Readings in the Khalidiyya
Located in Jerusalem, the Khalidiyya Library is arguably the most important manuscript collection in Palestine and one of the most significant family-owned Islamic manuscripts collections in the world. The library’s collection was recently digitized and made available to scholars by the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML). The accessibility of the collection to users around the world will surely open up new avenues for the study of the history and intellectual life of Palestine and the wider region. The HMML also has digitized two other important manuscript collections from Jerusalem: the Āl Budeiri Library and the Library of al-Issaf al-Nashashibi.

CPS will celebrate the new accessibility of these collections in an introductory session on Oct. 5, moderated by Professor Rashid Khalidi. Speakers will include representatives of the Khalidiyya Library and of HMML, who will give an overview of the history and contents of the collection, with the participation of librarians and curators from the Columbia and NYU Libraries.

Speakers
Raja Khalidi, Library Administrator, Khalidi Library
Khader Salameh, Librarian, Khalidi Library
Joshua Mugler, Curator of Islamic Manuscripts, HMML
Nazmi Al Jubeh, Associate Professor of History and Archaeology, Birzeit University
Himmet Taskomur, Senior Preceptor, Harvard University, Ottoman cataloguer
Beshara Doumani, Mahmoud Darwish Chair in Palestinian Studies, Brown University

Moderator
Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University

A short English summary/translation of Khader Salameh’s points from 5 October 2020

The Khalidiyya Library has over 1200 manuscripts, which originally belonged to the personal libraries of different members of the family.

 Some other private family libraries in Jerusalem have not yet been fully catalogued or digitized.

Cataloguing / Categorizing those manuscripts at the Khalidiyya was not an easy task.

What is needed in future:

1)        The creation of an INDEX, which will include and incorporate all 10 Islamic and Arab libraries in Jerusalem and their separate indexes, in order to facilitate access to these manuscripts.

2)        The creation of a full Catalogue of these libraries which is crucial for the development of research.

3)        In the Khalidiyya Library there are personal diaries and correspondence of members of the family in Ottoman, Arabic, French and Farsi. These have not yet been catalogued and categorized or digitized, although a beginning has been made.  

4)        Restoration of many manuscripts, which is a project on its own, and on which some work has already been done.

Advanced registration for this Zoom webinar is required