Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae

Posted on by
Comment

Launched in 2013, Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae (CMO) is a 12-years long project based in the University of Münster that focuses on publishing critical editions of 19th century Near Eastern music manuscripts and more specifically Ottoman music manuscripts. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and relies on collaborations with Istanbul University Research Institute of Turkology (İstanbul Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü), Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music Conservatory (İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi Türk Musikisi Devlet Konservatuarı), Bilkent University Department of Turkish Literature (Bilkent Üniversitesi Türk Edebiyatı Bölümü). Technical infrastructure and support for digital publishing is provided by the German Institutes of Humanities Abroad (MaxWeber Foundation) in Bonn.

“These sources are of prime importance both for musicological research and for the broader cultural history of the Ottoman Empire. They offer the opportunity to uncover forgotten repertoire, to shed new light on Ottoman sung poetry, and to contribute towards a diverse, multidisciplinary history of the urban culture of the region.“

https://www.uni-muenster.de/CMO-Edition/en/cmo/cmo.html

“Hampartsum” (or “Hamparsum”) notation

The main notation system used to record the music of Ottoman Istanbul as of the beginning of the 19th century, was developed by the Ottoman Armenian composer Hambarjum Limōnčean (Tr. Hamparsum Limonciyan, 1768–1839) and named after him: “Hampartsum” (or “Hamparsum”). “This notation system was well adapted to the modal and rhythmic principles of Ottoman music, and was used by both Armenian and Muslim–Turkish musicians throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. If “Hampartsum” was the dominant system throughout the 19th century, the European staff notation system was also used as demonstrated by a large number of manuscripts written in both notation systems.

Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae aims to publish critical editions of manuscripts of Ottoman music written in Hampartsum notation as well as of manuscripts written in staff notation during the same period. The project will produce parallel editions of song texts found in manuscripts, and populate the comprehensive online source catalogue of printed and manuscript sources for Ottoman music to provide a major resource for researchers and performers.

The critical Editions of music manuscripts section allows visitors to browse editions and access a list of abbreviations. Edition guidelines are expected to become available soon. The Source catalogue allows visitors to browse music pieces and song texts by source, Makâm (i.e. mode), Usûl (rythmic cycle), Genre and Incipit.

Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae also developed a number of guidelines and tools to facilitate the critical editions of Ottoman music manuscripts written in Hampartsum notation. Among those, we find Guidelines for the transcription of the Ottoman Lyrics from Arabic into Latin Characters, a list of Standard musical terms, Truetype fonts for Hampartsum-notation, and A note on terms and translitteration.

In 2017, CMO published the proceedings of an international conference on “Rythmic Cycles and Structures in the Art Music of the Middle East” held in 2014 at the University of Münster. The volume named after the conference can be purchased from the publisher.

Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae website is available in German, English and Turkish.

Sursock Museum

Posted on by
Comment

Located in Beirut, the Sursock Museum houses modern and contemporary art and is known for its distinctive architecture, built in 1912, featuring Lebanese architecture with Venetian and Ottoman influences.

This rich architectural heritage, once the private villa of Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock, was transformed into a museum in 1961 according to his will.

The Sursock Museum aims to preserve and safeguard the collective memory of Beirut, as it has witnessed various historic events and conflicts over time. The most recent event it has endured was the explosion at the Port of Beirut in 2020.

The Sursock Museum also aims to provide a platform for critical thinking, debates, and learning through various means such as collaborating with Lebanese artists in curating exhibitions, creating publications, and maintaining a library and permanent collection.

Exhibition: Je suis inculte! The Salon d’Automne and the National Canon, Curated by Natasha Gasparian and Ziad Kiblawi
26 May 2023 to 15 May 2025 Collection
Exhibition: Sympoietic Fabrics, Charbel Samuel Aoun, 29 February 2024 to 25 August 2024,Twin Galleries, GF

Numerous exhibitions have been held at the museum, showcasing both international and Lebanese artists, including Abboud and Amine el Bacha. Additionally, the museum offers access to modern and contemporary art collections as well as Islamic art. “The collection consists of over 800 artworks, including paintings, sculptures, and graphic arts from the 19th and 20th centuries.”

