Ancient Arabic Calligraphy Available Online on Library of Congress

A collection of Arabic script calligraphy sheets dating from the 8th to 19th centuries is now available on the Library of Congress' Global Gateway Web site at http://international.loc.gov/intldl/apochtml/.

During the late 1920s, early 1930s and 1990s the Library of Congress acquired a large collection of Arabic script calligraphy sheets. Almost all of the sheets were acquired from Kirkor Minassian of New York and Paris. The remaining sheets were acquired by the Library's field office in Islamabad, Pakistan, with permission from the Pakistani government to acquire and export calligraphic materials belonging to a Pakistani citizen. The 355 sheets placed online are the vast majority of the Islamic calligraphic items in the Library's collections, housed in the African and Middle Eastern Division. In a forthcoming final update of the Web site another 36 images of material from the 8th through 10th centuries will be added.

Calligraphy was a skill to be mastered, and it was heavily used to express religious sentiment and many other aspects of personal and cultural life. Calligraphic art developed gradually over the centuries and has been the subject of numerous studies analyzing its role in the faith, culture and art of Arabic-, Persian- and Turkish-speaking lands.

A majority of the calligraphy sheets in the collection are written on paper; however, a group of Quranic fragments from the 8th through 10th centuries are inscribed on parchment.
This collection showcases stunning examples of calligraphic art, including illuminated panels, albums and poems. In addition to the individual calligraphy sheets, this presentation contains essays on Ottoman and Persian calligraphic styles, an in-depth look at Quranic calligraphic fragments and an essay discussing some of the Library's notable Arabic script calligraphy sheets and illuminations.

Among the most noteworthy items included in the collection are a page from an 8th century C.E. (first or early second century Islamic era) Koran, and pages from a 17th century Persian dictionary titled "Farhang-i Jahangiri." The former item is written in the Hijazi form of the Arabic script, which is an ancestor of all the modern forms of the Arabic script. This Koran page is also important as an artifact of the earliest Islamic community. Scholars who have viewed pages from the dictionary speculate—based on the great beauty of the calligraphy and illumination—that these may be pages from the royal manuscript that was prepared for the Mughal Emperor Jahangir who reigned from 1605 to 1627.

These beautiful items have been housed in the Near East Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division since they entered the Library's possession. Art historians, historians of the Islamic book and other researchers learned of their existence when they came to Washington to consult with specialists in the Near East Section. The collection of Arabic script calligraphy was truly one of the Library's hidden treasures.

This digitization project began 2002 when Library of Congress management requested proposals for projects focusing on the digital conversion of underutilized collections whose use by researchers would increase by their existence in digital form on Internet. At that time Chris Murphy, the Library's Turkish area specialist, and one of the individuals responsible for the manuscripts held by the Near East Section, proposed that the Arabic script calligraphy collection be given scholarly descriptions, digitized and mounted on the Library's Web site.

This proposal was accepted and in a process lasting almost three years the Web site was created. The Library's Office of Strategic Initiatives engaged Christiane Gruber (currently assistant professor of Islamic art history at Indiana University) to create descriptions of each piece of calligraphy. Murphy worked with the Global Gateway digital team, which handled the technical side of creating the Web site.

Digitization of these materials accomplishes several goals. Hitherto unknown holdings of the Library are presented to the scholarly world. Each item is preserved digitally and the digital surrogate is there to be used by researchers. The actual item will be available only to those individuals whose research requires that they examine the original object. Furthermore, the introductory essays on the Web site give the general public a clear and concise explanation of Islamic calligraphy with an extensive bibliography about the subject.

Many of these pieces of calligraphy come from manuscripts that were disassembled in order to sell pages individually. As a consequence, manuscripts pages were often dispersed among several institutions. The creation of this Library of Congress Web site will, it is hoped, encourage these other institutions to digitize and make available their Islamic treasures. This, in turn, will enable scholars and institutions to use the virtual space of the World Wide Web to reconstruct important and valuable manuscripts that now exist in bits and pieces all around the world.
This online presentation of "Selections of Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Calligraphy" joins other world history collections available on the Library of Congress' Global Gateway Web site at http://international.loc.gov/. This Web site features the extraordinary international collections of the Library of Congress as well as those of its partners from libraries in Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, France and Russia. The presentations for these five nations are bilingual—in both English and the language of the country represented.

The Global Gateway Web site also makes available such rare items as "The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake," "The Lewis Carroll Scrapbook" and "Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection," which documents ceremonial writings of the Naxi people of China, who write using the only living pictographic language in the world.

Photography/ Text © Chris Murphy, Turkish area specialist in the Library's African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress. Published in Library of Congress Information Bulletin, September 2006.

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Seyyid Mehmed Bahir

By Seyid Mehmed Bahir, dated 1279/1862 panel on paper of celi talik script.

Photography/ Text © Auction House Antik A.S.

