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Middle East and Islamic Studies Guide

Databases and Electronic Resources

Digitized Newspapers and Periodicals

Translatio (University of Bonn): Middle Eastern newspapers and periodicals in Turkish, Persian and Arabic. 

CRL-Global Press Archives's the Middle Eastern and North African Newspapers collection (open access)

Servet-i Fünun Project (Ottoman Turkish)

Jara'id - Ottoman and Mandatory Arabic Newspapers (National Library of Israel)

al-Arshif (collection of Arabic periodicals)

Arabic and Middle Eastern Electronic Library (AMEEL) (Yale)

al-‘Iraqiyah - an aggregator of Iraqi academic periodicals

Center for Research Libraries

Cambridge Archive Editions

Search Archive Editions in Bobcat
Archive Editions publications provide thousands of original documents, as well as numerous maps, on the national heritage and political development of many countries. AE material is particularly rich for the study of boundary formation, claims and disputes amd modern political development of the Arabian peninsula and Arab/Persian Gulf.

Primary Sources in Translation

 

 

 

 

Images, Maps and Photographs from the Middle East

  • Abdul Hamid II Collection (Library of Congress) : This monumental collection portrays the Ottoman Empire during the reign of one of its last sultans, Abdul-Hamid II. The 1,819 photographs in 51 large-format albums date from about 1880 to 1893. They highlight the modernization of numerous aspects of the Ottoman Empire, featuring images of educational facilities and students; well-equipped army and navy personnel and facilities; technologically advanced lifesaving and fire fighting brigades; factories; mines; harbors; hospitals; and government buildings. Most of the places depicted are within the boundaries of modern-day Turkey, but buildings and sites in Iraq, Lebanon, Greece and other countries are also included.
  • The American University of Beirut Jafet Library's Poster Collection
  • Arab Image Foundation
  • Archnet is a globally-accessible, intellectual resource focused on architecture, urbanism, environmental and landscape design, visual culture, and conservation issues related to the Muslim world. Archnet’s mission is to provide ready access to unique visual and textual material to facilitate teaching, scholarship, and professional work of high quality. Officially launched in 2002 as a partnership between the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Archnet has since evolved into the largest open, online architectural library with a focus on Muslim cultures. Its digital archives form a comprehensive resource on architecture, urban design, landscape, development, and related issues. Archnet provides a bridge for interested persons to learn how to enhance the quality of the built environment, to compensate for lack of resources for students and faculty in academic institutions, and to highlight the culture and traditions of Islam.
  • The Gertrude Bell Collection comprises books on Arabic and Persian languages and on the histories of Arabia, and the Near and Middle East which were formerly part of Gertrude's working library. 
  • Ibraaz Contemporary Visual Culture in North Africa and the Middle East
  • Maps of the (Late) Ottoman Empire: especially useful for those interested in 19th-century eastern Anatolia, Greater Syria and Iraq
  • The Middle East Film Posters Digitization Initiative (Princeton University)
  • NYPL's The Middle East in Early Prints and Photographs
  • Travelers in the Middle East (TIMEA) is a digital archive that focuses on Western interactions with the Middle East, particularly travels to Egypt during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
  • The University of Chicago Library's Guide to Middle Eastern Posters Collections 1970s-1990s
  • UNRWA Photo and Film Archive
  • Yale's The Palestine Poster Project Archives

The Hamidian Collection at Fales and the Library of Congress

NYU holds a complete set of books in Ottoman Turkish and Arabic gifted by Sultan Abdülhamit II to Abram Hewitt. Hewitt donated the books to NYU. This set has a twin in the Library of Congress (now fully digitized).