Their collection page presents some of the artworks and provides details about them, including the artist’s name, date of creation, and more.

Accessible collection via the Museum pages are:

The Sursock Museum’s collection of modern and contemporary art is comprised of works by predominantly Lebanese artists, from the late 1800s to the early 2000s.”

The Oriental collection comprises Islamic and late Ottoman artworks, as well as textiles, carpets, and icons.”

The special collections include a series of Japanese woodcut prints gifted to the Sursock Museum by the Embassy of Japan in Lebanon following an exhibition at the Museum in 1966.”

Along with his 19th century mansion, Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock’s waqf covers a collection of furniture and objects he had collected or been gifted from various destinations.”

The Sursock Museum is home to The Fouad Debbas Collection, a photographic collection comprising over 30,000 images from the Middle East, from 1830 till the 1960s.”

In the exhibition section, a list of past and present displays can be explored, with detailed information about each exhibition provided.

In addition to its collections and exhibitions, the Sursock Museum has a library and archive that collect, preserve, and make accessible local and regional art historical research for students, researchers, curators, and the wider public. The library holds about 4,000 books. While the books are only accessible on-site, the library catalog can be accessed and downloaded from the museum’s website.

In conclusion, the Sursock Museum through its diverse collections, exhibitions, and educational initiatives, continues to be an important platform for artistic expression, historical preservation, and cultural dialogue.

Corpus Coranicum

Posted on by
Comment

Corpus Coranicum is a European platform supporting scholarship on the Qur’an. Initiated in 2007 by Islamic studies scholar and Qur’anic studies Professor Angelika Neuwirth, the project is today directed by Michael Marx from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Primarily funded by the German federal government and the federal state of Brandenburg, Corpus Coranicum received external funding from French-German projects Coranica and Paleocoran between 2010 and 2018.

“Corpus Coranicum takes the long overdue step of systematically analysing of the oldest Qur’anic manuscripts as well as documenting the variant readings of the Qur’an within the Islamic literature.” 

https://corpuscoranicum.de/en/about/research

The main goal of Corpus Coranicum is to study the historical context in which the Qur’an emerged and developed, and its impacts on the Qur’anic text. To do so, the research team analyses the oldest manuscripts and documents variant readings within the Islamic literature. The first part of the project involved creating a database of digitized manuscripts and building the tools necessary for their analysis (transliteration system, font-type, guidelines on describing and dating manuscripts, etc.). Further developments included a multilingual (Hebrew, Syriac, Ancient South Arabian, Ancient Ethiopic, etc.) database of textual variants present in early Islamic sources. Today, the platform includes four databases:

  • Manuscripts including over 30,000 scans of early Qur’anic fragments on parchment, collected from 95 worldwide collections, accompanied by bibliographical, codicological and paleographical data as well as Latin transliterations of the Arabic text
  • Variant Readings made of variants found in 8th-9th century scholarly sources like The Arabic grammar of Sībawayh, the Arabic Lexicon of al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad, exegetic texts, grammatical-philological commentaries, Ibn Ḫālawayh’s compendium of variant readings and the Canon of the seven readings compiled by Ibn Mujāhid
  • The World of the Qur’an comprising texts produced at the same time that the Qur’an in Arabic, Ancient Ethiopian (Ge’ez), Ancient South Arabian (Sabaic), Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Middle Persian, Coptic, etc.
  • Commentary consisting of surahs classified based on their historical chronology and thematical development.

In complement, Corpus Coranicum makes available a 1924 printed edition (Cairo, Egypt) of the Qur’an and Rafael Talmon Qur’an Concordance by word. Rafael Talmon (1948-2004), a Professor of Arabic Studies at the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Haifa, was a pioneer in the study of the Qur’anic text.

