Middle East Primary Sources: Rubenstein Library

Guide to the International Monitor Institute:

Middle East videotapes, 1991-2008

The International Monitor Institute Records, Middle East Videotapes span the dates 1991-2008, and comprise audiovisual materials related to IMI's documentation of contemporary conflicts and human rights violations in the Middle East, including Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon.

The bulk of these audiovisual materials are comprised of documentaries and news reports that cover the political climates, histories, and governmental structures of Middle-Eastern states, especially Iraq and Iran. Much of this material documents Saddam Hussein's Kurdish Genocide (al-Anfal) and his campaign against the Marsh Arabs, activities of the Iraqi secret police, and the experience of Kurdish refugees in camps such as Azerbaijani. Material also documents humanitarian relief for Kurdish refugees, including the activities of the United States military in Operation Provide Comfort. Other documentary material explores state torture and state-sponsored terrorism in Iraq, including chemical attacks and the genetic effects of chemical weapons on the population. Records further document various political and military institutions, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party (KPP), Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), as well as the activity of various international organizations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International. Several documentaries examine events leading up to the Gulf War and its aftermath, the war in Beirut, the lives of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, and rights conflicts regarding Palestinians living in Israel. Videotapes further document the Iranian revolution and post-revolution, and the fall of the Shah. The bulk of news reports were produced by CNN, Fox, Frontline, and Al-Jazeera. Coverage focuses on the September 11, 2011 attacks on the World Trade Center, as well as material on the war on terror, Osama bin Laden and Al Queda training camps. More International Monitor Institute materials...

Special collections & manuscript materials are handled according to rules and procedures established by Rubenstein Library. Please consult Rubenstein's Research page before you request any items.

Africa News Service.

The LeRoy T. Walker Africa News Service Archive, 1952-1998 and undated.
Rubenstein Library Ovsz. Box 48 01/156: Ovsz. Folder 1
RLT Bay 234 Fully Processed: Box 224-RLT Bay 236 Fully Processed: Box 253  Check availability @ Duke
Finding Aid

Boone, Turin Bradford.

Diaries, 1911-1912 [manuscript].
Rubenstein Library RLT Bay 119 items1-2  Check availability @ Duke
Summary: Member of the staff of Morgan Shuster, Treasurer General of Persia; resident of Washington, D.C

Bowden, Mark.

Mark Bowden papers, circa 1979-2002.
Rubenstein Library | Manuscripts | 2nd 91: E Check availability @ Duke
Finding Aid: http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/bowdenmark/
Description: 7125 items (11.4 lin. ft.)
Summary: Papers contain research materials for Bowden's book about the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981), published as GUESTS OF THE AYATOLLAH (NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006). Materials include interview transcripts with American hostages, Iranian hostage takers, and members of the United States military who were involved in the 1980 rescue attempt.
Restrictions: Access restricted.

Company of Merchants of England Trading to the Levant.

Papers, 1768-1902; (bulk 1800-1870) [manuscript].
Rubenstein Library 6th 10:D items1-137 Check availability @ Duke
Summary: Correspondence, documents, lists, and other papers (chiefly 1800-1870) relating to British trade with the Levant, both before and after the dissolution of the Levant Co. (1825). Subjects include company policies, practices, and personnel, debt collection, damaged goods, Turkish-British relations, Turkish regulation in the port of Constantinople, agreement between the Levant Co. and the consul at Constantinople, tariff rates with the Ottoman Empire, authorization for a ship to receive British naval protection, and the relation of British law and courts to members of the House of Lords. Includes charts giving the number of foreign vessels entering and leaving Constantinople (1836), lists of goods exported to Great Britain from Constantinople and the British exports with the origins of the ships (1838), a list of contributions toward "providing church accomodations" at Constantinople, and volumes dealing with tariffs and trade.

Harvey, Frances M.

Journal of a tour up the Nile, 1892 Feb. 17-Mar. 10.
[Manuscript]
Rubenstein Library Library Service Center Library Service Center v.1  Check availability @ Duke

International Monitor Institute.

International Monitor Institute records, 1990-2003.
Rubenstein Library Ovsz. Box 17 - See Guide...
Check availability @ Duke

International Monitor Institute.

International Monitor Institute. Middle East videotapes, 1991-2008.
Rubenstein Library Ovsz. Box 17 - See Guide...
Check availability @ Duke

Rosenbluth, Marty.

