Cite this: Nir Shafir, “Gazi Husrev Begova Library,” HAZINE, 23 Dec 2013,  https://hazine.info/2013/12/23/ghb_library/

Oriental Collections at Leiden University

Written by Aslıhan Gürbüzel

The rich Oriental collections of the Leiden University contain some 6,000 Middle Eastern manuscripts, about 120,000 rare books printed before 1950, and photographs of interest to the scholars of the region. The collection is located at the Special Collections section of the main library of the university at Leiden, the Netherlands.

This print depicting Leiden University Library in 1610 is rather well known as a representation of an early modern scholarly library at work. The cabinet on the right is for Scaliger’s Oriental acquisitions (and reads so in better and larger reproductions of the print), displayed separately with a sense of institutional pride for housing such rare and exotic books.
This print depicting Leiden University Library in 1610 is rather well known as a representation of an early modern scholarly library at work. The cabinet on the right is for Scaliger’s Oriental acquisitions (and reads so in better and larger reproductions of the print), displayed separately with a sense of institutional pride for housing such rare and exotic books.

History

The study of Arabic at Leiden goes back to the late sixteenth century, when the university was established. The major figure of the earliest generation is Joseph Scaliger (1540-1609), the versatile and esteemed scholar who, through his fondness of collecting rare books, left a valuable collection behind that formed the nucleus of the Oriental Collection.  Academic study of Arabic was soon to follow.  The first scholar of Arabic was Franciscus Raphelengius (d. 1597), followed by two prominent scholars of the language: Thomas Erpenius (d. 1667), who wrote a grammar of Arabic and Jacobus Golius (d. 1667), who wrote an Arabic-Latin dictionary. The grammar book and dictionary of Erpenius and Golius remained widely read all over Europe up until the nineteenth century. The main driving force behind the pursuit of Semitic and Middle Eastern studies from this early period on was the study of the Bible and exegesis.

In addition to Arabic, Persian and Turkish were soon to become preferred languages of study due to Dutch political and economic interests in the Ottoman Empire, hence broadening the scope of the pursuit of knowledge of the Orient. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Arabic and Islamic studies were to be transformed by merging with the study of Indonesian languages and culture, a rapidly burgeoning field due to the colonial engagements of the Netherlands in the area.

Collection

Leiden’s large Oriental collection is divided into five sub-sections. The Hebraica, Judaica and Semitics collection consists of manuscripts and rare prints mainly in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, but also the languages of Ethiopia, Old South Arabic, Coptic and Armenian. The South and Central Asian Collections comprise material in Sanskrit, Tibetan and Lepcha. This collection is remarkably rich in maps and visual material. The South and Southeast Asian Collections with its rich textual and visual Malay-Indonesian collection forms an especially strong component of the entire Oriental collection. Although the acquisition of manuscripts for this collection goes back to the sixteenth century, the real explosion took place in the second half of the nineteenth century, thanks to the needs of the colonial rule in the Netherland East Indies. The Japanese and Chinese collections, similarly, owes its strongest part, the Tokugawa era manuscripts and blockprints, to Dutch explorations on the Pacific ocean: the Dutch were the only European community permitted to reside on Japanese territory, though restrained to one island, the island of Deshima on Nagasaki Bay.

The Middle Eastern Collection houses the largest acquisition of the entire Oriental collections. This is the collection of 1,000 manuscripts inherited from Levinus Warner (d.1665), after whom the collection is sometimes referred to as Legatum Warnerianum, “Warner’s Bequest”.  Levinus Warner started out as a student of oriental languages at Leiden. He then moved to Istanbul and lived there from 1645 until the end of his life, first as secretary and translator to a trading Dutch resident, Nicolaas Ghisbrechti, and as a diplomat afterwards. From the beginning all through his years of consular work, he never lost his bookish interests and formed a large personal collection including works on poetry, history, theology, medicine, and folk literature. His collection brings together material in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, oftentimes annotated in Latin.  A remarkable acquisition of his is the private library of Haji Khalifa (Katib Çelebi), obtained through a local friend at an auction after the Ottoman scholar’s death in 1657.  The Leiden collection currently holds manuscripts from the collection of Warner as well as his extensive personal notes, which touch upon Turkish proverbs, the intricacies of Persian poetry, daily events in Istanbul and many other topics. These notes are mostly in Latin, though occasional snippets are to be found in Turkish or Arabic.