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Hasan Riza Efendi (b.1849 - d.1920)

Surface by Hasan Riza dated 1330(1911) panel of sülüs nesih script, prophetic saying (Hadith) with Besmele from Tay Collection

Photography/ Text © Auction House Portakal, Istanbul

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Princeton University Library's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections

Princeton has the largest collection of Islamic manuscripts in North America and one of the finest such collections in the Western world. The Princeton University Library holds some 11,000 volumes of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish manuscripts. While the world of Islamic learning is the chief emphasis, there are also illuminated Qur’ans, Persian illustrated manuscripts and miniatures, and other examples of Islamic book arts. Among the most famous examples of Persian painting are the 16th-century Peck Shahnamah and Muin Musavvir's 1673 portrait of the Safavid-era painter Riza ‘Abbasi.For published descriptions of manuscripts, see (1) Philip K. Hitti, Nabih Amin Faris, and Butrus ‘Abd al-Malik, Descriptive Catalog of the Garrett Collection of Arabic Manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, Princeton Oriental Texts, vol. 5 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1938); (2) Mohammed E. Moghadam and Yahya Armajani, under the supervision of Philip K. Hitti, Descriptive Catalog of the Garrett Collection of Persian, Turkish and Indic Manuscripts Including Some Miniatures, Princeton Oriental Texts, vol. 6 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1939); (3) Rudolf Mach, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts (Yahuda Section) in the Garrett Collection , Princeton University Library, Princeton Studies on the Near East (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977); and (4) Rudolf Mach and Eric L. Ormsby, Handlist of Arabic Manuscripts (New Series) in the Princeton University Library, Princeton Studies on the Near East (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987). These four printed catalogs and the unpublished checklist supersede earlier printed catalogues or descriptions by Enno Littmann (1904), Nicholas N. Martinovich (1926), and Ernest Cushing Richardson and Nabih Amin Faris (1934). Thousands of additional Islamic manuscripts (including most of Princeton’s approximately 2,000 Persian and 900 Ottoman Turkish manuscripts) are described in the Preliminary Checklist of Uncataloged Islamic Manuscripts in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library (2004). For a checklist of a recently acquired collection on Arabic calligraphy, go to William J. Trezise Collection of Arabic Calligraphy. For descriptions and selected digital images of Arabic papyri at Princeton, go to the Princeton University Library Papyrus Home Page. Early printed Islamica in the Rare Books Division may be searched online in the Princeton University Library Main Catalogue. For digital images of 277 Persian miniatures in five illustrated Shahnamah manuscripts, dating from 1544 to 1674, in the Manuscripts Division, go to “The Princeton Shahnama Project” at< http://www.princeton.edu/~shahnama/>The manuscripts include Garrett Islamic MSS. 56G, 57G, 58G, and 59G, which were the gift of Robert Garrett, Class of 1897; and the “Peck Shahnamah” (Islamic Manuscripts, Third Series, no. 310), which was bequeathed to Princeton in 1983 by Clara S. Peck, the sister of Fremont C. Peck, Class of 1920.

Contact

Princeton University Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
Email: rbsc@princeton.edu
Tel: (609) 258-3184
Fax: (609) 258-2324

Photography/ Text © http://library.princeton.edu/

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

The Harvard University Art Museums - The Arthur M. Sackler Museum

Harvard's collection of Islamic and later Indian art is small but magnificent. It comprises a broad range of works, from Samanid pottery and Mamluk calligraphy to Qajar lacquers and Ottoman textiles. The department is particularly strong, however, in painting. Its masterpieces, which rank among the finest in the United States, include a group of miniatures from the extraordinary 14th-century Great Mongol ("Demotte") Shahnama, the Safavid master Mir Sayyid-'Ali's Night-time in a Palace, and the miniatures of the "pocket-size" Divan of Anvari produced for the Mughal emperor Akbar. The department also has one of the most important representations of Rajasthani painting in the world.

The over 2,500 items in the collection include: Paintings and drawings from the Arab, Il Khanid, Timurid, Safavid, Qajar, Ottoman, Sultanate, Mughal, Deccani, Rajput, and British India periods; Illuminations; Calligraphy; Qur'ans and other manuscripts; Ceramics and tiles; Metalwork, including arms and armor; Textiles and rugs.

The collection is displayed in thematically-oriented exhibitions in the Islamic Gallery on the second floor of the Arthur M. Sackler Museum.