It is possible to navigate verses and access the Arabic text, its transliteration, and translation within the Print edition.

Verse navigator

The Concordance provides a systematic morphological analysis (by Rafael Talmon):

Since 2007, Corpus Coranicum has been organizing annual workshops on a variety of topics. To cite only a few:

  • Scriptorium Workshop: Qur’anic manuscripts past and present: cataloguing and digital tools, September 18, 2023
  • Corpus Coranicum-Vorselung 2022: The Qur’an Palimpsest from Sinai – Interpretations, models and evaluations of Manuscript Cambridge, December 2022
  • Corpus Coranicum-Vorselung 2021: Echoes of Jacob of Serugh in the Qur’an and Late Antique reading culture (Philip Michael Forness), December 2021
  • Corpus Coranicum-Vorselung 2019: Before the Qur’an: Arabic’s history across Greek, South Semitic, and Aramaic writing traditions, December 2019
  • Corpus Coranicum-Vorselung 2018: The Origins and modifications of the Blue Qur’an, December 2018
  • Corpus Coranicum-Vorselung 2017: Oman’s new electronic Qur’an solving discrepancies between historical text, rules of calligraphy and Azhar orthography, September 2017.

In addition, between 2016 and 2023, Corpus Coranicum held 39 ‘Collegium Coranicum‘ (i.e. talks) by international scholars on a wide-range of topics related to the study of the Qur’anic text.

Last, but not least, for those interested in learning more about the project and their research methods, two lists of relevant literature can be found on the main page: one on the catalogue of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften Library and one as a public Zotero library.

Corpus Coranicum interface is available in German, English, and French:

Attasi Foundation collection: Syrian art and culture

Posted on by
Comment

Atassi Foundation was established in 2016 as a non-profit initiative with the mission to safeguard and promote modern and contemporary Syrian art as well as archives from Syria.

Elias Ayoub, Jasmine Fall, acrylic on canvas, 69 x 139 cm, 2022, presented at New Perspectives Project, @ Foundry from February 27th to April 10th, 2023

This Foundation is the legacy of Atassi Gallery which was a private art gallery founded by two sisters Mouna and Mayla Atassi in 1986 in the attic of their bookstore. The art gallery later expanded its activities thus hosted some exhibitions by renowned Syrian artists (Fateh Moudarres, Abdullah Mourad, and Ahmad Durak-Sibai). Later the gallery moved from Homs to Damascus and started their international and regional collaborations, symposiums, publication…

Art work by Mohamad Khayata presented at New Perspectives Project, @ Foundry from February 27th to April 10th, 2023


Atassi Gallery having an important role in Syria’s emerging independent cultural scene, and being hub for intellectuals, writers, filmmakers and artist, transformed into Atassi Foundation in response to challenging times in the recent years with “the belief that art and culture play a necessary and vital role in subduing the ravages of violence, repairing the damages of war and in preserving the history and culture of Syria for generations to come. “

“The voices of artists today rise to counter destruction and violence, to make sense of it and to persevere. Their talents and work are sources of hope, identity and inspiration for future generations.” -Shireen Atassi

https://www.atassifoundation.com/news

Atassi Foundation is aiming to promote Syrian’s cultural heritage as well as critical thinking, research and knowledge promoting to connect the past and future of art production. To achieve this goal, the Atassi Foundation has provided access to a diverse range of materials and information, including various art collection, projects, journal publication (The Journal), podcast (HIWAR) and last but not least an archive collection: Modern Art Syria Archive (MASA).

Atassi Foundation’s art collection consists of early 20th century modern and contemporary Syrian art work and showcases the work of over 70 artists in various forms from paper to photography, sculpture and more.

Artworks are organized by artists’ names, and a description and biography of the artist are provided.

The Projects cover Foundation’s collaborations, Exhibition, research projects and publications. Under each category comprehensive information is provided along with links to the project or research or the collection.