The acquisitions of the library continued throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, mostly through the library’s purchases of individual collections or the bequests of individual benefactors. One remarkable example is the bequest of the Dutch businessman and diplomat A.P.H. Hotz (1855-1930). The bibliophile’s collection was obtained in 1934 and includes many travel books and early photographs, as well as well-preserved early modern manuscripts.  Mention should also be made of the large collection that was bought in the 1960s, which presumably belonged to Sultan Murad V (1840-1904) and his heirs.

The Leiden University library on Witte Singel.
The Leiden University library on Witte Singel.

Research Experience

The catalog of special collections is helpful for navigating the oriental collection, although it is far from complete. The online catalog should not be ignored, since it will yield results likely not covered in the print catalogs. For best results, researchers should use the online catalog in consultation with the following printed catalogs.

Jan Schmidt’s three volume Catalog of Turkish Manuscripts is a gem of thorough scholarship, containing detailed information on each manuscript included. For works in Arabic, Petrus Voorhoeve’s Handlist of Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Leiden and Other Collections in the Netherlands is still indispensable. For Persian works, the researcher should refer to J.J. Witkam’s catalog of Persian manuscripts which is available in the reading room. Professor Witkam’s online cataloging project lists in digital format the library’s holdings acquired not only from the Middle East, but also from the South Asia and Southeast Asia, without regional division.

As the library has only recently begun to digitize its collection, only a small percentage of manuscripts have been digitized. In most cases, the reader will work with the original manuscript or print. The manuscripts and rare printed books are to be studied within the Special Collections reading room, using the necessary props. The reading room personnel are helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable. They all speak fluent English.

The collection is impressively user friendly. The reader places their requests online. The manuscripts then become available for pick-up within half an hour before 16:00, and the next morning if the request is placed after 16:00. Although there are no limits to the number of requests made, the reader is allowed to examine no more than two manuscripts at a time. This latter limitation does not apply to printed works.

Access

The Special Collections is open weekdays, 9.00 to 17.30 during the term and 9.00 am to 17.00 during the summer recess. To work at the collections, the reader must acquire a Leiden University guest card. The card can be acquired at the reception desk of the library in person, and is issued immediately. To acquire the card, the reader’s passport is required together with a fee of 30 Euros. Special discounts apply to the fee if the reader is a Dutch citizen or affiliated with a university in the Netherlands.

An important opportunity to keep in mind is the fellowships offered through the Scaliger Institute. The institute grants many research fellowships, in connection with the Brill and The Elsevier publishing houses, to researchers who want to explore the library’s holdings. For information, please visit the institute’s website.

Reproductions

The reader is allowed to photograph any material for free. For the purpose of use in publications, formal copies should be ordered through the library’s website. Online requests in this manner also stand as a viable option for readers who cannot visit the collection in person. Bear in mind that if the work has not been digitized yet, this process may take up to four weeks. The cost of a digital copy is 1 Euro per page.

Transportation, food, and other facilities

The library is located on Witte Singel, the main area where humanities buildings are located. It is a fifteen minute walk from Leiden’s Central Station, the hub of Leiden’s transportation. In terms of accommodation, finding short-term sublets in Leiden is easy during the summer months yet might prove difficult during the term. The Hague, which is a fifteen minute train ride away, is the next best option.

The library has a café which provides tosti (toasted sandwich, the staple lunch), baked goods and drinks. Richer lunch options are available, such as at the cafeteria of the Lipsius building right across the canal. The prices are reasonable in both cafes.

Contact Information

University Library (Main library and Humanities)

Witte Singel 27

2311 BG  Leiden
Special Collections Reading Room:
Tel: 071 – 5272857
email: specialcollections@library.leidenuniv.nl

Resources and Links

The website of the Special Collections department

Online Catalog, with links for ordering digital images

Aslıhan Gürbüzel is a doctoral candidate at Harvard University working on the cultural and intellectual history of the early modern Ottoman Empire, currently focusing on Sufism in seventeenth-century Istanbul.

Cite this, Aslıhan Gürbüzel, “Leiden Rare Books Library,” HAZİNE, https://hazine.info/2013/12/13/oriental-collections-at-leiden-university/, 13 December 2013.


 

Central Zionist Archive

Written by Liora R. Halperin

The Central Zionist Archive (hereafter CZA) in Jerusalem is the main archival resource for scholars researching the history of the Zionist movement, both within Palestine/Israel and internationally, and the history of the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) during the British Mandate and late Ottoman periods. Any scholar researching a topic that relates, either directly or indirectly, to the Jewish community in pre-state Palestine or the international institutions of the Zionist movement (e.g. the World Zionist Organization, the United Israel Appeal, or the Jewish Agency) will find the CZA to be an important archive.