Mailing Address:
Arthur M. Sackler Museum,
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Photography/ Text © HAT SAN'ATI Tarihçe, Malzeme ve Örnekler, Istanbul. http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/sackler/index.html

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

The Turkish Studies Department of Leiden University

Turkish Studies

The Turkish Studies Department of Leiden University is one of the largest research and teaching departments in its field in Europe. It has a permanent staff of six, one of whom is permanently stationed in Istanbul and eight additional staff members with non-tenured positions. It offers BA,MA, M.Phil and PhD degrees.The department maintains links with the Turkish academic and intellectual world, resulting in a constant inflow of Turkish MA and PhD students. The Department offers a MA programme in European Studies jointly with Istanbul Bilgi University, and a MA programme in Turkish Studies with Sabancı University in Istanbul. These programmes are taught partly in Istanbul and partly in Leiden. The teaching is enhanced with regular guest lectures by professors from other universities from the Netherlands and abroad. The department of Turkish Studies combines expertise in the languages of the region with historically oriented research programmes. The department has strong national and international links, in particular with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, London), the EHESS (Paris), the International Institute of Social History, (IISH, Amsterdam), and Bilgi and Sabancı Universities (Istanbul).

The Turkology Update Leiden Project (TULP) is a unique initiative of Leiden University’s Department of Turkish Languages and Cultures (until recently part of the Department of Languages and Cultures of the Islamic Middle East) and Projectgroup Computer Supported Education (COO). It started December 1997 and its first results were published on the World Wide Web by April 1998. The TULP-pages are continually updated and expanded; so watch out for News. TULP will provide a specifically Turkological introduction to the Web for Leiden University’s students of Turkology as well as for the general public interested in aspects of Turkey and Central Asia.

TULP’s main pages feature A Curricular WebGuide for Turkology, A Topical WebGuide for Turkology and Interactive Turkish Texts (in Dutch).

The Turkology Update Leiden Project(TULP)

TULP’s Database of Interactive Turkish Texts was developed as a tool for students, combining easily accessible vocabulary and idiom lists with the department’s grammar specialist D. Koopman’s grammatical and syntactical comments and references to his and Dr. Geoffrey Lewis’ Turkish grammar. In April 1998 -when TULP first went online- it consisted of three texts, but new ones will continually be added. It will be used in six of the department’s courses (Modern Turkish Grammar, Grammatical Text Analysis, Sentence Structure 1, Sentence Structure 2, Conversation A and Conversation B). The database is only of use to speakers of Dutch and requires a Java-capable browser.

Photography/ Text © http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/tcimo/tulp/topical.htm

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Harvard University - Ottoman and Turkish Studies

History of Ottoman and Turkish Studies at Harvard University

Harvard University has a long tradition of teaching and research in the fields of Turkish and Ottoman studies. As early as the nineteenth century, courses on Ottoman history were taught at the University. However, during the past three decades, Turkish and Ottoman studies have been expanded and integrated more thoroughly into the curriculum. The program has grown stronger most recently with the addition of area studies faculty and the enhancement of the Turkish language program. These developments have resulted in greater student interest and the establishment of new research projects.

Faculty and Curriculum Resources

Harvard has been fortunate to have a history of excellence in teaching and research in Turkish and Ottoman related disciplines. Most notably, during the early part of this century, the prominent diplomatic historian, Archibald Coolidge, came to Harvard where he taught Ottoman history for many years. In particular, he left to Harvard and future scholars his valuable collection of European books on the Ottomans, including a large number of books published before 1700. Under his supervision, Albert Howe Lybyer published a book in 1913 on Süleyman the Magnificent; the book’s basic premise is still discussed among historians and is called the “Lybyer thesis.” During the 1930s, two well-known Harvard professors, William Langer and R.P. Blake, continued the tradition of teaching Ottoman history at Harvard and published a celebrated article on the rise of the Ottomans which is still considered a classic piece of scholarship.

After World War II, Turkish and Ottoman studies burgeoned at Harvard under the guidance of numerous scholars and professors. Sir Hamilton Gibb, the famous Islamist, came to Harvard in 1955; he was the co-author with Harold Bowen of a major work on the history of the Ottoman Empire during the eighteenth century. He was joined by Stanford Shaw several years later, who taught Ottoman history, language, and paleography. During the early 1960s, Turkish language studies was boosted by the addition of Zekiye Eglar and Omeljan Pritsak to the faculty. Eglar taught modern Turkish, and Pritsak taught ancient, as well as modern, Turkish along with the comparative grammar of Turkic languages. Another important appointment in the area of language studies was Sinasi Tekin in 1965. Initially he taught modern Turkish but subsequently has expanded his offerings to include Ottoman paleography and several textual studies. After Pritsak retired, Tekin took over the teaching of several Turkic languages, including Old Uyghur, Kokturk, and Uzbek. Dr. Tekin also for years has been editing and publishing the Journal of Turkish Studies., one of the most important western journals in the field of Turkish studies

Turkish and Ottoman studies expanded into other disciplines at the University with several important appointments during the 1960s and 1970s. Among these were: Annemarie Schimmel, who taught courses on Turkish literature, including Mysticism, Mevlana, and Yunus Emre; and Nur Yalman, whose specialty is Middle Eastern social anthropology. In the 1980s, Tosun Aricanli joined the faculty and taught courses on the economy and social history of the Ottoman empire and Republican Turkey. Subsequently, Gülru Necipoglu, an art historian working on the history of Ottoman art and architecture, was appointed professor in the Fine Arts Department.