The modern Art Syria Archive is an online archive focusing on modern Syrian art, aiming to draw international attention and interest in Syrian art.

It provides access to three archive collections: The Archives of Atassi Gallery, The Archives of Mahmoud Hammad and The Archives of Leila Nseir. Each consists of various types of archival material including photographs, letters, personal documents, manuscripts and etc, as well as comprehensive information and history about the archive and the artist. Moreover, all the archival materials are accessible as well.

The Archives of Leila Nseir: Leila Nseir at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo, 60s

In summary, the Atassi Foundation is dedicated to preserving Syria’s rich cultural heritage and advancing the future of its artistic landscape.

Art work by Fadi Yazigi: Untitled’ Mixed Media in Box-Front, 26 x 33 x 25 cm
Art work by Fadi Yazigi: “Untitled” 74 x 60 cm. Mixed Media on Paper on Canvas, 2012
Art work by Lutfi Al Romhein
Art work by Monif Ajaj, at New Perspectives Project, 2021

Country of Words: A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature

Posted on by
Comment

Country of Words: A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature is a portal documenting and mapping the history of Palestinian literature around the World in the 20th century. The project was launched and is managed by Dr. Refqa Abu-Remaileh, Professor of Modern Arabic Literature and Film at the Freie Universität Berlin. This project is part of an international collaborative project, PalREAD, funded by a European Research Council’s Starting Grant. The website was developed and is hosted by Stanford University Press.

Country of Words aims at uncovering and highlighting the connections between Palestinian literary products originating from different places around the world:

“because of its transnational reality, Palestinian literature makes it possible for us to read together the national and the exilic. It also gives us the opportunity to explore new ways to write nonlinear and nonconventional literary histories of displacement and movement, and to uncover new constellations, networks, trajectories, relationships, and collaborations across multiple literary geographies and periods.”

Dr. Abu-Remaileh, countryofwords.org

Country of Words offers visitors numerous options to navigate its content, including:

  • a Timeline running from 1880 to 2020
  • Networks of periods, people, periodicals and themes
  • Visualizations including maps, networks, timelines, temporal evolutions, trajectories and information cards
  • Audio Interviews in Arabic with important Palestinian writers.

Timeline

The timeline is broken down into periods of time shorter than the full 140 years coverage. Literary Diasporas: The Mahjar (1880-1950) examines the literary production during a time of extensive migration to the American continent and the Caribbean. Literature under British Occupation (1900-1948) limits to literature produced during the late Ottoman and British Mandate period. Literature under Triple Occupation post-Nakba (1948-1967) centers on the effects of the parallel Israeli, Jordanian and Egyptian control on writers and literature. Literary Diasporas: post-Nakba Scattering (1948-1967) focuses on the literary production of refugees and exiled writers. Literary Diasporas: A Golden Age in Exile (1967-1982) explores the literary production of new refugees (post-1967). Literarure under Israeli Occupation (1967-1994) covers writings from the Occupied Territories (West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem). The last timeline, Literary Diasporas : post-Beirut Fragmentation (1982-1994) focuses on literature after the dispersion of Palestinians across the Arab World, Cyprus and Europe.

Network

The network mapping allows to visualize and explore the connections between time periods (yellow), authors (blue), periodicals (green) and themes (red). Visitors are invited to click on the nodes to obtain more information about the specific topic.

Visualizations

Salma Khadra Jayyusi
Contributor Network of Lebanese and Palestinian-Led Periodicals in Beirut
Prison Literature (1967—present)

Visualizations allows to explore the life, migrations and literary production of a writer, contributions to specific periodicals, or the production of a certain type of literature (Prison literature as shown here). Visitors will undoubtedly appreciate the benefits of visualizing information in many different formats.

