Finding Aids

Middle East

Arnoux, Hippolyte, Canal du Suez

A bound volume containing approximately 30 photographs of the Suez Canal. Most photographs do not have labels.

De Mirza, Joel. Letters

The Joel de Mirza Letters represent an extant fraction of the correspondence between Mirza and his adjutant Captain Constatin Tarmanov. In the early 1930s, Mirza petitioned the League of Nations for recognition of his title as Prince of the Assyro-Chaldeans and a country for his people. Native to Upper Mesopotamia, the Assyro-Chaldeans had become a displaced, fragmented community following repeated massacres and forced relocations in the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish Republic and Iraq between 1915 and 1932.

Hodgson, Marshall G. S. Papers

Marshall Goodwin Simms Hodgson (1922-1968) was a professor of Islamic Studies and Chairman of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. The Marshall G.S. Hodgson Papers contain correspondence, teaching materials, research notes, and writings, primarily related to his professional life and scholarly work.

Indo-Persian Medical Text

Manuscript in Persian, in multiple hands with marginal notations, on medicine.

Klutznick, Philip M. Papers

Philip M. Klutznick, businessman, philanthropist, diplomat, government official and Jewish leader. The Philip M. Klutznick Papers comprise 175.5 linear feet and include correspondence, manuscripts, notes, published materials, photographs, scrapbooks, architectural plans, awards and mementos and audio and video recordings. The papers document Klutznick's career as a real estate developer, philanthropist, United Nations representative in the 1950s and 1960s, President of B'nai B'rith, 1953-59 and the World Jewish Congress, 1977-1979, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, 1979-1981 and leader of the American and international Jewish community.

Kraus, Paul. Papers

The Paul Kraus Papers contain writings, research material, and correspondence of Paul Kraus (1904-1944), a scholar of Semitic languages and medieval Islamic science and philosophy. Kraus was born in Prague and spent time at a variety of academic institutions in Europe and the Middle East. The collection consists largely of notes on Semitic languages, handwritten copies of manuscripts, translations and transcriptions, a small amount of correspondence, and writings by Kraus and other scholars. It includes a significant amount of material related to Kraus’ influential work on the body of writing attributed to medieval Islamic alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan. The material is mostly in French, German, and Arabic, although a variety of other languages, such as Akkadian, Pahlavi, and Hebrew, are also included. The collection also contains material from two other Semitic language scholars, Max Meyerhof (1874-1945), Kraus’ friend and collaborator, and Isidor Pollack (1874-1922), one of his early teachers.

Middle Eastern Posters. Collection

The Middle Eastern Posters collection comprises posters produced by government offices and private organizations, primarily in Iran and Afghanistan.

Schwartz, Samuel. Papers

Dr. Samuel Schwartz (1916-1997) was a renowned expert on porphyrins and heme metabolism, pioneering research into the biological effects of radiation, starting when he joined the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago. This collection consists of 4.5 linear feet of his research materials, political activist writings, his concerns about nuclear warfare, and his personal writings. The largest part of the collection contains his research papers and drafts of journal articles with his notes and data. This includes his time during the Manhattan Project (University of Chicago), when he researched the effects of radiation on metalloporphyrins. There is a large section on Schwartz’s political activism, both for Zionism and for nuclear disarmament. Other material in the collection documents Schwartz’s personal life, his interest in birds of prey, and literary aspirations, including poetry and songs.

Smith, Harry M. Papers

Harry Madison Smith (b. June 21, 1918, d. October 16, 2003) was a Zoology, Biology, and Genetics professor who taught at several universities in the United States and at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. Mid-career, Smith shifted the focus of his research from zoology to human genetics and was funded by the U.S. Government to study Middle Eastern populations. This collection contains correspondence, notes, reference articles, WWII service records, typescripts of articles, photographs, scrapbooks, glass lantern slides, and medical data from research subjects. Materials date between 1932 and 1977, with the bulk of the material dating between 1950 and 1967. The papers primarily document Smith’s research on human blood types in the Middle East.

Stereograph Cards Collection

Collected and uncollected stereographs, as well as related materials, from a number of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century publishers. The bulk of the material dates from ca. 1900.

Tuttleman Family, Edna S. and Stanley C. Collection of Nineteenth-Century Photographs

The Edna S. and Stanley C. Tuttleman Family Collection of Nineteenth-Century Photographs consists of 234 nineteenth century travel and topographical photographs of historic sites, natural environments, and scenes of everyday life. Regions represented include the Middle East, Greece, Italy, the United States, England and Scotland. Photographers include Abdullah Frères, Thomas Annan, Francis Bedford, Giacomo Brogi, Francis Frith, G. Lekegian and Company, Andrew J. Russell, Giorgio Sommer, Seneca Ray Stoddard, James Valentine, George Washington Wilson, and Zangaki.