In 1997, a generous grant by the Koc family of Turkey made it possible to establish the first endowed professorship at Harvard, and one of the very few in the USA, devoted to Turkish studies.

Today, Harvard continues to attract eminent scholars and teachers in a wide range of disciplines related to Turkish and Ottoman studies. The most important recent development was the appointment of Cemal Kafadar, a member of the History Department since 1990, as the Vehbi Koç Professor of Turkish Studies in 1998. Professor Kafadar has reintroduced regular courses in Ottoman history at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Also, in recent years, the directors of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), Professors Roy Mottahedeh, Edward Keenan, William Graham and Roger Owen have been emphasizing the central position of Ottoman studies in a complete and balanced program of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. Harvard’s resources in Turkish Studies now cover a wide range of disciplines, including those already mentioned, and the following: Turkic linguistics and language; Muscovite-Tatar relations and Tatar diplomacy; sociology of Turkish immigrants in Europe; and medical anthropology relating to this region.

With support from the Mellon Foundation, Harvard has taken the lead in creating innovative programs for teaching Turkish in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. For example, Engin Sezer has developed the draft of an elementary text book for Turkish, which is used by his first-year classes. Other projects in progress include a graded exercise book, a booklet of Turkish poems arranged in order of increasing grammatical complexity with a glossary, audio-visual materials, and collections of selected readings for upper-intermediate and advanced-level courses. Professor Sinasi Tekin has also developed a summer school for Ottoman language instruction in Ayvalik, Turkey. In addition, Wheeler Thackston, a professor of Persian, also offers a course on Chagatay prose at Harvard.

The Islamic Legal Studies Program (ILSP), established at the Harvard Law School in 1991, offers courses in the fields of Islamic law and the laws of Muslim countries. The Program, directed by Professor Frank E. Vogel, sponsors a number of research fellows annually and undertakes speaker series, conferences and research projects involving faculty, fellows and students. Its courses are open by cross-registration to students from throughout the University. While the Program does not offer any specialized degree or certificate in Islamic law, it assists students wishing to concentrate their studies in Islamic law and related fields to achieve their goals through coursework. The Program works closely with other parts of the University, and welcomes the participation of students and scholars from throughout the University and the local academic community.

A measure of the progress of Turkish studies at Harvard since Albert Howe Lybyer wrote his famous doctoral dissertation on Süleyman the Magnificent in 1909 is the number of graduate students now following in his footsteps and concentrating in these fields. During the past few years, the number of Ph.D. candidates researching Ottoman and Turkish history, art and culture has increased, and fully a third of the graduate students entering the M.A. program in regional studies at CMES focus on the area as well. In addition, a number of graduate students in other parts of the University who have an unofficial affiliation with the Center are also studying Turkish language, culture, and history. Equally important is the steady increase in undergraduate enrollments in Turkish language and area studies courses (including enrollments of over 100 in one of Professor Necipoglu’s courses)-a sure sign that Turkish Studies is becoming a more significant component of Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard.

Research and Art Collections

Turkish and Ottoman art and manuscripts figure prominently in the collections of the Harvard Art Museums and the Harvard University Libraries. Harvard’s small but magnificent collection of Islamic and later Indian art is housed at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. It comprises a broad range of works, from Samanid pottery and Mamluk calligraphy to Qajar lacquers and Ottoman textiles. The Harvard Art Museums are fortunate to hold part of the Edwin Binney III collection, the largest private collection of Ottoman/Turkish art in North America. (The remainder of the collection is housed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts.) Included in the collection at the Sackler Museum are works from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries: miniature paintings and calligraphies; portraits of Ottoman sultans; an illuminated ferman (decree); illustrations from Persian classics; elaborately decorated book-bindings and illustrated manuscripts; and Ottoman textiles (pieces of cut velvet and colored embroidery), metalwork, and ceramics (brilliantly-colored tiles and dishes). The collection is displayed in thematically-oriented exhibitions in the Islamic Gallery on the second floor of the Sackler Museum. For further information about the Department of Islamic and Later Indian Art, please call (617) 495-3345.

The Harvard College Library, particularly the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, also has a large collection of books and manuscripts in Ottoman and Turkish languages, ancient and modern, and related subjects. Specifically, the Library holds 23,000 books in Turkish and Ottoman Turkish, 8,000 in the languages of Inner Asia, primarily Turkic languages, and over 3,500 books about Inner Asia. Because many divisions of the Library acquire and catalog books about Turkey in English and other languages, their number is more difficult to estimate. The Harvard Map Collection holds 91 maps of Turkey, and Houghton Library has 37 Ottoman Turkish manuscripts. Another media resource includes 59 videos in Turkish held in the Widener Library. In total, Harvard’s collection of Turkish-language materials is one of the largest in the United States. The collection is searchable online through the Harvard OnLine Library Information System (HOLLIS Plus), which also offers access to other online research tools.