Audio Interviews

The ten one-hour long interviews of key Palestinian literary figures available on this page are part of a podcast series entitled Balad min kalam (Country of Words). Each episode starts by a discussion of literary evolution, movements across periods and geographies, circles and networks, and periodicals to which they contributed. Then, the guests read a text they have written and explain why they chose it. After that, they are asked to cite a work they think influenced the course of Palestinian literary history. Last, “many of the guests spoke about their personal libraries and how their book collections have been affected by censorship, constant movement, loss, and destruction. Interviews are also indexed and accessible by time period.”

To conclude, we want to note that Country of Words: A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature has been described in very positive terms by many experts in the field. Among them, Professor Michelle Hartman (McGill University) wrote: “With its user-friendly interface, well-suited and attractive visualizations, intelligent analysis, and fascinating author interviews, Country of Words is an invaluable resource that documents and engages the diversity of Palestinian literary production over time, expanding access to it in an inviting digital format.”

 Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies Archives (KCLDS)

Posted on by
Comment

The KCLDS Archive serves as the repository for the Khayrallah Center, established in 2010 by Dr. Moise A. Khayrallah. Initially established to research and conserve history of Lebanese in U.S, the center evolved into a larger project and extended beyond the United States, eventually becoming the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies. As a result of its growth, the center curated a museum exhibit, produced a documentary, and established an archive (KCLDS).

KCLDS Archive houses historical and cultural resources about Lebanese diaspora in the United States and across the world.

“We preserve the heritage and memories of the Lebanese diaspora community and make it accessible through our digital and physical archives.“

The Archive can be explored through three main categories: Collection Guides, Browse the Collection, or Browse the Item. There are 112 collections available, containing a total of 11,634 items.

When using Browse the Collection menu, you can search either in title order or based on the time the item was added to the collection. Detailed information is provided for each collection, such as: Title, Subject, Biographical/Historical Note, Publisher, Date, Language, etc. but more importantly a full description of the collection and finally access to the collection.

Moreover, searching on the item level gives more search criteria, such as Browse by Tag, Item or Reference, also results can be sorted by Title, Creator, Item Date, etc.

Another valuable feature at the item level is the Citation section. When available it is possible to see if the resource was cited, when where and by who.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

..

.

.

.

.

.

.

Collection Guides, however, provide access to the collection by title or categories.

Moreover, it is possible to search in Arabic using the Arabic-Language Publication Database menu, which provides access to Arabic- language newspaper and books in the States between 1880s to 1950s.

Early Arab immigrants in North and South America have left a rich legacy and history. Much of their histories have been recorded in millions of pages of Arabic newspapers, books, magazines, and other publications. Yet, this rich record has been largely inaccessible because it was dispersed, stored in disparate archives, and stored in older technologies like microfilm. Now, The Khayrallah Center’s Arabic Newspaper Database makes these records digitally searchable.

KCLDS Archive offers variety of resources for researchers, scholars, and anyone interested in exploring Lebanese diaspora. The archive not only preserves the past but also sheds light on the present and provides access to resources for future. With its diverse collection guides, browsing options, and Arabic-Language Publication Database, the archive invites users to access its wealth of materials, facilitating research, discovery, and understanding of the Lebanese diaspora’s journey, memories, and heritage.

The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive / أرشيف المتحف الفلسطيني الرقمي

Posted on by
Comment

Sponsored by the Arcadia fund, the Palestinian Museum Digital Archive aims at collecting, digitizing and making widely available (in Open Access) endangered archival materials documenting Palestinian life and history. Started in 2018, the project has now reached its third phase involving partnerships inside and outside Palestine as well as a broadening of the geographical scope covered.

At the time of our visit, the archive included over 200,000 documents like “identification papers, official records, letters, diaries, manuscripts, maps, photographs, films, and audio recordings” collected from individuals, families, and institutions. The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive only keeps digital surrogates and return the original documents to their owners after processing.

Visitors can either Search the archive, Browse collections or Explore topics.

