Middle East & Islamic Studies: Finding primary sources
Newspaper archives
- Afghan Central PressArchive of four Afghan daily newspapers: Anīs, (انیس) (1942-2020); Hewād, (هیواد)
(1991-2020); Iṣlāḥ (اصلاح) (1942-2020); and Kabul Times (1962-2020). - African Newspapers: The British Library CollectionIncludes 64 19th century African newspapers, collected by the British Library, covering the entire continent and including Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Morocco, Saint Helena, Sierra Leone, and South Africa.
- Al-Ahram Digital ArchiveAl-Ahram (الأهرام, “The Pyramids”) is Egypt’s premier national daily and one of the most prominent Arabic newspapers in the Middle East.
- Cumhuriyet Digital ArchiveOldest Turkish independent daily newspaper, published 1924-present in Istanbul.
- Historical Jewish PressA collection of digitized Jewish newspapers published in various countries, languages, and time periods.
- Kavkaz Digital ArchiveRussian-language imperial newspaper devoted to the Caucasus, published 1846-1918 in Tbilisi (Tiflis), Georgia.
- Middle Eastern & North African NewspapersThe Middle Eastern & North African Newspapers collection includes 25 publications (mostly in Arabic) from Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, and Iraq. With issues dating from 1902 to 1972, key topics include the decline of colonialism, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Suez Crisis, the Cold War, the rise of the petroleum industry, twentieth-century pan-Arab movements, both World Wars, the establishment of the state of Israel, the Iran-Iraq War.
- Slovo Kyrgyzstana Digital ArchiveRussian-language Kyrgyz newspaper, published in Bishkek, 1925-present. In 1927-1991 under the title Советская Киргизия it was the official newspaper of the of the Communist Party of the Kirgiz SSR.
- South Asian Newspapers via Global Press ArchiveIncludes access to 2 newspapers from Bangladesh, the Eastern Examiner (1962-1973) and Pakistan Observer (1962-1971), and 2 newspapers from Pakistan, the Daily Business Post (Karachi) (1963-1973) and the Lahore Chronicle (1850-1868).
- Southeast Asian Newspapers via Global Press ArchivesIncludes access to 24 Indonesian newspapers in Arabic, Dutch, Indonesian and Javanese, primarily from late 19th and early 20th century, but with some titles as early as 1868 and as late as 1976.
Tribune (Lahore, Pakistan)
- 1881-1922 via Readex South Asian Newspapers
- Jan-Mar 1923; Jun 1923-Dec 2,1936; 1938-1946; Jul-Sep 1963 via CRL
- Turkmenskaia iskra Digital ArchiveТуркменская искра ("The Turkmen Spark") was a Russian-language official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan, published 1924-1995 in Ashgabat. It was succeeded by Нейтральный Туркменистан ("Neutral Turkmenistan").
Newswires, broadcast transcripts etc.
- Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily ReportsArchive of transcripts from the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), the mission of which was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories, many of which are first-hand reports of events as they occurred.
- Joint Publications Research Service ReportsEnglish translations of foreign-language monographs, reports, serials, journal articles, newspaper articles, and radio and television broadcasts from regions throughout the world, with an emphasis on communist and third world countries. These reports cover interdisciplinary topics in science, economics, health, political culture, international relations and the military.
- MideastwireMideastwire provides translated briefs covering some of the key political, cultural, economic and opinion pieces appearing in the media of the 22 Arab countries, Iran and the Arab Diaspora.
Colonial & Neocolonial Archives: British documents
Materials in these collections comprise colonial administration, diplomatic, foreign policy, and intelligence documents drawn primarily from the British archives. These materials present a Western view of the region in the context of colonial occupation, neocolonialism, and Cold War competition.
- Afghanistan in 1919: The Third Anglo-Afghan WarAfghan War Diary reports of the British Army Headquarters in India on the conflict between the Emirate of Afghanistan and British and Indian forces, sourced from the British Library.