One book fund in particular, the Goelet Fund for Turkish and Central Asian Collections, has been in used by the Middle Eastern Division of Harvard College Library since 1991 to acquire books from Turkey, the republics of formerly Soviet Central Asia, and the Sinkiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China. The books are primarily in Turkish, Uzbek, Kirghiz, Kazakh, Uighur, and Kurdish; a few are in Russian and Western European languages.

Photography/ Text © http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~turkish/about_turkish_studies.html

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

University of Washington - OTAP

OTAP is a cooperative international project employing computer technology and the resources of the World Wide Web to make transcribed Ottoman texts and resources for understanding Ottoman texts broadly accessible to international audiences.

OTAP is jointly sponsored by the University of Washington in Seattle and Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey under the direction of Professor Walter G. Andrews (U.W.) and Professor Mehmed Kalpaklı (Bilkent). The project has been supported by the Center for Advanced Research and Technology in the Arts and Humanities at the University of Washington, the Halil İnalcık Center for Ottoman Studies at Bilkent University, the Institute of Turkish Studies, and the University of Washington Royalty Research Fund. OTAP has an Advisory Board made up of 8 renown international scholars and an outstanding group of 6 experienced technical consultants. Our growing group of participating scholars now numbers over fifty and includes members from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and North America.

The core task of OTAP is the Web publication of transcribed Ottoman texts in searchable, analyzable form but the project also acts as a resource and umbrella for several related projects.

The Ottoman Historical Dictionary (OHD) is an electronic, on-line historical dictionary of the Ottoman language. It is still in the planning stages under the direction of an experienced and highly-regarded lexicographer, Prof. Semih Tezcan of Bamberg University in Germany. The dictionary will use Archive materials and materials collected for Prof. Tezcan’s Old Anatolian Turkish project to create a dictionary containing historically accurate definitions supported by examples on the general model of the Oxford English Dictionary. No comparable resource exists for Ottoman Turkish.

The Bio-bibliographical Database of Ottoman Literature (BIDOL) is an encyclopedia providing information about Ottoman authors and their works. Prof. Gottfried Hagen of the University of Michigan is in the process of developing the database structure for this project, which will encompass and expand upon the metadata core of the Archive. It will eventually provide a unmatched resource for information about knowledge production in the Ottoman Empire.

The Critical Texts Group headed by Prof. Mustafa İsen of Başkent University in Ankara, Turkey, this group is conducting a survey of Ottoman manuscripts (of which there are approximately 600,000 in Turkish libraries and many thousands in Europe and the U.S.) in order to create a prioritized list of manuscripts to be transcribed and edited for publication in the Archive. No similar list exists today.

Contacts

Walter Andrews
Near Eastern Languages and Civilization
Box 353120
229 Denny Hall
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington 98195
walter@u.washington.edu
http://faculty.washington.edu/walter

Photography/ Text © http://courses.washington.edu/otap/otap_en/index.shtml

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Islamic University Rotterdam -Faculty of Islamic Arts

The Faculty of Arts has been launched during the academic year 2001-2002. The lectures start in the very near future. The faculty of Arts has as objective to teach Islamic Arts such as Calligraphy in terms of their characteristics and developments throughout the Islamic history.

This faculty offers programs of study leading to the Bachelor Degree of Arts, Master Degree of Arts and Ph.D. Degree in Islamic Arts. A new system is established in the near future in this faculty. Students willing to follow their study at the Faculty of Islamic Arts need to pass an “entry” exam successfully but they do not need to take courses at the Institute of Islam. They can register at this institute to prepare for their major and/or get university-required courses.

IUR
Bergsingel 135, 3037 GC Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (10) 4854721 Fax: +31 (10) 4843147
E-mail: info@islamicuniversity.nl

Photograph/ Text © http://www.islamicuniversity.nl/en/showcontent.asp?id=106

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation London

Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation was established in London in 1988 by the Yamani Cultural and Charitable Foundation. It is housed in a historic Jacobean manor: Eagle House. The Foundation has as its aim the documentation and preservation of the Islamic written heritage. It is pursuing this aim principally through its work in surveying, cataloguing, editing and publishing Islamic manuscripts.

Islamic manuscripts are estimated to number three million, covering subjects as diverse as the Quran, Prophetic traditions, jurisprudence, logic and philosophy, as well as mathematics, botany, biology, poetry and literature, and art and crafts. Nowadays these manuscripts are not the exclusive preserve of Arab and other Muslim countries, or even of countries with large Muslim minorities. Manuscripts are found extensively in Europe, the Americas, Japan, Australia and Africa. There is hardly a country that does not possess some manuscripts produced under the aegis of the Muslim civilisation.

