About Databases

Library Databases

Database of Turkish History, Literature, Culture, and Art History Articles (Full Text)
It includes articles in scholarly publications published by various publishing houses and institutions, especially academic journals and papers presented at symposiums and conferences. In the database, bibliographies and full-text PDFs of the articles for which digital permission has been obtained can be accessed. (In addition to the subject title, article name, author name, language and date of addition, “Search in the Content of Articles http://icerik.isam.org.tr/” query can also be made from the search page.)

Theology Articles Database (Full Text)
In the database, which covers scholarly periodicals published by various publishing houses and institutions, especially the journals published by the faculties of theology, and the papers presented at symposiums and congresses, bibliographic tags and the full texts of the articles for which permission can be obtained can be accessed as PDF. (In addition to the subject title, article name, author name, language and date of addition, “Search in the Content of Articles http://icerik.ISAM.org.tr/” query can also be made from the search page.)

Articles in Ottoman Turkish Database (Full Text)
The database, which consists of articles on history, literature, and religious sciences in Ottoman journals, currently contains the full texts (in PDF) of more than 40,000 articles.

Treatises in Ottoman Turkish Database (Full Text)
In this database, which covers mainly Ottoman treatises on history, literature, and religious sciences, the bibliographies and full texts of the sources can be accessed.

Ottoman Salnâma Database (Full Text)
It covers Ottoman state and provincial sālnāmas and nevsāls, featuring 670 full-text PDFs.

Articles Database (Bibliographic)
This database includes articles and papers in scientific journals, symposiums/conferences, and gift books published in the field of social sciences.

Theses in Theology Faculties in Turkey (Bibliographic)
The Faculty of Theology Theses Catalog contains the titles of master’s and doctoral theses completed and ongoing since 1953. Thanks to this database, which announces the master’s and doctoral theses being conducted in the faculties of theology, duplicate theses can be prevented. The database is updated with the information received by the ISAM Library from the faculties of theology.

Documentation Database (Full Text)
This database has been prepared to share with researchers the document files used in the writing of the articles in the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam. Thanks to the documentation database, PDF images of the first pages of the sources in the document files, including the files belonging to each article in the encyclopedia, can be accessed. The bibliographies of the works in the database, which are registered in the ISAM Library, can be sent to the e-mail address kutuphane@isam.org.tr and photocopies can be requested for a fee.

 

Archive Collections

Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha Records
Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha was the Grand Vizier during the March 31st Incident. The collection of his correspondence during his long civil service is an important source for researchers interested in late Ottoman history, the Committee of Union and Progress, the Balkans, and Macedonia. The collection consists of 3,328 documents dating from 1714 to 1928 and is organized in 26 folders and 1,729 files.

Yusuf İzzeddin Efendi Family Records
When the heir apparent Yusuf İzzeddin Efendi passed away in 1916, Mehmed Tevfik Bey (Biren) assumed the administration of his estate as guardian. The documents, which were shaped around issues such as the distribution of income among family members, expenditures made, and the administration of the estate, reached a significant volume and eventually became an independent collection. The collection, consisting of 4,048 documents produced between 1916 and 1968, is organized in 17 folders and 1,330 files.

Kemal Batanay Music Archive
The presence of Hamparsum sheet music and original sheet music in the collection written by Kemal Batanay (1893-1981), a composer of Turkish music and ta‘līḳ calligrapher, makes this archive valuable. The collection mostly consists of rare works written by musicians. Among the most prominent documents in the archive are 1,342 pieces of sheet music written in Kemal Batanay’s own handwriting, 789 printed and 860 photocopied sheet music, 55 original and photocopied notebooks, and 396 compilations. The collection, which covers the dates when the owner of the collection lived, is organized in 30 folders and 2,137 files.

Muḥammad b. Tāwīt al-Ṭanjī Records
Prof. Dr. Muḥammad b. Tāwīt al-Ṭanjī (1918-1974) was a Moroccan scholar of literature, fiqh, and history known for his scholarly publications. The collection includes works on history, literature, philosophy, hadith, astronomy, and many other subjects. The collection, which consists of notebooks, miscellaneous documents, and bibliographic fiches, is organized in three groups. Notebooks constitute a significant portion of the 550 documents. These notebooks, which largely contain academic notes, include bibliographical information, indexes, and various works, as well as research that al-Ṭanjī started but did not complete. The miscellaneous papers include 189 letters. The collection, which dates from 1814 to 1997, is classified in 96 folders and 768 files.