The basic search only requires to enter keyword(s) in the search bar at the top-right corner of the page. The advanced search offers a more refined search where you can limit by:

  • date (default year range is 1900-2024)
  • type(s) of material
  • collection(s) (generally named after donor)
  • entity(ies) (i.e. institution, organization, etc.)
  • location(s).
Basic search
Advanced search

The collection browse allows to identify specific archives of interest before searching them. The number of documents in each collection range from less than a hundred to thousands of documents. The time period covered is clearly stated at the right-top corner of each collection:

The topics exploration offers a different way of navigating the website through subjects assigned to documents. Among the long list of topics (fifteen in total), visitors will find the following:

The number of documents in each category is indicated right beside the topic, and when scrolling over the topic, a series of thumbnails gives a snapshot of items that will be found under this topic. To ease navigation, the list could be sorted alphabetically.

It is important to note that all materials in the Palestinian Museum Digital Archive are “copyrighted either by the museum or by third parties who have granted permission for their materials to be included on this site. Visitors can therefore only use the documents “for personal, educational, non-commercial use, or for fair use as defined in the United States copyright laws.” It is possible to ask for high-resolution images by emailing info@palarchive.org or sending the request via the form available here.

To submit your personal archive, you may fill out the following form:

The website is entirely bilingual English and Arabic.

Middle Eastern Film Posters & Lobby Cards

Posted on by
Comment

The Middle Eastern Film Posters & Lobby Cards Collection is a digital collection launched by Princeton University Library to make available their Arabic Movie Posters and Lobby Cards collection to worldwide scholars. Acquired in Lebanon in 2008, the collection includes 1,748 posters, and 768 lobby cards produced mostly in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. At the time of our visit, the digital collection included 1,646 items which represents a large proportion of the overall collection, and newly digitized items keep being added to it.

The digital collection can be navigated in two ways. The left-hand side filters allow visitors to limit their search by place of origin, genre or date of creation. The categories accessible via the vignettes below allow to access the materials sorted by both genre and geographical origin:

Within each category, results can be displayed either in a list or a table form, and sorted by title, author, and date (ascending/descending).

When opening an item, the page will show the high resolution image and a succinct description at the bottom. For more information about the document, visitors can expand the right-hand side panel. Images can be displayed full-screen, enlarged and reduced, downloaded (as jpeg, tiff or pdf) or shared via a link.

We encourage users to read carefully the Statement on Harmful Content and the Rights and Permissions page as they contain important information.

Archives Africa

Posted on by
Comment

Archives Africa is an online catalogue of archival collections documenting the history of Madagascar. Building on a former collaboration contributing to the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme, the overall project entitled Finding Africa: exploring the potential of a continent’s archives was developed and run by information professionals from King’s College London and the Direction des Archives Nationales de Madagascar. A first phase focused on Madagascar Prime Minister registers between 1864 and 1896. The second phase of the project targeted Diplomatic archives from the 19th century.

In addition to aiming at identifying and locating archival materials indispensable to scholarship, the project also explored faster and more appropriate ways to describe and catalogue archival collections “from an African perspective”. To do so, they reflected on traditional Western archival practices, and worked towards adapting them and/or creating new practice better suited for archival materials in non-European languages. They worked closely with partners at SCOLMA, a “forum for librarians, archivists and others concerned with African studies materials in libraries and archives in the United Kingdom”.

The rationale behind the project is thoroughly explained in this video posted on the ‘About‘ page:

The ‘Archives Africa Catalogues‘ section is the heart of the website as it includes the records of archival collections. Catalogues can be discovered browsing a number of categories:

At the time of our visit, the total number of collections cataloguing records in the database was close to 900, identifying and locating a much larger number of documents in Malagasy, French, and English.

The News section, despite not having been updated since 2018, makes available interesting and insightful information about the project.

Those interested in learning more about African archives further should consult the International African Institute‘s website, in particular the African digital repositories page. Based in the United Kingdom (at the School for African and Oriental Studies, SOAS), the IAI “promotes the scholarly study of Africa’s history, societies and cultures” for which archival sources are essential.