This large and important resource is, tragically, in great danger of being damaged or even lost forever. Political conflict, social upheaval or merely natural causes - whenever and wherever there is a lack of resources essential for its maintenance and preservation, this heritage is in danger.

Al-Furqan Foundation is committed to mobilising every available expertise to preserve these manuscripts and to restore their content to the cultural mainstream.

The Library

The Library was founded by HE Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani in 1991.

The Collection

The Library is intended to serve students of the Islamic heritage, and specifically those undertaking research into Islamic Manuscripts. It houses approximately 14,000 volumes: a rich collection of bibliographies, Arab and Muslim biographies, catalogues of manuscript collections in some 90 countries and a diverse collection of books in Islamic studies, philosophy, science, history, art and Sufism as well as Arabic language and literature.The Library subscribes to 20 specialist periodicals

Manuscript Holdings

Although the Library does not collect manuscripts, it holds microfilms and CD-ROMs for some thousands of manuscripts in the Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Bosnian and Indonesian languages.

Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation
Eagle House, High Street, Wimbledon
London SW19 5EF
Email: info@al-furqan.com
Tel: +44 20 8944 1233
Fax: +44 20 8944 1633

Photograph/ Text ©http://www.al-furqan.com/

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation was established by Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian’s will dated 1953 and founded in July 1956.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Collection comprises some 6000 pieces. The Museum houses on the permanent exhibition galleries 1000 of its most representative works. A short selection choice of the most outstanding pieces in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum belonging to different sections are presented here.

Calouste Gulbenkian’s interest in artistic production from Persia, Turkey, Syria, the Caucasus and India, dating from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, is very much in evidence here. The numerous objects on display include carpets, fabrics, illuminated manuscripts, book bindings, mosque lamps, painted tiles and ceramics, namely from Iznik.

The Library

The Art Library, formerly named General Library and subsequently General Library of Art was created in 1968 with the aim of gathering the collections of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Initially its holdings supported the collection and activities of the Gulbenkian Museum, and included the private library of Calouste Gulbenkian formed by about 3000 titles.

Address:
Av. de Berna 45A
1067-001 Lisboa Codex
Tel: 21 7823000
Fax: 21 7823032

Photograph/Text © Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

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The Middle East Librarians Association

The Middle East Librarians Association is a private, non-profit, non-political organization of librarians and others interested in those aspects of librarianship which support the study of or dissemination of information about the Middle East. The area signified is considered to include those countries from Morocco through Pakistan as well as other areas formerly included in the Arab, Ottoman, or Mughal empires.

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Universities of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

DOĞU AKDENİZ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
GİRNE AMERİKAN ÜNİVERSİTESİ
LEFKE AVRUPA ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ULUSLARARASI KIBRIS ÜNİVERSİTESİ
YAKINDOĞU ÜNİVERSİTESİ

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Military Akademies of Turkey

GÜLHANE ASKERİ TIP AKADEMİSİ
HAVA HARP OKULU KOMUTANLIĞI
KARA HARP OKULU KOMUTANLIĞI
HAVA ASTSUBAY MESLEK YÜKSEK OKULU
DENİZ HARP OKULU KOMUTANLIĞI

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Foundation Universities in Turkey

ATILIM ÜNİVERSİTESİ
BAHÇEŞEHİR ÜNİVERSİTESİ
BAŞKENT ÜNİVERSİTESİ
BEYKENT ÜNİVERSİTESİ
BİLKENT ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ÇAĞ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ÇANKAYA ÜNİVERSİTESİ
DOĞUŞ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
HALİÇ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
FATİH ÜNİVERSİTESİ
IŞIK ÜNİVERSİTESİ
İSTANBUL BİLGİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
İSTANBUL BİLİM ÜNİVERSİTESİ
İSTANBUL KÜLTÜR ÜNİVERSİTESİ
İSTANBUL TİCARET ÜNİVERSİTESİ
İZMİR EKONOMİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
KADİR HAS ÜNİVERSİTESİ
KOÇ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
MALTEPE ÜNİVERSİTESİ
OKAN ÜNİVERSİTESİ
SABANCI ÜNİVERSİTESİ
TOBB EKONOMİ VE TEKNOLOJİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
UFUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ
YAŞAR ÜNİVERSİTESİ
YEDİTEPE ÜNİVERSİTESİ


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State Universities in Turkey