The exterior of the Central Zionist Archive
The exterior of the Central Zionist Archive

History

The Central Zionist Archive was founded in Berlin in 1919 as the archive of the Zionist Movement; its goal was to collect the documentation of the branches of the Zionist movement located around the world, as well as the personal archives of key Zionist leaders. The first director of the archive, Georg Herlitz, began ordering the archive according to the organizational structure of the various offices that produced the documents in the collection. In the wake of the Nazi rise to power in 1933, the archive was moved to Israel and opened to the public in 1934. At this point, the collection’s focus expanded well beyond the history and bureaucratic activities of the global Zionist movement to include also the history of the Yishuv and Jewish settlement in Palestine. Alex Bein, the long-serving director of the archive, worked to realize the expansion of the collection as well as the transfer of Theodor Herzl’s archive to Palestine in 1937. Bein also gathered the personal archives of several other early Zionist figures. After being located for decades in the basement of the Zionist institutional offices on King George Street, the archive was moved into its current location in 1987.

Collection

Next to the Israel State Archives, the Central Zionist Archive is the largest archive in Israel. The Central Zionist Archive has, according to one estimate, about 80 million documents—a quantity which one writer described in 2007 as “ten kilometers of Zionism” (Anat Banin, “The Treasure Vault of the Jewish People” The Jewish Magazine, Hanukkah 2007). The CZA contains the archives of, among other bodies, the committees, subcommittees, and offices of the World Zionist Organization, as well as the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, the United Israel Appeal (Keren Ha-Yesod), and the Jewish National Council (Va‘ad ha-Le’umi). It also holds the records of other Zionist organizations and institutions in countries around the world and in Palestine/Israel, the records of Zionist Congresses, and over 1500 personal archives as well as extensive collections of periodicals, images, and maps. Most of these documents were produced in bureaucratic offices, mainly in the twentieth century, with a smaller number of documents from the late nineteenth century and a growing collection oftwenty-first-century collections from currently active Zionist organizations around the world. Approximately one-third of these documents are from the period of the Holocaust, making the CZA an important source for materials pertaining to Zionist activity during the Second World War. It also has a large collection of newspapers, maps, and half a million photographs and negatives. The CZA also has a unit for family research, and charges a fee of 100 shekels for individuals and 150 for institutions to look into immigration records, primarily for those who entered the country between 1919 and 1974. It also possesses a large book collection.

A photograph from the CZA collections, this one of women at a public water tap in 1933
A photograph from the CZA collections, this one of women at a public water tap in 1933

The contents of the CZA’s collections and sub-collections are listed on the archive’s website, which was updated relatively recently and is user-friendly. Researchers are advised to use the online lists and come on the first day of research with an initial list of materials they wish to order.

It should be noted that the documents held in the Central Zionist archive, with a few exceptions, were those either created or received by the Zionist movement, or, more specifically, associates of the Zionist Organization, as opposed to affiliates of the Labor Zionist or Revisionist movements. A wide range of organizations associated with the Zionist labor movement including MAPAI, Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza‘ir, the Kibbutz HaMe’uhad, the Histadrut, as well as the archives of the Revisionist Movement and of local municipalities, are held in other organizational or municipal archives located around Israel. Moreover, while the Central Zionist Archive is a central archive for the history of pre-state Zionism and the proto-state institutions of the Yishuv, the archives of the British mandatory government in Palestine are not held at the Central Zionist Archive, but rather at the Israel State Archives, where they were transferred after the creation of the state. A basic understanding of the structure and political diversity of the Zionist movement is essential to predict whether a given document or collection is likely to be held at the CZA or a separate archive elsewhere in Israel.

While the CZA holds materials from the Jewish community of Palestine up to 1948, it also contains and continues to collect the documents of certain international Zionist organizations outside the direct purview of the Israeli state. Given the worldwide nature of the Zionist movement, the archive contains materials from all major sites of Zionist movement activity including Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and South America. It contains materials from Palestine and from other Middle Eastern locations where the Zionist movement was active. Given the global reach and extent of these materials, the archive has important information on other topics, for example, global Jewish communities, resistance to Zionism, major events in Jewish history, the Arab population of Palestine, etc. However, visitors should plan their research mindful of the explicitly political and ideological logic—chronicling the history of the Zionist movement—by which the collection was assembled. The bulk of the collection is in Hebrew, but Zionist records from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century are more likely to be in German, and the records and correspondence of Zionist organizations around the world will likely be in the state languages of their respective countries.