- British Cabinet Papers, 1915-1980Core records of the British Cabinet from 1915 to 1980 have been digitised, and their full text is searchable online from these web pages. These include: conclusions of Cabinet meetings, Cabinet memoranda, Cabinet Secretary's notebooks, and the Cabinet Office precedent books.
- British Campaign in Mesopotamia, 1914-1918British Army documents from the India Office Military Department on the failed British campaign against Turkey for colonial control of Iraq during World War I, sourced from the British Library.
- Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966“Provides scholars with unprecedented electronic access to the United Kingdom’s Colonial, Dominion and Foreign Offices’ confidential correspondence relating to Africa between 1834 and 1966. This resource provides researchers with a searchable collection of scores of official documents covering almost the entire period of European conquest and colonisation of Africa. The early stages of imperial expansion and indigenous resistance in the interior of western and southern Africa, the European scramble for the continent in the late nineteenth century and the expansion of settler colonialism in southern and eastern Africa are all covered.”
Note: Archives Direct resources are optimized for use within the following browsers: Internet Explorer 7 and above, and the latest releases of Firefox and Safari.
In order to see this content you will need Adobe PDF Viewer installed and enabled.
If you are using Google Chrome the standard Google PDF viewer will need to be disabled: Type ‘about:plugins’ into Chrome’s omnibox and press enter. Click ‘disable’ where it appears underneath Adobe PDF Plugin (Adobe Acrobat). - Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969"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."
- Documents on British Policy OverseasDocuments on British Policy Overseas contains three primary source collections from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office: British Documents on the Origins of War (1898-1914), Documents on British Foreign Policy (1918-1939), and Documents on British Policy Overseas (1946-present).
- East India CompanyIndia Office Records from the British Library, London, containing royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other primary sources documenting the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1599 to 1947. Includes Factory Records for South Asia, South-East Asia, China, Japan, and the Middle East.
- Empire OnlineCovers 500 years of the rise and fall of empires, this features a wide variety of material, including exploration journals & logs; correspondence; periodicals; diaries; government papers; missionary papers; travel writing; slave papers; memoirs; fiction; children's adventure stories; folk tales; exhibition catalogs; maps; marketing posters; photographs; and illustrations, with many in color.
- The Expansion of Wahhabi Power in Arabia, 1798-1932This collection of British government documents details the importance of the Wahhabi tradition in the power politics of Saudi Arabia. The 5,500-page collection of facsimile original documents offers access to primary source material on this topic rarely available outside the British archives.
- Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980Collection of files from Great Britain's Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and Dominions Office focusing on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as frontier regions such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Kashmir.
- Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981Collection of files from Great Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office providing in-depth analyses, annual reviews, ministerial minutes, personality profiles and correspondence regarding conflicts, arms sales and the UK's commercial interest in the Middle East.
- Foreign Office files for Southeast Asia, 1963-1980Foreign Office files for Southeast Asia, 1963-1980, sourced from the following material classes from the National Archives, UK: FO 371, FCO 15, FCO 24, DO 169, DO 187. Highlights include materials on the Cobbold Commission, the end of the Malayan Emergency and tensions between Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as rising animosity towards the perceived threat of communism at this time.
- India, Raj and EmpireFrom the South Asian manuscript collections of the National Library of Scotland, this resource documents the history of South Asia in the 17th-19th centuries through journals, official and private papers, letters, sketches, paintings and original Indian documents.
- The Iran-Iraq border, 1840-1958A collection of British Government files regarding the Iran-Iraq border. Included are treaty texts in facsimile and detailed accounts of negotiations between British, Russian, Turkish, Persian and Iraqi sides.
Languages: English - Iran political diaries, 1881-1965A comprehensive series of British political reports on Iran. Topics include the Anglo-Russian agreement; telegraph and the railway development; the relationship between the Shah and the religious classes; border politics; Constitutional Revolution of 1906; the founding of the Imperial Bank; the D´Arcy oil concession; and the oil nationalization crisis of 1951.
- Middle East Online: Arab-Israeli Relations, 1917-1970Documents of the British Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office, and Cabinet Papers dealing with British colonial occupation of Palestine, the creation of the State of Israel, the Palestinian Naqba, and British foreign policy and diplomacy towards Israel and the Arab states, sourced from the UK National Archives.