Marty Rosenbluth papers, 1980-2005.
Finding Aid: http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/rosenbluthmarty/
Rubenstein Library - Manuscripts | 2nd 87:a
Rubenstein Library - Manuscripts | OC:VI:3
Rubenstein Library - Library Service Center, Manuscripts (Reading Room only) Check availability @ Duke
Description: 12,000 items (12 lin. ft.). Organized into the following series: B'Tselem, Palestine Human Rights Organizations, Al-Haq, Hamoked, West Bank Data Project, Alternative Information Center, Foreign and US-based Solidarity Groups, Research Files, Audio-Visual Materials, and Oversize Materials. Rosenbluth was Amnesty International's area specialist for Israel/Occupied Territories in the 1980's. Also an independent documentary film-maker.
Summary: Collection includes publications, reports, case studies, press-releases, mailings, communications, leaflets, videocassettes, DVDs, a CD-ROM, an audiocassette, and ephemera created by Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups. These groups include Al-Haq (Law in the Service of Man), Badil, B'Tselem, Hamoked (Center for the Defense of the Individual), Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, The West Bank Data Base Project, and Alternative Information Center. The papers also feature materials from Palestinian trade unions and United States-based solidarity groups, as well as unofficial, locally published first-person reports of events and conditions in the Occupied Territories, particularly regarding land settlement issues. The majority of the items in the collection are in English; there are settlement maps in Hebrew and Arabic, and materials regarding Palestinian elections in Arabic.

Wells, Tim.

Papers, 1982-1986.
Finding aid: http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/wellstim/
Rubenstein Library | 2nd 85:L (use copies and other materials) lcs
Rubenstein Library | Library Service Center, Manuscripts (Reading Room only) | Library Service Center LSC Check availability @ Duke
Description: 636 items (11 linear feet).
Summary: Background materials relating to Well's book about the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981), 444 DAYS: THE HOSTAGES REMEMBER, and a typed manuscript of the work. Includes 546 audiocassette tapes, 83 tape transcripts, and signed release waivers and consent forms of hostages. Wells interviewed 36 of the 53 hostages and included 27 in the book. (1-12-87)

Special collections & manuscript materials are handled according to rules and procedures established by Rubenstein Library. Please consult Rubenstein's Research page before you request any items.

Bonfils, Félix and Georges Saboungi.

Palestine photograph albums, ca. 1881.
Rubenstein Library Library Service Center Box 1 & 2
Check availability @ Duke

Holmes, Randolph Bezant, 1888-1973.

R. B. Holmes photographs, 1910-1919 and undated.
Rubenstein Library Library Service Center Fully Processed: Box 1-3

Finding Aid/Guide

Check availability @ Duke
Collection of ninety-two 11.5 x 9.5" black-and-white photographic prints of Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. The images were taken by British photographer R. B. (Randolph Bezzant) Holmes and possibly others from his studio who traveled with him. Holmes was the owner of the R. B. Holmes & Co. photography studio in Peshawar, Pakistan. The majority of these detailed images were taken during the end of the Anglo-Afghan war in 1919 and depict large British military camps and vast landscapes, sometimes with camel caravans or military convoys. Some scenes show the remains of villages, military features such as towers, and religious structures. There are also portraits of individuals along with scenic views. Several of the images have been hand-tinted, probably by Holmes himself.

Jewett, Milo A. (Milo Augustus), 1857-1921.

Milo A. Jewett albumen photographs of northern Turkey, 1891-1894 and undated.
Rubenstein Library - Library Service Center Fully Processed: Box 1 Check availability @ Duke
Summary: Physician, amateur photographer, and American consul in Turkey (Sivas, 1892-1905 and Trebizond, 1905-1911).
Collection comprises 19 images of various locations in the northern provinces, including 18 mounted albumen photographs probably taken by Jewett, along with one published view of Sivas attributed to Franklin Eng Co, Boston. All but one of the images is captioned, and several photographs an additional information written on the back of the mount. Ten of the photographs were taken in Sivas; other locations identified include the Kızıl Irmak River, Tokat Plain, and Divaik[?]. Two of the photographs document the quarantine camps established during a cholera outbreak in 1894. Other subjects include housing conditions, street life, and the Seljuk Gateway and ruin. There are individual photographs of groups of people, including Armenian Christian women returning from a prayer meeting, a father and his daughters, a graduating class of local teachers, and attendees at a hanging of a murderer. A boxlist listing the photographs and their captions is stored with the materials.