Islamic Manuscripts, Art collection and Rare Books at Walters Art Museum

Posted on by
Comment

The Walters Art Museum’s collection encompasses art from various cultures extending over seven thousand years. Many of the items in their collection can be explored through their website at works of art site and Walters Ex Libris.

Beyond a wide range of artistic objects, their collection includes manuscripts and artwork on paper, as well as books and remarkable pieces of Islamic art. This includes valuable items like miniature paintings, beautifully illuminated Qurans and etc.

Leaf from Qur’an.
Bowl with Seated Figures Flanking a Tree
Islamic (Artist)
Jug with Sphinxes, Griffins, and Heron
Islamic (Artist)

Moreover, the Museum is house to” 900 printed manuscripts, 1300 incunabula and 2000 rare books”. Of these, 433 manuscripts and more than 8000 printed papers are digitized and accessible through Walters Ex Libris. These manuscripts cover a variety of periods, including works from the Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman empire.

Moreover, as a museum dedicated to education, storytelling, and fostering community engagement through knowledge and cultural expression, the Walters Art Museum is actively digitizing and making their collection accessible to the public. Some of their digitized exhibitions also serve this purpose. One such exhibition, ‘Poetry and Prayer: Islamic Manuscripts from the Walters Art,’ beautifully showcased a variety of books, manuscripts, and individual art pieces. This collection includes beautifully illuminated manuscripts featuring poetry, prayers, miniature art, the Quran, and more. Each item has been digitized, and an informative description is offered.

While exploring this specific exhibition along with some of their digitized manuscripts, we noticed some similarities or common characteristics between their displayed materials with some of the manuscripts and rare books available at Islamic Studies Library rare book collection. Thus, we decided to highlight some of them as an example.

However, there are many more similar cases to be explored. Some of McGill Islamic Studies Library’s digitized manuscripts and rare books can be found here. The Walters Art Museum manuscripts can be found here.

For example, this Mughal color-wash drawing (portrait of Lal Kunwar) at the Walters Art Museum and this miniature of a princess at McGill Rare book collection, have various elements in common, while created in different time.

Portrait of Lal Kunwar W.712
Miniature of a princess, MSP 53 Rare Books/Special Collections

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Additionally, these two manuscripts seem to share many characteristics. Both are Persian poetry books, featuring similar calligraphy styles and very comparable ornate illuminations. However, one (“Yusuf and Zulaykha” by Jami) is housed at the Walters Art Museum, and the other one (poetry book by Hafiz ) is at McGill Rare Books. Are these two manuscripts made in the same manuscript workshop but, in the course of history, ended up in two different parts of the world?

Dīvān-i Ḥāfiẓ. 15th century
Yusuf and Zulaykha. 16th century

These two painting share some similarities as well while the miniature of the Mughul Emperor is housed at McGill and the portrait of emperor Jahangir is at The Walters Art Museum.

Miniature of Mughul Emperor Farrukh-siyar, Persian Manuscript. MSP leaf 57.
Single leaf of a portrait of the emperor Jahangir W.705

Dīvān-i Ḥāfiẓ. 16th century
Hafiz (Persian) 16th century

There are more items at both places that can be compared and explored to find similarities or differences. These two Hafiz poetry books (mentioned above) can be examined from a different perspective. Although they were created around the same time, unlike the previously mentioned example, these two display distinct illustration and calligraphy styles, yet they also share some similarities.

The Walters Art Museum, in line with their commitment to public education and connecting art to people’s lives, publishes the Journal of Walters Art Museum as an open-access resource, providing free access to research about their collection which can be found here and contains valuable information about their
collection. While comparing or exploring their collection, this resource can also be used to obtain more background information about their various manuscripts or rare books.

“The Walters Art Museum’s Mission has been to bring art and people together and to create a place where people of every background can be moved by art”