- The Middle East Online: Iraq, 1914-1974Documents of the British Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office, and Cabinet Papers dealing with the British colonial occupation of Iraq and British foreign policy and diplomacy towards Iraq, Iran, and the Gulf countries, sourced from the UK National Archives.
- The Persian Gulf administration reports, 1873-1947A collection of British documents regarding the development of the modern Persian gulf. Topics include biographical sketches of rulers, pearl industry, date cultivation, fisheries, oil exploration, education, and healthcare.
Colonial & Neocolonial Archives: United States Documents
Materials in these collections comprise colonial administration, diplomatic, foreign policy, and intelligence documents drawn primarily from the United States archives. These materials present a Western view of the region in the context of colonial occupation, neocolonialism, and Cold War competition.
- Aden: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1880-1906Documents of the U.S. Consulate in Aden, Yemen, pertaining to independence movements from British and Ottoman Turkish colonial occupation, sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State, U.S. National Archives.
- Afghanistan and the U.S., 1945-1963: Records of the U.S. State Department Central Classified FilesU.S. diplomatic reports on Afghanistan in the context of the Soviet-American competition in the region during the Cold War, sourced from the U.S. National Archives.
- The British Mandate in Palestine, Arab-Jewish Relations, and the U.S. Consulate at Jerusalem, 1920-1944This collection consists of correspondence and telegrams received and sent by the American consular post in Jerusalem from the period of British colonial occupation of Palestine, sourced from the U.S. National Archives.
- The Cyprus Crisis in 1967U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic documents, 1963-1967, dealing with conflict between Turkish Cypriot paramilitary formations and Greek Cypriot government forces, and the roles of the U.S., Turkey, the United Nations and NATO in the conflict, sourced from the U.S. National Archives.
- Democracy in Turkey, 1950-1959: Records of the U.S. State Department Classified FilesU.S. foreign policy and diplomatic documents on Turkey in the context of the Cold War, including reports on political and economic affairs, sourced from U.S. National Archives.
- Egypt: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1853-1959U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic documents on Egypt from the periods of Ottoman and British colonial occupation and the early years of independence, sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State, U.S. National Archives. Includes dispatches from consulates in Cairo, Port Said, and Alexandria.
- Foreign Relations of the United StatesThe Foreign Relations of the United States series is the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication.
- The French Mandate in The Lebanon, Christian-Muslim Relations, and the U.S. Consulate at Beirut, 1919-1935This collection consists of correspondence and telegrams received and sent by the American consular post in Beirut from the period of French colonial occupation of Lebanon, sourced from the U.S. National Archives.
- George H. W. Bush and Foreign Affairs: The Middle East Peace Conference in MadridMaterials from 1981-1993 related to the planning and organization of the October 1991 Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid, focused on U.S. role in the Israeli-Palestinian relations and in Middle Eastern affairs more generally, sourced from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library.
- Iran (Persia): Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1883-1959U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic documents on Iran as well as British and Russian imperial ambitions in the region, sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State, U.S. National Archives.
- Iraq: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1888-1944U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic documents on Iraq, British colonial occupation, and independence, sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State, U.S. National Archives.
- Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Trans-Jordan: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1836-1944U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic documents on the region and its Ottoman Turkish, British and French colonial occupation, sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State, U.S. National Archives.
- Palestine and Israel: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1945-1959U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic documents tracing the role of the United States in the creation of the state of Israel, in the Palestinian Naqba, and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on the region, sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State, U.S. National Archives.
- The Persian Gulf States and Yemen, 1950-1959U.S. State Department Central Classified Files on Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the "Trucial Sheikhs" (future United Arab Emirates), and Yemen, sourced from the U.S. National Archives.
- Records of the Persian Gulf WarBush White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) Subject Files and the Staff and Office Files, 1990-1991, on the United States military and diplomatic response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, sourced from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library.