ABANT İZZET BAYSAL ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ADNAN MENDERES ÜNİVERSİTESİ
AFYON KOCATEPE ÜNİVERSİTESİ
AKDENIZ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
AKSARAY ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ANADOLU ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ANKARA ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ATATÜRK ÜNİVERSİTESİ
BALIKESİR ÜNİVERSİTESİ
BOĞAZİÇİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
BOZOK ÜNİVERSİTESİ
CELAL BAYAR ÜNİVERSİTESİ
CUMHURİYET ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ÇANAKKALE ONSEKİZ MART ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ÇUKUROVA ÜNİVERSİTESİ
DİCLE ÜNİVERSİTESİ
DOKUZ EYLÜL ÜNİVERSİTESİ
DUMLUPINAR ÜNİVERSİTESİ
EGE ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ERCİYES ÜNİVERSİTESİ
FIRAT ÜNİVERSİTESİ
GALATASARAY ÜNİVERSİTESİ
GAZİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
GAZİANTEP ÜNİVERSİTESİ
GAZİOSMANPAŞA ÜNİVERSİTESİ
GEBZE YÜKSEK TEKNOLOJİ ENSTİTÜSÜ
HACETTEPE ÜNİVERSİTESİ
HARRAN ÜNİVERSİTESİ
HİTİT ÜNİVERSİTESİ
İNÖNÜ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
İSTANBUL ÜNİVERSİTESİ
İSTANBUL TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ
İZMİR YÜKSEK TEKNOLOJİ ENSTİTÜSÜ
KAFKAS ÜNİVERSİTESİ
KAHRAMANMARAŞ SÜTÇÜ İMAM ÜNİVERSİTESİ
KARADENİZ TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ
KIRIKKALE ÜNİVERSİTESİ
KOCAELİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
MARMARA ÜNİVERSİTESİ
MEHMET AKİF ERSOY ÜNİVERSİTESİ
MERSİN ÜNİVERSİTESİ
MİMAR SİNAN GÜZEL SANATLAR ÜNİVERSİTESİ
MUĞLA ÜNİVERSİTESİ
MUSTAFA KEMAL ÜNİVERSİTESİ
NAMIK KEMAL ÜNİVERSİTESİ
NİĞDE ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ONDOKUZ MAYIS ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ORTA DOĞU TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ
OSMANGAZİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
PAMUKKALE ÜNİVERSİTESİ
SAKARYA ÜNİVERSİTESİ
SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ
SÜLEYMAN DEMİREL ÜNİVERSİTESİ
TRAKYA ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ULUDAĞ ÜNİVERSİTESİ
YILDIZ TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ
YÜZÜNCÜ YIL ÜNİVERSİTESİ
ZONGULDAK KARAELMAS ÜNİVERSİTESİ

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Approaching Ottoman History. An Introduction to the Sources by Suraiya Faroqhi

Suraiya Faroqhi’s scholarly contribution to the field of Ottoman history has been prodigious. Her latest book represents a summation of that scholarship, an introduction to the state-of-the-art in Ottoman history. In a compelling exploration of the ways that primary and secondary sources can be used to interpret history, the author reaches out to students and researchers in the field and in related disciplines to familiarise them with these documents. By considering both archival and narrative sources, she explains why they were prepared, encouraging her readers to adopt a critical approach to their findings, and disabusing them of the notion that everything recorded in official documents is necessarily true! While the book is essentially a guide to a complex discipline for those about to embark upon their research, the experienced Ottomanist will find much that is original and provocative in its sophisticated interpretation of the field. An innovative approach to history, educating students in the field of research through analysis of the techniques and an understanding of the sources.Faroqhi is one of the most important scholars in the field, and a Press author of long-standing. Book is accessibly written, styled and structured: student accessories include reading lists at the end of each chapter and a carefully chosen bibliography of appropriate sources.

"...an excellent choice for undergraduate classes in such subjects as cultural studies, historiography, and historical sociology. In any field of history, the appearance of such an innovative primer on method would be regarded as a signal pedagogical event. For Ottoman studies, suspended between philology and post-colonial theory, the production of a text of such charm, candor, and utility is nothing short of miraculous." MESA Bulletin

Approaching Ottoman History. An Introduction to the Sources
by Suraiya Faroqhi
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 31, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0521666481
ISBN-13: 978-0521666480


Photograph/ Text © Cambridge University Press. JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes.The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption. JOC has made every reasonable effort to locate, contact and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Sacred: World Faiths Brought to Book

Sacred. This groundbreaking exhibition brings together some of the world's most important and beautiful religious texts for the first time. Exquisite and rare examples of Jewish, Christian and Muslim sacred texts from the Library's collections will be presented alongside treasures on loan from other institutions in a unique and compelling modern context.

Sacred marks the first time that sacred texts from these three faiths will have been displayed and explored together, side by side, in a major UK exhibition. The British Library is one of the world's great treasure-houses for the study of all religions. For Islam, over 300 manuscripts of the Holy Qur'an from all parts of the Muslim world from Spain to China, including one of the oldest surviving copies in the world (from Mecca or Medina, eighth century), as well as commentaries, works on recitation and other Qur'anic sciences, a very large collection of Hadith manuscripts containing the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, as well as a comprehensive collection of Islamic law texts.