Research Experience

The collections are organized, by and large, with reference to a document’s institutional place of production. In other words, the structure of the collections follows the structure of the institutions from which they came. Each top-level archival designation refers to a different institution. Some of the largest are the Va’ad Ha-Le’umi (Jewish National Council, archive code J), the Jewish Agency (archive code S), the Jewish National Fund (archive code KKL), Keren Ha-Yesod (United Israel Appeal, archive code KH), Zionist Organization Offices in various cities (archive code Z), and the Zionist Commission (archive code L). The number following the initial letter usually refers to a particular office or committee within the organization (e.g. J2 or S25). The number following the slash is the folder number. Personal archives have designations starting with the letter A. Although it is possible to find files by keyword, it is helpful to pay attention to the top-level letter and number for any given source in order to understand accurately its bureaucratic origin.

There are two basic ways to access catalogs. The computerized catalog is the main way to search for files, and one can search by keyword, as well as by year and other parameters. The operation of the computerized catalog is not immediately intuitive, and researchers should plan to ask for help from the reading room staff.

The second way to search the collections are through the bound volumes for each archival unit, which are organized by letter and are located to the left of the main desk in the reading room. Some of these volumes are missing, but if the one you need is on the shelf, the low-tech browsing method can be a useful way to understand the overall organization of each archival unit. Researchers normally request material through the computer system. In the event that the computer system is inoperable, researchers may continue to make requests using the paper slips. In my experience, computer outages are not uncommon, but this issue may have been resolved.

Thanks to support from the Judaica Division of the Harvard University library, the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, and the Claims Convention, the organization that distributes and allocates the funds of German Holocaust reparation payments to Israel, the CZA is digitizing its collections and researchers should expect that a good proportion of their documents will be viewed not on paper but on the computer terminals located in the reading room. Digitized documents are not always high quality, and, except for maps and other full-color documents, scans are in black and white. It is therefore occasionally difficult to read documents. Moreover, the functions for zooming and moving between pages are sometimes frustrating and the overall experience of dealing with scanned documents may be more difficult and less efficient than handling paper documents. In cases where the digital copies of documents are illegible, one can request paper files, but there is not an organized or streamlined procedure for such requests.

There are five pull times over the course of the day: 9:00, 10:00, 11:30, 13:00, 14:00. Five items (a book, a folder, etc.) may be requested at each of these times, for a maximum of twenty-five items over the course of a day. This means that researchers who intend to look at a large number of files will need several days before all their files can be brought. However, once a set of files is requested, it can be stored on a hold shelf indefinitely as long as you are still working with it. Files that are scanned can be accessed at any time, so it makes sense to start the day focusing on what files need to be ordered, and then work with scanned files while waiting for the paper files to arrive.

Central Zionist Archive 2
Files, waiting for the researcher…

The reading room staff are helpful. It is important for researchers to enter with the mindset that they need to continue asking questions if they find the initial responses insufficient. The reading room staff speaks some English but researchers who do not know Hebrew often find this to be a real impediment to their research. It is also not a bad idea to ask other archive users for help if the archive staff is away from the desk. The reading room staff, though they can answer questions about the procedures of ordering files or making copies, are not the ones to answer research questions or questions about the organization of the archive. Instead, researchers should turn to Batia Leshem, Head of Institutional Archives, or Rochelle Rubenstein, Deputy Director of Archival Matters, for those sorts of conversations. Their offices, as well as the offices of other archivists, are located one level below the reading room. Ask at the security desk in the lobby for specific directions to their offices.

The reading room is sufficiently comfortable. It tends to have enough room for the number of researchers who are normally working there without feeling either empty or overcrowded. It is air-conditioned. Researchers are asked to deposit their belongings in a locker outside and not bring in food or water. There is not an extremely rigorous search process in this regard but researchers should be prepared to abide by these regulations.

There are a wide range of reference volumes in the reading room itself, including dictionaries between Hebrew and a variety of other languages, a range of different historical and biographical encyclopedias, and a range of books about the history of the Zionist movement.