- Reports of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry Palestine, 1944-1946Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry reference files, evidence submitted to the committee, transcripts of hearings, reports, and papers of the Anglo-American Cabinet Committee on the situation of Jewish survivors in Europe and the problems connected with their resettlement in Palestine, sourced from the U.S. National Archives.
- Saudi Arabia: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1930-1959U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic documents on Saudi Arabia, sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State, U.S. National Archives. This archive divides into two distinct parts: the first part, 1930-1944, documents the formation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; the second part, 1955-1959, illustrates the U.S. view of the day-to-day workings of the Kingdom in the context of the Cold War.
- U.S. and Iraqi Relations: U.S. Technical Aid, 1950-1958Digitized version of the Primary Source Media microfilm collection entitled Records of U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, 1948-1961: U.S. Operations Mission in Iraq, 1950-1958, comprised of documents of the Point Four program in Iraq during the early Cold War period, sourced from the U.S. National Archives.
- U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009Consists of 189 documents edited by Matthew M. Aid "... on the U.S. intelligence ... in the Arab world, including the Middle East, the Near East, and North Africa. It covers the time period from the end of World War II to the present day, up until the 2002-2003 Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) assessments, the Global War on Terror, the Iraq War, and Iran's nuclear program."
- U.S. Middle East Peace Policy and America's Role in the Middle East Peace Process, 1991-1992George H.W. Bush Presidential Records from a variety of White House offices dealing with the administration's policies on Israel and Palestine, sourced from the George H.W. Bush Library.
- U.S. Operations Mission to Saudi Arabia, 1950-1955: Correspondence and Subject Files of the Office of the DirectorCorrespondence files of the U.S. Operations Mission in Saudi Arabia during the early Cold War period, as well as the Subject Files of the office of the Director documenting the U.S. economic and technical assistance programs and security activities, sourced from the U.S. National Archives.
Rare books and manuscripts
- Early Arabic Printed Books from the British LibraryThe first module of the fully searchable Early Arabic Printed Books. This module includes books in Islamic literature, Christian literature, and Islamic law.
- Hebrew Manuscripts from Cambridge Digital LibrarySelection of Cambridge University Library's Hebrew Manuscripts Collection, including the Nash Papyrus, Illuminated Hebrew Bible (Pentateuch and Hagiographa), the Mishnah, talmudic commentaries, and prayer books.
- Islamic Manuscription from Cambridge Digital LibrarySelection from Cambridge University Library's collection of Islamic manuscripts, including the full collection of the earliest Qurʼānic manuscripts copied during the first four Centuries of Islam; a complete illustrated Qur'an and a number of very early fragments dating back to the first centuries of the Islamic calendar; the only extant copy of Kitāb al-tawḥīd,; and works on science and some illustrated examples of Persian literature.
- KhizanaBio-bibliographical reference work on agents and works related to Arabic manuscripts, focusing on the period between the 12th and the 19th centuries CE. A project of Biblioteca Arabica from the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig.
- Manuscripts of the Islamic World from Princeton University LibraryA selection of digitized Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish manuscripts from Princeton University Library, including the Badakhshan Genealogical Document Collection, the al-Madani Library, the Yemeni Manuscripts Digitization Initiative, and Illuminated Manuscripts.
Music
- GharamophoneAn archive of 78 rpm records focusing on Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian Jewish vocalists and instrumentalists and their contribution to the various Arabic-language musical forms of North Africa.
- GolhaAn archive of the Golha radio programmes, which were broadcast on Iranian National Radio from 1956 through 1979. They comprised approximately 850 hours of programmes made up of literary commentary with the declamation of poetry, which is also sung with musical accompaniment, interspersed with solo musical pieces.
- MaqamWorldProject dedicated to teaching the Arabic Maqam modal system, which is the foundation of traditional Arabic music. Mainly covers music from the Eastern Mediterranean part of the Arab World (Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria), with a focus on the early to mid-twentieth century period.
- Syrian Cassette ArchivesAn initiative to preserve, share and research sounds and stories from Syria’s abundant cassette era (1970s-2000s).
Connect with us
