A guide to textual sources relating to the Middle East. Most are online, although some essential sources on certain topics are still only available in hard copy (which are linked below to Franklin)
A list in roughly chronological order and, when possible, grouped by language. Due for re-organization so excuse the current long list.
A rich collection of documents in Persian of the Qajar period (1785-1925). The collection consists of more than 1,000 documents including official correspondence of the Qajar rulers and statesmen, important daily notes –such as those addressed to Naser al-Din Shah (1848-1896) by his celebrated premier Amir Kabir as well as financial documents, diplomatic dispatches, intelligence reports, and private letters of such important figures as Mirza Hosein Khan Moshir al- Dowleh, the celebrated statesman of the 1870’s, and Mirza ‘Ali Asghar Khan Amin al-Soltan, premier in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The private letters of the celebrated premier of the early 1950s, Mohammad Mosaddeq, in his early career is also part of this collection. Moreover, there are documents about political dissidents and revolutionaries before and during the Constitutional Revolution (1906-1911), as well as correspondence regarding the Babi-Baha’i leadership in the Baghdad exile in the 1860s, Persian merchant communities in Cairo and harassments by diplomatic representatives in the 1870s and 1880s, letters by Qajar elite women and reports on well-known dissidents such as Jamal al-Din Afghani and Mirza Malkom Khan. There are also random royal decrees, petitions to Qajar shahs and officials by the ordinary people and details of litigations brought before the state authorities. The collection also includes a substantial group of letters in grand style and appearance exchanged between Fath ‘Ali Shah (1798-1834) and his crown prince ‘Abbas Mirza and European courts in the early nineteenth century including the British Prince Regent and Napoleon Bonaparte when Persian alliance was sought by both the British and the French and when Iranian provinces in the Caucasus were first exposed to Russian threat and eventual conquest.
Corpus of Arabic Legal Documents:
The first online collection of scattered editions of legal documents from the 2nd/8th to the 9th/15thcentury, often with improved readings compared to earlier print versions. Documents are presented with the Arabic text in modern spelling and with full bibliographical data.
A searchable database of Ottoman court records (dating between 1500-1700) from İstanbul (city in Istanbul) and bilad-i selâse (Üsküdar, Galata, Eyüp), made possible by İslam Araştırmaları Merkezi (ISAM).
Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969, National Archives, UK. Archive Direct.
“The series originated out of a need to preserve the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. These range from single-page letters or telegrams to comprehensive dispatches, investigative reports, and texts of treaties. All items marked ‘Confidential Print’ were printed and circulated immediately to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet and to heads of British missions abroad.
"This collection consists of the Confidential Print for the countries of the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, and Sudan. Beginning with the Egyptian reforms of Muhammad Ali Pasha in the 1830s, the documents trace the events of the following 150 years, including the Middle East Conference of 1921, the mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia, the partition of Palestine, the 1956 Suez Crisis and post-Suez Western foreign policy, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
Egypt: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1853-1962
State Department archive for Egypt from before the opening of the Suez Canal through the era of British domination, Egyptian nationalism, and, finally, independence.
Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Trans-Jordan: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1836-1944
State Department records for Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Trans-Jordan, from Ottoman rule through the era of British and French mandates following the First World War.
The Middle East 1916-2001 : A Documentary Record, Yale Law School.
A selection of diplomatic and government documents relating to Middle Eastern history.
Anwar Sadat Archives (University of Maryland)
Comprehensive electronic archive of publicly available, English-language material (both written and audio-visual) pertaining to the presidency of Anwar Sadat
Palestine and Transjordan administration reports, 1918-1948.
Cambridge: Archive Editions. Facsims of eds. originally published by various governmental publishers, 1918-1948. This 16-volume work presents a comprehensive collection of British administrative reports and associated documents, including extensive material hitherto unknown and unpublished. The series includes the pre-Mandate reports of 1918-1923, the Mandate and Departmental Annual Reports from 1923-1947/8, including the unpublished Mandate Reports for 1940 and 1941, the extensive Survey of Palestine 1946/47 and the formal papers covering the termination of the Mandate in 1948. This is an essential research source for information on British administration in Palestine and Transjordan, on the continuous tensions of the period between the Arab and Jewish populations, on civil disorders and the eventual unworkability of the Mandate.
The United States. Department of State. Division of Near Eastern Affairs, author book Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1927. English Correspondence referring to economic rights in the mandated territory. Principal documents
American-British Palestine Mandate Convention of December 3, 1924.