Sacred: World Faiths Brought to Book, British Library, London, 27 April – 23 September 2007

The British Library
96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB
Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7332
email: Visitor-Services@bl.uk

Text/Photograph © The British Library Board
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/faiths.html

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Tarih Vakfi - The History Foundation Istanbul

The History Foundation is a non-governmental organization working in the public interest with the objective of developing and extending history consciousness in Turkey. It aims at enriching and lending a new content to the way in which people regard history and at encouraging the conservation of the historical heritage with a deep-rooted sensitivity and active participation of wide sections of the population.

The Economic and Social History Foundation of Turkey is an organization based on the joint initiative of a group of intellectuals of various backgrounds and professions, most of them being historians and social scientists. It was founded by 264 prominent intellectuals in September 1991 followinga call by the Foundation Initiative Committee formed in late 1990.

The History Foundation differs from the great majority of foundations in Turkey in the manner of its establishment and structure. It is a non-governmental organization completely independent of the state and is not backed by any political party, wealthy family or business group. Its initial capital was made of small contributions by its founders. Today, in addition to the revenues from various projects and publications, the History Foundation continues to depend on the generous support of its founders and members.

The History Foundation provides library, archival and bibliographical services through its Information-Documentation Centre (IDC) open daily from 10:00 - 17:00, which specializes in the field of history of the economic and social structure of Turkey and the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries. The centre located at Eminönü, Istanbul, was sponsored by the Municipality of Greater Istanbul, IBM-Turkey; Yapi Merkezi and Zeytinoglu Holding at the initial stages, and by EGSBank in 1999.

The Centre houses one of the richest archives on economic and social history and the daily life of the alte period of the Ottoman Republic as well as the Turkish Republic. Having over 25,000 books and more than 1,300 periodicals, it is open to researchers every weekday. Its holdings also include 20,000 slides, photographs, maps and posters, 1,200 documentary films and video tapes, 130 audio tapes, 700 audio cassettes, hundreds of iconographic materials and 140 shelf-meters of files of documents. Among this archive, the largest book collections have been donated by Necmeddin Sahir Silan, Faik Resit Unat, Sami Nabi Özerdim, Orhan Tuna, Marmara Belediyeler ve Bogazlar Birligi, Ilhami Soysal, Ertugrul Kayihan-Vecdi Seyhun, Arslan Kaynardag, Volkan Ünal, Samet Agaoglu, Ayse Erzan, Hulusi Dosdogru, Talat Halman, Fatma Rezzan Hürmen, Saban Yildiz and Bedi Yazici.

Postal adress:
Tarih Vakfi - History Foundation
Barbaros Bulvari Yildiz Sarayi Arabacilar Dairesi
34349 Besiktas - Istanbul/Turkey
Phone : +90 212 227 37 33 - 227 37 34
Fax : +90 212 227 37 32
E-mail : tarihvakfi@tarihvakfi.org.tr
www.tarihvakfi.org.tr

THE INFORMATION DOCUMENTATION CENTER
Zindankapı Değirmen Sokak No:15
Eminönü - İstanbul/ Turkey
Phone: + 90 (0) 212 513 52 35
Faks: + 90 (0) 212 513 21 77
email: tarihvakfi@tarihvakfi.org.tr
www.tarihvakfi.org.tr

Get direction: Location Map

Text © Tarih Vakfi

JOC provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes.The written permission of the copyright owners and/or holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemption.

Mosques of Istanbul

The mosques of Istanbul represent the splendour of Islamic architecture. Their central domes, rising above the skyline of the city, convey both the ideals and ambitions of powerful Ottoman Sultans and the brilliance of the architects who created them. This book places these buildings in their historical, religious and social context. It traces the evolution of the Ottoman mosque from small, fourteenth century examples in the first Ottoman capitals, Bursa and Edirne, to those built after the capture of Constantinople in 1453, and to the vast centralised structures commissioned by Suleyman the Magnificent in the sixteenth century. The daring experiments in space, light and structure, by Michelangeloís Ottoman contemporary Mimar Sinan make a high point of the book, but the innovations of the Baroque and Neoclassical eras which follow are also fascinating. The author shows how these buildings are set in complexes of social and educational buildings that form the nuclei of neighbourhoods. He also offers. an insight into Ottoman life and the patronage of the sultans and viziers as well as powerful women of the court. With full colour illustrations and a lively, informative text, Mosques of Istanbul is indispensable, both to the visitor and to those wishing to understand Ottoman architecture. The book concludes with maps and itineraries in Istanbul, Bursa and Edirne that lead visitors through carefully planned sequences of mosques by easy and convenient routes.

Mosques of Istanbul by Henry Matthews
Publisher: Scala Publishers (April 15, 2007)
Pub Date: 2007
Edition: 238 x 167 mm ; softcover
Extent: 160 pages
Illustrations: 115 colour, 28 b/w
ISBN: 978 1 85759 307 5
Price: £14.95 / $29.95


Text/Photograph © http://www.scalapublishers.com/index.php

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