About Sources
Approaching Ottoman History by ISBN: 9780521661683Publication Date: 1999An introduction to archival and narrative sources for Ottoman history, Faroqhi explains why these sources were prepared, encouraging readers to adopt a critical approach to their findings, and disabusing them of the notion that everything recorded in official documents is necessarily true!
General Digital Collections
- Digital Library of the Middle EastThe Digital Library of the Middle East (DLME) offers free and open access to the rich cultural legacy of the Middle East and North Africa by bringing together collections from a wide range of cultural heritage institutions.
- Palestinian Museum Digital ArchiveA project to collect various documents including identification papers, official records, letters, diaries, manuscripts, maps, photographs, films, and audio recordings that were under threat of loss, damage, or confiscation. Such items were digitized and made widely available on a website open for users inside Palestine and abroad in Arabic and English, to shed light on the different aspects of Palestinian life, history, and legacy.
- National Library of IsraelIncludes digitized collections from the National Library of Israel from a wide range of subjects.
Personal & Family Papers
Many individual and family papers are only available in archives. Sometimes, the accounts of politicians, journalists, and others who might be famous, hold political power, or have access to media outlets are published in books form.
- PRO TIP: Search for individual names as AUTHOR in the library catalog see if there are diaries, autobiographies, or other personal writings published in book form.
Here are examples of how these might show up on the library book shelves:
- Complete Diaries byCall Number: DS151 .H4 A33Publication Date: 1960Herzl's diaries from the last eight years of this life (1895-1904), translated and published in 5 volumes.
- Refugees in Our Own Land byISBN: 9781849640923Publication Date: 2001The first part of the book consists of a diary which Muna Hamzeh, a journalist who moved to and lived in a Palestinian refugee camp near Bethlehem, wrote between October 4th and December 4th 2000, telling the story of the second Intifada.
Travelers & Missionaries
A unique and challenging type of source for historians is the travel narrative. Especially common during the nineteenth century, Europeans and later Americans would travel abroad and then publish an account of what they saw and experienced. Historians can use these as a perspective on the cultures and events that these writers witnessed, but more often then not, they tell us more about the writer's colonial preconceptions and biases. When using these as primary source, keep in mind the author and intended audience, and think critically about what the traveler saw and could understand about "the Other."
Missionaries also see the world through a unique lens, sometimes combining colonial perspectives with their mission to proselytize and win religious conversions. Unlike their touring and traveling counterparts, missionaries typically spent long periods of time in one place and developed relationships with their host communities. Consider all of these dynamics as you read and interpret the writings of missionaries.
To find published travel narratives from all time periods, search the Monroe Library for a geographic location (e.g. country, city, region) plus the phrase "description and travel."
- Turkey AND "Description and travel" = over 760 results
- Egypt AND "Description and travel" = over 970 results
- Missionary and Charity Periodicals, 1793-1902The publications in this collection include those for both foreign and domestic missions and represent outreach to many different groups that include African-Americans, Native Americans, women, the poor, immigrants, and specific ethnic groups. Subjects include slavery, home missions, hospital work, and social problems.
- Travelers in the Middle East ArchiveA project at Rice University, this collection includes texts, maps, and images documenting travel to the Middle East (primarily Egypt) between the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These materials range from travel guides, travel narratives, and museum catalogs to stereocards, advertisements and postcards.
Oral Histories
- Iranian Oral History ProjectA project of Harvard University, this collection consists of the personal accounts of 134 individuals who played major roles in or were eyewitnesses to important political events in Iran from the 1920s to the 1980s. Of these, 118 narratives have been digitized and are available to researchers through this database.
- Palestinian Oral History ArchiveA project of the American University of Beirut, includes 1,000 hours of testimonies with first generation Palestinians and other Palestinian communities in Lebanon, with a particular focus on personal accounts surrounding the Nakba.
Newspapers
- Access World NewsClick "More Search Options" to limit your search by location, choosing sources for the Middle East or for an individual country. Coverage is mostly limited to the most recent decades.
Note that most English-language news sources here are produced by American or British news outfits.
- Middle Eastern and North African NewspapersContent in the Middle Eastern and North African Newspapers collection is predominantly in Arabic, but also includes key titles in English and French. The collection comprises mostly out-of-copyright, orphaned content from the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
- Historical Jewish Press (National Library of Israel)Searchable database of Jewish newspapers from around the world. Hundreds of titles, 1743-2014
International newspapers may also provide useful coverage of events in the Middle East. Keep in mind what perspectives the authors and publishers of these newspapers may bring to their subject.
- New York TimesFull-text access to current and archive issues of the New York Times is provided by Monroe Library to all current students, staff, and faculty. First-time users will need to create an account using their Loyola email before logging in.
- Times (of London) Digital Archive 1785-2012The Times (of London) newspaper in full page image from 1785 through 2012. Advanced search to limit by type of article.
Audio & Visual Materials
- Abdul Hamid II CollectionThis collection of photographs digitized by the Library of Congress 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.
- Lenkin Family Collection of PhotographyThe Lenkin Family Collection of Photography at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries comprises over 5,000 original photographs, primarily of Jerusalem and Palestine taken from 1850 to 1937.
- The Middle East in Early Prints and PhotographsA digitized collection of images and media from the New York Public Library.
Government Documents
- Arabian Gulf Digital ArchivesRecords showcasing the story of the rich and complex history of the countries located in the Arabian Gulf. This digital archive contains material dating from 1820 to 2004. This is a joint project between the National Archives of the United Arab Emirates and The National Archives of the United Kingdom.
- Foreign Relations of the United States SeriesThe Office of the Historian offers ebook editions of a growing number of volumes from the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series. Browse by year to find volumes related to the Middle East (also called the Near East).
- The Middle East 1916-2001 : A Documentary RecordPart of Yale University's Avalon Project, this collection includes treaties and legal sources concerning the Middle East, including colonial, national, and United Nations documents.