🧵(1) Digitization & cataloging is complete for 36 Arabic manuscripts in the collection of Eyes on Heritage (al-ʻUyūn ʻalá al-Turāth, project code EOH), a cultural institution in Gaza. Learn more: hmml.org/collections/...
Vincent E.
@vincente.bsky.social
Research MA at Leiden University; working on social networks and book circulation in the late Ottoman Empire
MIT closing three of its four libraries is shocking and appalling and underscores that the source of so much of the crisis in higher education comes not from attacks from the far right or the collapse of public trust, but rather from the university administrative class itself.
eileen chengyin chow@chowleen.bsky.social · 3mo ago“I write with dismay, grief and sorrow for the permanent closure of MIT Libraries Barker, Dewey and Rotch, and termination of library staff in those libraries. For MIT to be closing three of its four major libraries..." fnl.mit.edu/may-june-202...
i keep saying that genAI is not about "democratizing information," and it is NOOOOT anti-IP. it's an attempt at information enclosure, it's the mother of all would-be IP landlords. what they want is to crowd out free available information, control what remains, and then charge us for it
Denny Carter@dennycarter.bsky.social · 3mo agoThey stole the internet’s knowledge and all the work that went into it and they want to sell it back to us for a fee. What a business model.
The only fellow researcher in Dar al-Kutub one day before eid:
Die bequeme Sorge um die Wissenschaftsfreiheit Die Debatte über Wissenschaftsfreiheit boomt. Doch oft bleiben ausgerechnet jene außen vor, deren Fächer zeigen, wo die Freiheit der Wissenschaft unter Druck steht. Ein Gastbeitrag von Jannis Grimm. Im Wiarda-Blog lesen: www.jmwiarda.de/blog/2026/05...
I wrote a blog post for the Leiden Special Collections. A new update of the Audition Certificate Platform will be available in the first week of June. www.leidenspecialcollectionsblog.nl/articles/map...
Mapping Medieval Scholarship: Arabic Audition Certificates from the Leiden Special Collections
Traces of use in old books—annotations, marginal glosses or coffee stains—reveal how readers engaged with texts through the ages. Certain Arabic manuscripts include notes that reveal the social histor...
leidenspecialcollectionsblog.nl
A dozen female Palestinians are working to save and preserve medieval and early modern manuscripts 📕 from the Al-Omari mosque’s library. Hang this picture in the Louvre (and the Met). www.newarab.com/features/ins...
Some things never change, Victor Édouard Dor (L'instruction publique en Égypte, Paris 1872, p. 250) about visiting the Khedival Library, now Egyptian National Library/Dar al-Kutub:
An important update for applicants in our MA in Ottoman history. Deadline is 27 April! Downloadable links here: www.academia.edu/165671803/UP...
Auftakt der Reihe „Schätze des Wissens“: Was erzählen arabische Handschriften über Gesellschaft und Geschichte? Forscher geben Einblicke in die Bestände der @stabiberlin.bsky.social. Mit Simultanübersetzung. 14.04., 18 Uhr, Der Divan, Berlin-Zehlendorf. Anmeldung erbeten t1p.de/b42fq
Germany and Turkey have a centuries-long shared history, "yet when Turkish workers arrived in Germany in the 1960s, it vanished from view. It did not fit the image of the underprivileged “guest worker” – nor the cliched view of Turkey. In many ways, that remains true today." - Carolin Würfel.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 5mo agoIn an Istanbul market, I came across an old German phrase book – and a reminder of how not to speak to migrants | Carolin Würfel
Forschungsbibliothek Gotha@fbgotha.bsky.social · 5mo agoUnder what circumstances were papyri purchased on the Egyptian antiquities market in the early 20c? How was the papyrologist Carl Schmidt involved in the illegal export of papyri? Join us for the Gotha Manuscript Talk by Jakob Wigand (18 March 2026, 6:15 CET) uni-erfurt.webex.com/meet/veranst... 1/2
Man kommt nicht hinterher: Jetzt greift Wolfram Weimer auch noch defacto die Sammlungs- und Dokumentationspflicht der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek an. Will diese Bundesregierung gerade Kultur komplett plattmachen? www.deutschlandfunk.de/geplanter-er...
Entscheidung von Staatsminister Weimer - Geplanter Erweiterungsbau für Deutsche Nationalbibliothek soll nicht umgesetzt werden
Der seit Jahren geplante Erweiterungsbau an der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek in Leipzig soll nun doch nicht umgesetzt werden. Wie die Nationalbibliothek mitteilte, hat das der Beauftragte der Bundesre...
deutschlandfunk.de
Wichtiger Appell zur Öffnung der Unternehmensarchive. Die Überführung der Privatarchive in staatliche Institutionen allein reicht nicht aus, wenn Gatekeeping fortgeführt wird. Die Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft bestimmt etwa nach wie vor, wer Zugang zum DOG-Archiv im Zentralarchiv der SMB haben darf.
