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Middle East Studies: Special Collections

Online scriptural sources

Internet Sacred Text Archive: Judaism

  • Tanakh, Talmud, and others

The Babylonian Talmud

  • The Soncino/Jews' College (London) translation

The Peshitta

Internet Sacred Text Archive: Islam

  • Qur'an, Hadith, and others

The Noble Qur'an

  • MSA, USC
  • Three English translations by Yusuf Ali, Pickthall, and Shakir. Commentary by Maududi

The Noble Quran

  • Arabic text with English translations by Shakir and Yusufali; English commentary by Pooya

The Koran

  • University of Michigan Humanities Text Initiative
  • English translation by Shakir

Sunnah and Hadith (MSA, USC)

ALTAFSIR.COM

  • English translation of Tafsir al-Jalalayn and Tafsir Ibn 'Abbas

al-Mizan: an Exegesis of the holy Qur'an by Muhammad Husayn Tabatab'i

Internet Sacred Text Archive: Baha'i

  • Kitab-i Aqdas, and others

Internet Sacred Text Archive: Gnosticism

  • includes Mandaean texts

Internet Sacred Text Archive: Zoroastrianism

  • The Zend-Avesta, and others

Online Sources

American Board Pamphlet Collection

  • DLIR
  • The American Board pamphlet collection was incorporated into the American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) Istanbul Library in January 2011. It contains roughly 1000 brochures, booklets, leaflets, flyers, and off-prints that date from the mid-1800s to the present, with close to one-third from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Approximately 85% of the materials focus on the operations, institutions, or affiliate organizations of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) that were located in Turkey and the Balkans.

Cairo Genizah from the Cambridge Digital Library

JIC: Jews of Islamic Countries Archiving Project (Tel-Aviv University)

The Middle East, 1916-2001: a Documentary Record

  • Texts of important historical and diplomatic documents for the modern Middle East
  • Part of The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy from the Goldman Law Library at Yale Univ.

The Princeton Geniza Project (Princeton Univ.)

The Uysal - Walker Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative (U-W ATON)

The Gertrude Bell Archive

  • Newcastle University
  • Diaries, letters, & photographs

King-Crane Commission Digital Archival Collection
         Oberlin College Archives

Historic Newspaper & Journal Collections

American Board Periodical Collection

  • DLIR

Arabic Newspapers of Ottoman and Mandatory Palestine

The Historical Jewish Press Site     (Tel-Aviv University)

  • "This site contains a collection of Jewish newspapers published in various countries, languages, and time periods. We display digital versions of each newspaper, making it possible to view the papers in their original layout. Full-text search is also available for all content published over the course of each newspaper’s publication."

Historical Periodical Collections from the al-Aqsa Mosque Library

  • 1900-1950
  • preserved by the British Library

Nashriyah: Digital Iranian History

  • Iranian newspapers from the 1950s to the early 2000s
  • Manchester University Library
  • Titles include: Āhangar, Andīshah hā-yi Rastākhīz, Ayandegan, Firdūsī, Ilm va Zindagī, Irān-i Bāstān, Ittihād-i Mardum, Junbish, Kayhan, Khāk va khūn, Mardum-i Irān, Mujāhid, Nabard-i Zindagī, Pighām-i Imrūz, Rāh-i Ārānī, Rāh-i Āzādī, Rāh-i Kārgar, Rāh-i Mujāhid, Rastākhīz, Rastākhīz-i kārgarān, Sugand, Tehran Mosavvar, Ummat

Egyptian Press Archive of CEDEJ

  • provided by Bibliotheca Alexandrina
  • articles taken from 24 daily and weekly Egyptian and Arab newspapers and 11 digital ones.