Veysel Pasha Records
The Veysel Pasha Papers belong to Veysel Pasha (1866-1892) and his son Ali Rıza Pasha (1901-1923), who were among the last of the Ottoman State’s Grand Mushirs. The collection consists of correspondence regarding their administrative, military, and political activities in the regions of Manastir, Prizren, Yakova, Ipek, and Kosovo in the Balkans, as well as their personal affairs. The collection, dating from 1866 to 1923, is organized in 141 documents, one folder and 85 files.

Ziyad Ebüzziya Records
These documents, which are examples of primary sources on the last period of the Ottoman Empire and the early years of the Republic through the eyes of the Ebüzziya family, a family of journalists, are divided into two groups: the Ebüzziya family and Ziyad Ebüzziya. The first group of documents begins with journalist, writer, publisher, and calligrapher Ebüzziya Mehmed Tevfik and continues with his sons Talha Ebüzziya and Velid Ebüzziya. Featuring correspondence with late Ottoman intellectuals, such as Ali Suâvi, Server İskit, Yunus Nadi, Recāizāde Mahmud Ekrem, family correspondence, articles published in the newspaper Tasvîr-i Efkâr, numerous works printed at Matbaa-yı Ebüzziyâ, and works with arabesque decorations, the document group contains valuable documents and information that shed light on the last period of the Ottoman Empire. The second document group consists of the correspondence of Ziyad Ebüzziya, the grandson of Ebüzziya Mehmed Tevfik, who lived in the Republican period, with the prominent figures of the period, in addition to calendars, postcard samples, and more. They were printed at Ebüzziya Printing House and constitute a private collection. The collection contains a wealth of material such as photographs, engravings, maps, and newspaper clippings. The documents included are dated between 1837 and 1993 and are categorized in 177 folders and 3,878 files.

Orhan Şaik Gökyay Records
Orhan Şaik Gökyay (1902-1994) was a literary historian, language researcher, and important poet. The collection contains Gökyay’s personal documents (diplomas, identity cards, certificates of honor, and photographs), his correspondence with many individuals and institutions in Turkey and abroad, his published poems and essays about poetry, manuscript copies of all his works, various works in the fields of literature, history, and folklore, and documents related to the Turanism Trial. The collection features items dated from between 1940 and 1992 and is categorized in 106 folders and 2,069 files.

Mehmed Safayhi Records
Mehmed Safayhi (1890-1977) served as a sorting officer at the Süleymaniye Library Directorate between 1937 and 1970. The 216 files of this collection are categorized under seven headings: bibliographic works, index and miscellaneous works, letters, family, professional documents, miscellaneous, poetry, prayers, and notes. The notebooks, which are available in full text, contain bibliographic information on hundreds of works. The alphabetically successive notebooks were prepared by Mehmed Safayhi during his tenure as a sorting officer at the Süleymaniye Library and can be used as a guide for cataloging manuscripts.

Cüneyd Kosal Classical Turkish Music Archive
Cüneyd Kosal (1931-2018) is an important kanun (zither) player and composer who grew up in the last periods of classical Turkish music and has the title of the largest collector in his field with his extensive archive of sheet music that he meticulously compiled over 65 years. In addition to contributing to the publication of the notes of classical works within the Ministry of National Education, he restored and notated hundreds of works, of which only sound recordings have survived to the present day, and brought them into the repertoire of Turkish religious music.

The archive, which is among the most important written sources of Turkish music today, contains 150,000 pieces of sheet music, 182 manuscript notebooks and retail copies of sheet music, and 478 books and journals on Turkish music. The 7,428 works in 182 manuscript notebooks have been cataloged and opened for research.

Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı Records
Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı (1869-1949), known as “Feylesof” (philosopher) was a poet, literary figure, politician, and philosopher of the Second Constitutional Monarchy period. He studied medicine, served as a member of parliament during the Ottoman period, and lived in exile for many years, as he was among the “Hundred and Fifty” of the Ottoman delegate who signed the Treaty of Sevres.