Rosenthal, Mel.

Mel Rosenthal photographs and papers, 1975-2004
Rubenstein Library
Finding aid
Includes 25 16x20 and 21 11x14 gelatin silver prints from Rosenthal's exhibit "ARAB AMERICANS - AMERICAN BY CHOICE." This exhibit documented Arabic-speaking Americans, many of whom were living in New York State. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts.

Sebah & Joaillier.

Panorama de Constantinople : pris de la tour de Galata
ca. 1878-ca. 1890.
Rubenstein Library E f#1559 Rare Books Check availability @ Duke
Summary: Panoramic vista of Constantinople in an accordion-fold format encompassing approx. 270 degrees, taken from the Galata Tower looking across the quarter of Galata towards the Tophane district and the Bosporus beyond, then to the outer Golden Horn harbor and the tip of the Istanbul peninsula with the Palace of Topkapi, then sweeping across the city inland along the Golden Horn waterfront towards the district of Eyüp.

Watts, George Washington, 1851-1921.

George Washington Watts photograph albums, [188-?]
Rubenstein Library: Reading Room only Check availability @ Duke
Summary: Collection (03-111) comprises two photograph albums of albumen prints collected by Watts during a trip to the Middle East. The albums contain photographs made by a number of prominent 19th-century photographers working in the Middle East, including A. Beato, Félix Bonfils, Gulmez Freres, Reiser, G. Lekegian, Sebah & Joaillier, and Zangaki.

Special collections & manuscript materials are handled according to rules and procedures established by Rubenstein Library. Please consult Rubenstein's Research page before you request any items.

Arabic film posters, 1957-2008 and undated.

Rubenstein Library LSC, OC:VI:3 - Folder 1-2 Check availability @ Duke

Arabic Political posters, 1970s.

Rubenstein Library FLAT 05:01 Folder 1 Check availability @ Duke

Palestinian and Lebanese Poster collection, 1960-1991.

Click here to see Finding aid
Rubenstein Library
6th 16:D Acc. 09/128: Box 1 c.1
6th 16:D Acc. 09/128: Box 2 c.1
6th 16:D Acc. 09/128: Box 3 c.1
OC:VIII:5 Acc. 09/128: Ovsz. Folder 1
Summary: The majority of the collection consists of political posters from Palestine and tourism posters from Lebanon. Also included are some travel brochures and pamphlets about various sites in Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, and Lebanon. Materials largely date from the 1960s-1980s.

Al-Qaida posters, about 2001.

Rubenstein Library Ovsz. Box 25 Folder 1-2 Check availability @ Duke
Summary: Collection comprises 23 posters printed in Pakistan. Posters feature images of Osama Bin Laden, often accompanied by text from the Koran, as well as Islamic or jihadist slogans. The posters range in size from 14x19 in. to 26x35 in. Several posters are printed on the backs of other, previously printed material, including printer's page proofs for two English texts, an inspirational poster, and a Pakistani government poster. The majority of the posters repeat identical religious or martial images, rearranged. One poster features an image from the bombing of the Twin Towers on September 11th. The text is written in Arabic and Urdu; translation of some Urdu text and citations for the Qur'anic passages accompany the material.

Turkish political poster collection, 1945-1978 and undated.

Rubenstein Library Ovsz. Box XX OC:VIII:XX Fully Processed: Folder 1-4
Description: see Finding Aid

United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Jordanian posters on women's issues, 2007.
Rubenstein Library Ovsz. Box 43 Folder 1 Check availability @ Duke
Collection comprises 11 posters on women's issues. Nine were part of a series co-sponsored by UNIFEM and Jordan's Wizārat al-ʻAmal., and use comics and political satire as part of a campaign to support the proper treatment of and respect for women domestic workers, many of whom are migrants from Indonesia and the Philippines. The cartoons used in this series were created by Abu-Mahjub. The other two posters were co-sponsored by UNIFEM and the Jordanian National Forum for Women, and offer general, feminist statements encouraging women to speak up for their rights, such as "your voice makes a comprehensive society." Text is Arabic; however, the series of nine posters also features English translations.