Gazeteler Veritabanı

  • Turkish newspapers from the late 1800s to early 1960s
  • Ankara University
  • Titles include: Akşam (1929-1964), Cumhuriyet  (1929-1950), Gaye-i Milliye (1921), Hakimiyet-i Milliye (1916-1928), İkdam Gazetesi  (1889-1915),
    Peyam Gazetesi (1913-1914), Servet Gazetesi (1890-1904), Servet-i Fünun (1889-1928), Takvim-i Vekayi (1841-1919), Tanin Gazetesi (1908-1912),
    Tarik Gazetesi (1886-1892), Tercüman-ı Hakikat (1879-1922), Ulus Gazetesi (1935-1937), Vatan Gazetesi (1941), Yeni İstanbul (1949-1950), Yeni Sabah (1939-1950), Zafer (1949-1950), Zaman (1934-1935) [Dates of coverage are approximate]

Early Palestinian Newspapers Collection Index

  • Early 20th century newspapers
  • from the collection of the Peace Library at Givat Haviva
  • Interface in English, Arabic, or Hebrew

Abou Naddara Journal Collection

  • complete newspapers published by Ya'qub Sanu'a from 1878 to 1910 in Egypt

La Presse Francophone d'Égypte numérisée - PFEnum = Digitized Francophone Press in Egypt

  • 62 titles digitized by Centre d'Études Alexandrines (CEAlex) as of Dec. 9, 2015.
  • Titles include: Alexandrie, Reine de la Méditerranée, L'Alexandrin, L'Atelier d'Alexandrie, Le Bosphore égyptien, Bulletin de l'Atelier d'Alexandrie, Bulletin de l'Institut d'Égypte, Bulletin de l’Institut Égyptien, Bulletin de la Société d’Études historiques et géographiques, Bulletin Suisse d'Égypte, Cahiers d'Alexandrie, Cahiers d'histoire égyptienne, Les Cahiers de l'Oasis, Cahiers juifs, Le Canal, La Décade égyptienne, Le Delta, Les Ébauches, L'Économiste Égyptien, Un Effort, L'Égypte Nouvelle, The Egyptian Gazette, L'Égyptienne, Exposition de l'Atelier, catalogue, La Femme Nouvelle, Le Flambeau d'Égypte, La Gazette d'Orient, La Gazette du Caire, L'Illustration égyptienne, L'Illustration Juive, Images, L'Informateur, Josy Journal, Le Journal d'Égypte, Journal des Tribunaux Mixtes, Journal du Commerce et de la Marine, Journal Officiel de Gouvernement Egyptien, Journal Suisse d’Égypte et du Proche-Orient, Le Lien, Loisirs, Le Lotus, Le Messager, Messages d'Orient, Nouvelle Revue d'Égypte, Les Nouvelles, Les Nouvelles (Nouvelle Série), L'Observateur, Le Périscope, Le Phare d'Alexandrie, La Réforme, La Réforme Illustrée, Ma Revue, Revue d'Égypte, Revue des conférences françaises en Orient, La Revue du Caire, la Revue Égyptienne, Revue Égyptienne de Droit International, Revue Internationale d'Égypte, La Revue Médicale de l'Orient, Rialto, La Semaine Égyptienne, L'Union, Valeurs, La Voix de l'Orient,

Arabic and Middle Eastern Electronic Library Journals (AMEEL)

  • journals & official gazettes
  • Yale University Library

 MEMP (Middle East Microforms Project) Collection

  • from the Center for Research Libraries
  • mostly microfilmed newspapers from the Middle East and the Americas
  • some pamphlet material

 

Hathi Trust (Full View)

 Ottoman Turkish Journals  

 Arabic Journals

 Hebrew Journals

Middle East music collections

Arabic Wax Cylinders

  • From the Cylinder Preservation & Digitization Project, UCSB Library's Special Collections 

Golha Project

  • "The Golhā ('Flowers of Persian Song and Music') comprise 1400 radio programs consisting of approximately 886 hours of programs broadcast over a period of 23 years - from 1956 through 1979."

Iraqi Maqam

  • The classical music of Iraq


Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries

  •       check under these countries: Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran,             Israel-Palestine, Kazhakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Yemen; and others as appropriate

Spoken Word

Sirat Bani Hilal

  • The Sirat Bani Hilal Digital Archive is devoted to preserving and making accessible to scholars and the general public original recordings and other documentation concerning the Arabic oral epic poem Sirat Bani Hilal
  • The Archive was created by Prof. Dwight Reynolds and is maintained with support of the American Council of Learned Societies and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ottoman History Podcast

  • Published by PhD students from Georgetown University this collection contains recordings of various lengths on topics related to Ottoman history, politics, and culture (including music)
  • Each podcast is accompanied by selected bibliography on the topic