Jürgen Zimmerer@juergenzimmerer.bsky.social · 6mo agoIch habe etwas grundsätzlicher darüber nachgedacht, was es bedeutet, wenn die Nachfahren von Profiteuren von Kolonialismus, NS etc bestimmen können, wer ihre Geschichte schreibt (und auch wie). /2 www.zeit.de/hamburg/2026...
Update: In a statement, Bonn University confirms the renaming of the Otto Spies Memorial Series because of the archival material I quoted in my blogpost. In the meantime, the local newspaper Bonner General-Anzeiger published an article on the issue as well. www.ioa.uni-bonn.de/isl/de/nachr...
Vincent E.@vincente.bsky.social · 9mo agoI wrote a blog post explaining why I consider an honour for the orientalist Otto Spies (1901-1981) problematic, based on correspondence I examined in Berlin this summer: disorient.de/magazin/trot...
We published version 5.0 of the Audition Certificate Platform today. It now includes 5560 annotated certificates: www.audition-certificates-platform.org
ACP Search - ACP - Audition Certificates Platform
audition-certificates-platform.org
It is difficult to know how to go about explaining to students that this series was named—in 2015!—for a member of the Nazi Party who was writing things like: 2/3
This is really startling! I have found that Bonn's memorial lecture series and publication provides accessible introductions to topics at the forefront of research in Ottoman studies. For Monday I had even assigned Faroqhi's contribution on Ottoman slavery to an intro course I am teaching. 1/3
Vincent E.@vincente.bsky.social · 9mo agoI wrote a blog post explaining why I consider an honour for the orientalist Otto Spies (1901-1981) problematic, based on correspondence I examined in Berlin this summer: disorient.de/magazin/trot...
I wrote a blog post explaining why I consider an honour for the orientalist Otto Spies (1901-1981) problematic, based on correspondence I examined in Berlin this summer: disorient.de/magazin/trot...
Trotz NS-Vergangenheit: Universität Bonn ehrt Otto Spies
Seit 2015 trägt eine Vorlesungs- und Publikationsreihe an der Universität Bonn den Namen des Orientalisten Otto Spies – obwohl seine Nähe zum Nationalsozialismus dokumentiert ist. Neue Forschungsergeb...
disorient.de
On the construction and practice of "ordinary" Islam through the lens of one eighteenth century Ottoman traveler and his encounter with a rather unusual saint's shrine in Homs:
At the Tomb of Bābā 'Amr in Homs
A Glimpse at Early Modern Ottoman Islam
jonathanparkesallen.substack.com
Library studies at its best!
Vincent E.@vincente.bsky.social · 9mo agoMy first peer-reviewed article, based on my BA thesis at FU Berlin, has just been published (OA). It traces Palestinian libraries from the late Ottoman period in the so-called Abandoned Property Collection (NLI). Thank you to everyone who supported! doi.org/10.1353/mns.... @sims-mss.bsky.social
My first peer-reviewed article, based on my BA thesis at FU Berlin, has just been published (OA). It traces Palestinian libraries from the late Ottoman period in the so-called Abandoned Property Collection (NLI). Thank you to everyone who supported! doi.org/10.1353/mns.... @sims-mss.bsky.social
Project MUSE - From Private Libraries in Late Ottoman Palestine to "Abandoned Property": Reconstructing the Dajānī Family Manuscript Collections in the National Library of Israel
doi.org
The Hellmut Ritter memorial stone, situated above the German military cemetery in Tarabya. Created in 1986 by Bern Pielemeier at the initiative of Traugott Fuchs. Today, the once open view of the Bosphorus has become overgrown (as the stone itself will be overgrown soon).
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
One of the best archival experiences for me so far has been the Archive of the Turkish Historical Society in Ankara (Türk Tarih Kurumu Arşivi). After my request, they send me within in 24 hours all documents related to my research as pdf and jpg file for free via fileshare.
I always wondered how the Ottoman budget for the year 1904-5 found it's way to the Leiden Special collection. Turns out it might be from the library of Sultan Murad V. "formally bought by Cense [former head of the NIT Istanbul] personally to avoid problems with Turkish customs authorities" in 1962:
It is intriguing to note that parts of these manuscripts were lost to the flames during the destruction of the Leuven library in 1940. One can’t help but wonder what the collectors who transferred antiquities to Europe, often self-identified "saviours", would have to say about it.
Vincent E.@vincente.bsky.social · 10mo agoAnd the twentieth century adds some additional interesting layers (Witkam, Inventory vol. 15, 95):
Still a very nice introduction to get a sense of what has been done in languages other than english before 2000:
I'm feeling a new love for a clumsy sentence or a misspelled word. I imagine a human on the other end. Doing their own typing, like the old days. I'm thinking about styles of writing that might emerge from this-- analogues to a guacamole I once saw advertised as "hand hacked" at a fancy restaurant.
“The Lebanese label produced hundreds, if not thousands, of recordings in Berlin up until the eve of World War II.” Anna-Theresa Bachmann and Hannah El-Hitami explore the history of Baidaphon for @newlinesmag.bsky.social
The Arab World’s First Indie Record Label
A Lebanese family’s global brand reflects the story of 20th-century Europe — and its relationship with the Middle East
newlinesmag.com