Records of the Hashimite dynasties: a twentieth-century documentary history [Great Britain]:
Archive Editions, 1995. EnglishSome text in French. Records of the Hashimites is a rare and valuable publication, an encyclopedia of authentic historical documents, tracing in detail through 15 volumes the destiny of the Hashimites, the most ancient and distinguished family in the Middle East. Through painstaking and expert research in government and private files, the editor and his assistant editor have located diaries, secret reports and a wealth of previously unpublished correspondence. These documents are now reproduced in exact facsimile to make available for your library and your own research the primary documents and archival evidence for the history of the Hashimites.
Records of the Hashimites focuses on the 20th century and provides the reader with a detailed study of the convergence of Hashimite and British interests that led to the Arab Revolt in the First World War and the establishment of Hashimite rule in Iraq, Jordan and, briefly, Syria following the defeat of Turkey. Of the many hundreds of documents collected and made public in this great work, some of them ancient, many of them normally hidden or scattered in obscure archives, some of great political importance and all of historic interest - here we give you a glimpse of the sequence and contents of these 15 volumes. The following are merely a few highlights from the c. 10,000 pages of this modern reference work for Hashimite history.
Bibliothèque diplomatique numérique
Ministère français de l'Europe et des affaires étrangères (MEAE). Histoire diplomatique * Documents diplomatiques * Ministères des Affaires étrangères * Des diplomates: formation, récits et portraits * Droit international * Traités, accords et conventions * Protectorats et mandat français * Publications officielles étrangères ou intergouvernementales.French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE). Diplomatic History * Diplomatic Documents * Ministries of Foreign Affairs * Diplomats: Training, Narratives and Portraits * International Law * Treaties, Agreements and Conventions * French Protectorates and Mandate * Foreign or Intergovernmental Official Publications.
A database of primary source documents from the US State Department dealing with the political situation in Morocco during the 1950s.
444 Days: Selected Records Concerning the Iran Hostage Crisis 1979-1981
A collection and timeline curated by US National Archive – January 2017. These records were then included as part of this special project for a total of approximately 7200 pages of newly declassified records from several series.
Thesaurus d’épigraphie islamique
This large database contains records and photographs of inscriptions produced across the Islamic world until the year 1000 AH. Created by the Max van Berchem Foundation.
Database of Ottoman Inscriptions (DOI):
A searchable digital database comprising information about, as well as transliterations and pictures of, all the Turkish, Arabic, and Persian architectural inscriptions created in the Ottoman lands during Ottoman times.
Monumental Inscriptions of Historic Cairo
“The initial aim of this project was to photograph, transcribe and translate the unpublished inscriptions in pre-1800 monuments in Cairo. In addition, it was hoped to record those inscriptions, published or not, most in danger of disappearing because of their fragile state of conservation. First of all, it may be asked, why the cut-off point of 1800? The main reason for this was the realization that the anticipated budget and projected time for the project would simply have become too great if, for instance, the inscriptions of 19th century monuments were added to it. The period also coincided with the demise of direct Ottoman rule.”
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia (OCIANA)
Aims to compile digital corpus of all known pre-Islamic inscriptions in North and Central Arabia. Entries include: reading of each text both in roman transliteration and in fonts reproducing the ancient letters, translation in English, references to earlier readings, commentary where necessary, bibliography, and all known information about the inscription (provenance, carving technique, relationship to other texts or to rock drawings, structures, etc.) as well as photographs (where available) and facsimiles of each text that can be downloaded free at publishable resolutions. Fully searchable for names, words, grammatical features and subjects.
Digital Archive for the Study of pre-Islamic Arabian Inscriptions (DASI)
“DASI seeks to gather all known pre-Islamic Arabian epigraphic material into a comprehensive online database, with the aim to make available to specialists and to the broader public a wide array of documents often underestimated because of their difficulty of access.” Current projects include Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions, Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia (OCIANA), Corpus of Aramaic Inscriptions, and Corpus of Nabataean Inscriptions.
Islamic Seals Database from Chester Beatty Library, Dublin
“Initially the database will contain mainly images of seal impressions found in the more than 2600 manuscripts that make up the Chester Beatty Library’s Arabic Collection. The number of images will increase steadily until the seals in all of these manuscripts are included as well as all of those found in the Library’s other Islamic manuscripts (those in its Qur’an, Persian, Turkish and Mughal-era Indian Collections).”
Arab Barometer The Arab Barometer is a multicountry social survey designed to assess citizen attitudes about public affairs, governance, and social policy in the Arab World, and to identify factors that shape these attitudes and values. In this first round of the Arab Barometer, respondents in the countries of Jordan, Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco, Yemen, and Palestine were queried regarding (1) economic questions, (2) evaluation of political institutions, political participation, and political attitudes, (3) identity and nationalism, (4) politics and religion, (5) religiosity, and (6) the Arab world and international affairs. Iran Data Portal
An online portal offering social science data on Iran. For example, socioeconomic data, electoral data, political parties, and translations of selected laws and regulations. In both English and Persian.