The collection spans the period between 1856 and 1997 and has been categorized in 32 folders and 925 separate files. Consisting primarily of correspondence with prominent people and institutions in Turkey and around the world, as well as manuscripts, photographs, and newspaper clippings, the collection contains 12,978 pages and 3,998 documents. This represents an important source for the last period of the Ottoman Empire and the early years of the Republic.

Bora Keskiner Collection
Dr. Bora Keskiner, who works in the field of Ottoman art history, continues his studies as an expert on Islamic calligraphy. His collection consists of various letters, manuscript notebooks, and manuscript notes that Keskiner obtained from various booksellers. It is important in terms of presenting a portrait of the Mevlevī community in Istanbul in the post-Republican period and showing how the Sufi environment in Ottoman society evolved after the Republic, making it especially appealing to researchers of recent Sufi history.

The documents dated between between 1927 and2000 are categorized in four folders and 124 files. Almost all of the letters in the collection contain letters to Sadık Kurç, a Mevlevī sheikh. Sadık Kurç’s correspondence with Halil Can constitutes the most important series in the collection, while his correspondence with Mehmet Ceylan is also significant. The most prominent articles in the collection are the song notebooks.

Timur Kocaoğlu Records
Timur Kocaoğlu (1947-), a Turkish historian and political scientist of Uzbek origin, was the first Uzbek scholar to defend his doctoral dissertation at Colombia University. The document was sent to ISAM as a donation by Kocaoğlu along with some books from the United States of America.

The collection features items dated between 1968 and 2019 and is categorized in 11 folders and 168 files. It contains many academic studies, personal correspondence, and documents belonging to Timur Kocaoğlu. The prominent documents in the collection include: notebooks containing poems, stories, and plays written in the handwriting of Dr. Captain Şerafeddin Bey, a martyr of the War of Independence; letters written by Şerafeddin Bey to his wife Hasine Hanım, his brother, poet Ahmet Kutsi Tecer, and his father; Ottoman postcards; photocopies of correspondence between Timur Kocaoğlu’s father Osman Kocaoğlu and Kazakh political leaders Mustafa Çokay and Ahmet Zeki Velidi Togan.

Ottoman Court Records Catalog
Used by researchers in different disciplines, such as history, economics, and law, qāḍī registries (shar‘iyya registries), or Ottoman court books, are of great importance for Ottoman studies. These records, which contain the legal cases of Ottoman society, are among the indispensable sources of Ottoman history for social, cultural, religious, legal, economic, demographic, and architectural studies.

Qāḍī  registries contain not only the records of legal disputes that were brought to court, but also transactions similar to notary records today, deeds of foundation, purchase, sale, donation, and loan transactions; municipal documents and regulations, prices of products sold in bazaars; documents for artisans, craftsmen, and traders; records on civil law, such as inheritance divisions, inheritances, marriages, and divorces; and copies of decrees and edicts from the state regarding the construction and repair of foundations and/or public buildings.

The ISAM Library Archive has the most comprehensive collection of qadi registries in the world, including Istanbul, Anatolia, the Balkans, and the Middle East. The database contains a total of 28,409 court books, including qāḍī registries and ruznāmçes. The registries can be examined digitally at the ISAM Library.

Mashīkhat Archive Registries Catalog
This catalog is based on the compilation of digital data obtained from 5255 registers in the Istanbul Mufti's Office (Meşihat) Archive. The registers span from the 16th to the 20th centuries and encompass records from various offices, including Şeyhülislamlık, Rumelian Qadiasker, Anatolian Qadiasker, Nakibüleşraf (chief of the noble notables), Istanbul and Bilad-ı Selase Qadiliks. Additionally, it includes registers related to the Bab-ı Meşihat councils and documents shedding light on the activities of certain members of the religious scholars' class. The digital versions of these 5,255 registers are accessible for examination within the ISAM Library.

Grand Mufti's Office Personnel Registry Book
The digital copies of 6,835 personal files, the originals of which are housed in the Istanbul Muftī’s Office Mashīkhat Archive, can be examined in the ISAM Library Archive. The files consist of a variety of documents, such as status translations, ijāzatnāme, population and salary certificates of civil servants who served in different accidents, and regions and levels under the office of the shaykh al-islām (grand muftī). Some of the files consist only of envelopes and do not contain the status translations.