Access

The archive is open between 8:00 and 15:30, Sunday through Thursday. Users should be aware that the archive is closed for all major Jewish and Israeli national holidays, including often the whole day or half day of the eve of a holiday. Given the seasonal arrangement of holidays, this means that researchers planning travel in September-October and April-June in particular should consult a calendar and make sure that they are not planning research during a period of multiple holiday closures. In addition, the archive closes for a break in mid-August (call ahead before you come since closure information is not always posted on the website).

Access to the archive is granted after the submission of a short application. Researchers should make an application appointment and come to the archive with their Israeli identification number or foreign passport number.. Researchers have gained access without a formal letter of introduction, but it is not a bad idea to have one, especially for doctoral students. Once one is in the system, one does not have to fill out subsequent paperwork for future visits, even if one is working on an entirely different project, but it is helpful to consult with the archive staff to orient oneself around each new topic.

The archive is wheelchair accessible.

Reproductions

Researchers are asked to pay (as of 2012) 40 agorot per page for photographs taken on a personal digital camera. This is charged through self-reporting. It is useful to be able to customize one’s own images, zoom or crop as desired. Also, this is the cheapest form of reproduction available.

If one wishes to have photocopies made of paper files, they must be marked on a special ordering sheet and cost 1 shekel per page. They are normally ready within a week.

Documents that have been scanned cost 1.50 shekel per page if printed and 2 shekalim per page if emailed and they must be ordered and take some time to arrive (this is another reason why it is often a boon to chance upon files that have not yet been scanned that you can photograph with your own camera).

Transportation and Food

The CZA is located directly across from the Jerusalem Central Bus Station and next door to the Binyane Ha-Umah International Convention Center. The CZA is extremely well serviced by public transit. The light rail makes a stop outside the Central Bus Station and any bus, whether in the city or inter-city, that serves the Central Bus Station will do (from the bus station cross Jaffa Road and Zalman Shazar Ave. Follow Josef Herlitz Rd off of Zalmar Shazar Ave to the right of the Convention Center to get there.) In addition, it is useful to know that it is only about a twenty-minute walk between the Central Zionist Archive and the National Library at Hebrew University’s Giv’at Ram campus. This proximity between institutions is useful to maximize one’s working hours, as the CZA closes at 15:30, while the National Library remains open until 19:45.

There are a couple food options near the Central Zionist Archive. A small food cart on Zalman Shazar Ave. near the bus stops sells snacks and basic prepared sandwiches of poor quality. The other option is crossing over to the Central Bus Station, which has a food court with decent fast-food style options. The bus station is also a reasonably pleasant place to get coffee or a pastry and it has free wi-fi and various shops. If you want to make the most of the research hours between 8:00 and 15:30, however, the best idea is to pack a lunch.

Miscellaneous:

The archive occasionally hosts lectures and symposia related to topics in the history of the Zionist movement. Sometimes it also organizes small exhibits in its lobby space.

Future Plans and Rumors

The archive plans to continue digitizing files.

Contact information

Website: www.zionistarchives.org.il

Address: 4 Zalman Shazar Avenue, Jerusalem

Director: Yigal Sitry

Phone number: 972-2-620-4800

Fax: 972-2-620-4837

Main contact email: cza@wzo.org.il

Other emails and phone numbers: 

Academic Director Dr. Motti Friedman 02-620-4803 motif@jazo.org.il
Administrative Director Gili Simha​ ​02-6204800 ​ gilis@wzo.org.il
Deputy director for archival matters Rochelle Rubinstein​ 02-6204816 rocheller@wzo.org.il

Heads of Departments:

Institutional archives Batia Leshem 02-6204818 batial@wzo.org.il
Private archives Simone Schliachter 02-6204817 simones@wzo.org.il
Photograph Collections Anat Banin 02-6204825 anatb@wzo.org.il
Graphic Collections and Maps Nechama Kanner 02-6204810 nechamaka@wzo.org.il

Resources and Links:

Search catalog online

3 December 2013

Liora R. Halperin is assistant professor of History and Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research focuses on Jewish cultural history, Jewish-Palestinian relations in Palestine and Israel, language ideology and policy, and the politics surrounding nation formation in Palestine in the years leading up to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Her first book, tentatively titled Babel in Zion: Hebrew and the Politics of Language in Palestine, will be published by Yale University Press in 2014. 

Cite this: Liora R. Halperin, “Central Zionist Archive,” HAZINE, https://hazine.info/2013/12/03/central-zionist-archive/, 3 Dec 2013