Research Guides: ICPR 274: History of the Middle East (HC): Primary Sources

Printed Primary Sources

Primary sources can take many different forms. Letters, accounts and other kinds of documents written at the time of an event or era allow a nuanced and detailed understanding of historical issues. Material below explains ways to locate primary sources in Tripod and Worldcat. To find additional primary sources, historical studies in books and journal articles will often offer the best recommendations. Check footnotes and bibliographies for references to material written in the medieval period.

Finding Primary Sources

Primary source translations that are in the Tricollege libraries will often be listed in Tripod under subject words combined with such terms as "sources" "early works to 1800" "correspondence" "interviews" or "personal narratives" For example, the search middle east sources produces books including:

The Arab-Israeli conflict: an introduction and documentary reader
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Presents 70 important and widely cited documents in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Includes an introductory chapter which sets the context for the study of the history of the area from the 19th Century to the present.
The Contemporary Middle East: A Documentary History
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Covers the region since World War I with primary source texts and thematic introductions. The copy at Swarthmore can be borrowed while the one at BMC needs to be used in Canaday Library.
Gender, modernity and liberty: Middle Eastern and Western women's writings: a critical sourcebook
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This pioneering collection provides substantial extracts from Ottoman, Egyptian and British and American writers - each with a biographical and literary introduction - that trace the development of an intellectual, personal and critical dialogue between women over a period of accelerated social change marked by Arab nationalism and Egypt's move to independence, and the establishment of the Turkish Republic at the end of the Ottoman Empire. The role of woman as either guardian of tradition or in the vanguard of change is illuminated in this collection.
The Middle East and North Africa in world politics: a documentary record
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This is a collection of original documents—treaties, government policy papers, oil concessions, party manifestos—relevant to the international affairs of the Middle East. Background sketches accompany each document.
The modern Middle East and North Africa: A history in documents
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This volume offers a compilation of primary sources relating not only to political and diplomatic history but also to social and cultural history.

Online Primary Sources

Confidential Print: Middle East (1812-1969)
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The collection includes primary source documents on Middle Eastern politics, culture, and history from 1812 through 1969, and covers the following countries: Afghanistan, Egypt, Sudan, Persia, Suez Canal, Turkey, Jordan, Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Syria. Documents in the collection include telegrams, treaties, reports, correspondence, and other materials from the Foreign and Colonial Offices of the British government. Note that you need to be on the Swarthmore campus in order to access the database.
Digital National Security Archive (DNSA)
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Contains full text declassified government documents obtained by the National Security Archive covering world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions. Coverage from post-World War II to present. A search for Lebanon, for example, yields over 1500 documents beginning in 1945.

Harvard Iranian Oral History Project
The collection consists of the personal accounts of 134 individuals who played major roles in or were eyewitnesses to important political events in Iran from the 1920s to the 1980s. Of these, 118 narratives have been digitized and are available to researchers through this database. The collection provides scholars and practitioners the opportunity to listen to and read the personal accounts of many of Iran's former political leaders as they recall the times and events that shaped their lives and the life of their country.
King-Crane Commission Collection
In 1919 a delegation under the leadership of Oberlin College President Henry Churchill King and Chicago businessman Charles R. Crane travelled to areas of the former Ottoman territories. Their mission was to determine the wishes of the people of the region as their future was being determined by the major powers at the Paris Peace Conference.
The Middle East, 1916-2001: A Documentary Record
Primary sources relating to politics and law. The site is maintained by Yale University.
UNISPAL Documents Collection
This United Nations site brings together documents about Israel and Palestine from 1921 to the present.
Women's Worlds in Qajar Iran
"Explore the lives of women during the Qajar era (1796-1925) through a wide array of materials from private family holdings and participating institutions. Women’s Worlds in Qajar Iran provides bilingual access to thousands of personal papers, manuscripts, photographs, publications, everyday objects, works of art and audio materials, making it a unique online resource for social and cultural histories of the Qajar world." - Website

Newspapers

Newspapers published during an historical era can serve as useful primary sources. Papers published in different parts of the world can provide insight into national viewpoints and priorities. The online newspapers below allow for searching by word, phrase, and date.

FBIS Daily Reports
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FBIS Daily Reports issued by the U.S. Government. Translations of broadcast and print news as well as government statements from nations around the world. It is used by the CIA as a principal record of political and historical open source intelligence. It covers the time period from 1941-1996. For more recent years see its continuation, World News Connection which ended in 2013.
New York Times
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Searchable full text of all New York Times papers from the first issue in 1851 to recent years. Choose Proquest from the Find It menu.
Times Digital Archive
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This British newspaper of record began publication in 1785. Haverford has access online from 1985 to the present, but you can search the full time period on the Bryn Mawr or Swarthmore campus.
Washington Post
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Provides full text coverage from 1877 to the present.
Historical Jewish Press
Collection of 145 Jewish newspapers full text in their original languages. Sponsored by the National Library of Israel.

Image Sources

Mosque of Sultan Ahment I (interior, Istanbul) (Wikimedia Commons)

Visual Resources

Arab Image Foundation
Images from early 19th century to the present. Register to view and save full-size images:
http://fai.cyberia.net.lb/

ARTstor
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A digital library that provides access to thousands of digital images derived from a variety of museum, library and archival collections. Images support a variety of disciplines including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design. Coverage varies.

Matson Photograph Collection
The Library of Congress hosts this collection of over 22 thousand photographs, mostly coming from Palestine (Israel and the West Bank), 1898-1946.
Sources for Historical Photographs of the Middle East
Resource list of archives and museums with digital collections. put together by the Library of Congress.