Safeguarding the Issa Iskandar al Maa’luf Manuscript collection (EAP1423)

Aims and objectives

This major project aims to catalog and digitize the ‘Isa Iskandar al Ma’luf unique historical Manuscript Collection, written between the 18th and the 20th centuries. Stored in a much-neglected storage condition for around 60 years, the collection, which is suffering from chemical and physical deterioration, was bought by and is currently housed at AUB libraries. The Collection includes 100 physical manuscripts that are essential for the study of cultural, social, and religious history of the Middle East. The project will involve the cataloging and digitizing of the collection and making all available online to researchers and scholars.

Video file

Outcomes

A total of 101 manuscripts of different subjects were cleaned, preserved, rehoused in new acid free boxes, properly labelled and catalogued, then scanned according to British Library standards.

The metadata related to the manuscripts, along with their digitised content, the equivalent of 32,380 captured images will be availed online to researchers. All these digitised manuscripts will be posted on both AUB libraries webpage as well as the British Library’s. A promotional video is also produced and an abstract is submitted to present the project in MELA 2022.

The records copied by this project have been catalogued as: