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Discover the latest developments in private archives, institutional news, exhibitions, events, publications, and archival work.
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40 Women 40 Lives
The private archive of 40 women who played significant roles in Ottoman and Republican history is brought to readers through the book "40 Women 40 Lives". In collaboration with the Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation and İBB Publications, the private archive of 40 women located in Istanbul's archival institutions will meet readers in November with the book "40 Women 40 Lives in Women’s Private Archives". The book, prepared with contributions from 38 expert authors and the library collective, explores the life stories of 40 women from Pertevniyal Valide Sultan to Fatma Aliye Hanım, Halide Edip, Sabiha Sertel, Necile Tevfik, Behice Boran, Adalet Ağaoğlu, Muazzez İlmiye Çığ, Şirin Tekeli, and the younger generation's Şefika Şehvar Beşiroğlu through their private archives. In the preface of the book, Prof. Dr. Tûba Çavdar Karatepe notes that the life stories of these women challenge boundaries, allowing us to view historical, political, and social dimensions comprehensively. She expresses that this work aims to draw attention to private archives, particularly women's private archives, highlighting the importance of organizing these archives for researchers and the significance of donating private archives. The Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation significantly contributes to enriching women's private archives and making these archives accessible to researchers. The Private Archive Collection houses women's private archives from Süreyya Ağaoğlu to Kerime Nadir, from Safiye Hüseyin Elbi to Hasene Ilgaz, and from Jale Baysal to Zerrin Bölükbaşı. Süreyya Ağaoğlu 40 Women 40 Lives Invisible Private Spaces Behind the Public Sphere Through the book 40 Women 40 Lives in Women’s Private Archives, the value of archives located in institutions such as the Atatürk Library, Boğaziçi University Archive and Documentation Centre, Tek-Esin Foundation, Salt Research, Kubbealtı Academy Culture and Arts Foundation, and the Turkish Social History Research Foundation (TÜSTAV) is reminded to readers. The documents found in Pertevniyal Valide Sultan’s archive reflect the 19th century of the Ottoman Empire. This archive reveals a woman's struggle for power, her rise and fall, covering political history, social change, consumer culture, the nature of property, etc. The documents also allow for a gender perspective on the life of a woman who rose from concubinage to Valide Sultan. The archive includes numerous documents related to farms in İzmir, Tırhala, and Yenişehir, the Valide Sultan Mosque in Aksaray, lodges, the Gureba Hospital in Medina, rifles purchased for the military with Valide Sultan's personal funds, donations made to the army, letters signed by Valide Sultan, ledgers related to income, documents concerning the upbringing and internal affairs of the sultan, expense ledgers belonging to Fatma Sultan and other women in the harem, tezkire, ilmühaber, pusula, receipt bonds, lease contracts, a comprehensive report written about the school established by Pertevniyal Valide Sultan in Aksaray, sketches, plans, receipts showing the values of lands belonging to Pertevniyal Valide Sultan, and various correspondences. Zerrin Bölükbaşı Source: Habere Güven, 03.11.2022, https://www.habereguven.com/40-kadin-40-hayat
Publications
The Book of Antiquarian Booksellers – Conversations with the Last Antiquarian Booksellers of Istanbul
The Book of Antiquarian Booksellers – Conversations with the Last Antiquarian Booksellers of Istanbul has been published. Editors: Fulya İbanoğlu, Filiz Dığıroğlu, İsmail Kara. The book features interviews with eight antiquarian booksellers. Enderun Antiquarian Bookseller - İsmail ÖzdoğanEnderun Bookstore - İsmail ErünsalAntiquarian Bookseller Hilmi - Hilmi MerttürkmenMüteferrika Antiquarian Bookseller - Lütfü SeymenTurkuaz Antiquarian Bookseller - Emin Nedret İşliNigâr Antiquarian Bookseller - Asuman BektaşBabil Antiquarian Bookseller - Lütfi BayerBahtiyar Antiquarian Bookseller - Bahtiyar İstekli Additionally, there are essays about each antiquarian bookseller by Mustafa Kutlu, Mustafa Uzun, Sabri Koz, Ömer Erdem, Ayhan Aktar, Heath W. Lovry, Erol Üyepazarcı, Ömer Faruk Şerifoğlu, Haluk Oral, and Bora Keskiner. Source: https://twitter.com/DergahYay/status/1526263021588422656?s=20&t=zGIzfkqgDhW6_Sc9ByCJig
Publications
The Memory of Historical Cities: The Book on City Archives and Museums Published!
On the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the Union of Historical Cities, the book titled The Memory of Historical Cities: City Archives and Museums has been published. Prepared by the ÇEKÜL Foundation, the book closely examines the concept of city museums and the museum approach of the Union of Historical Cities through the writings of experts. To access the book: https://www.tarihikentlerbirligi.org/wp-content/uploads/Kent_Arsivleri_Muzeleri_21inci_Yil_min.pdf City Museum from the Experts' Perspective: The Memory of Historical Cities: City Archives and Museums is a rich book that brings together articles written by experts in the field, accompanied by photographs of museums from different cities. The book addresses the museum approach of the Union of Historical Cities through the concept of “belonging,” featuring writings by Ahmet Ömer Erdönmez on “The Contribution of the Union of Historical Cities to Museology in Turkey,” Ahmet Onur Altun on “Rural Memory Places: Village Museums,” Kibele Eren on “Museum Education of the Union of Historical Cities,” S. Yeşim Dizdaroğlu on “City Museums as Educational Spaces,” Ayşen Kılıç Özarslantürk on “Conservation Policies and Museums in Urban Life,” and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nevra Ertürk on “Preparedness for Risks in Museums,” providing various perspectives on city museums. In its final section, the book focuses on the Museum Encouragement Competition organized by the Union of Historical Cities since 2016, conveying information about the content and operation of the competition; it reflects all the cities and museums that have participated in the competition from its inception to the present, along with their photographs. The Memory of Historical Cities: City Archives and Museums concludes with the Museum Inventory of the Union of Historical Cities. The inventory is continuously updated alongside the increasing number of museums. The book, which addresses the development and quality of museums in historical cities of Anatolia at different scales, from education and conservation to the impact of natural disasters on natural and cultural heritage, and the interaction of museum structures with the city and its inhabitants, serves as an important reference for municipalities and experts in the field. Source: https://www.cekulvakfi.org.tr/haber/tarihi-kentlerin-hafizasi-kent-arsivleri-ve-muzeleri-kitabi-yayimlandi
Publications
Documents on Adana and the Liberation of Adana in the War of Independence
A new publication from the History Foundation: Documents on Adana and the Liberation of Adana in the War of Independence Prepared by: Mehmet Ö. ALKAN The documents included in the work titled "Documents on Adana and the Liberation of Adana in the War of Independence" have been selected from thousands of records found during an extensive study involving the ATASE, TİTE, the Republic of Turkey Presidency Ottoman and Republic Archives, the TTK Library, as well as local and national press reviews. The selected records are presented chronologically, including both originals and transcriptions. Thus, a comprehensive set of documents has been created that researchers can utilize as primary sources with archival references. Source: https://twitter.com/tarihvakfi_/status/1515325344009670662?s=20&t=q-id2Jn4pTXT4r8T8TCPRQ
Publications
Establishment and Development of Heybeliada Sanatorium (1924-1955)
Dr. Tevfik İsmail Gökçe's book titled Establishment and Development of Heybeliada Sanatorium (1924-1955), published in 1957, has been reissued by the Istanbul Tuberculosis Foundation last October, with notes and appendices by Fatih Artvinli, Cem Hakan Başaran, and Tuna Pektaş. Tuna Pektaş: "Since 2018, I have been documenting the sanatorium building, creating an ephemera and photograph collection. In the book, you can also find current visuals that I have recorded since 2020, as well as archival photographs of Heybeliada Sanatorium from my collection. Additionally, this book reveals the library catalog of the sanatorium, which includes records of 5,280 books registered in the library between 1935 and 1973. The catalog also features novels donated to the sanatorium by Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar." The book is available for free from the Istanbul Gümüşsuyu Tuberculosis Foundation. Photo credit: Kayhan Kaygusuz Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcJdPl6Dt6z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Publications
Information and Document Studies: Theory and Practice in Private Archives
Information and document management is a field that is constantly enriched, renewed, has very broad boundaries, and is highly enjoyable to work in. Those who enter the profession after undergraduate education increase their knowledge over time, finding new solutions to problems they have not encountered before and developing innovative services with new methods. I have always believed that it would be very beneficial for these good practices to have more presence in both the literature and the curricula. I am working to ensure that some of the elective courses in our curriculum are taught by successful librarians and archivists. However, due to bureaucratic reasons, this seems to take some time. In a recent letter from our rectorate, it is requested that "...the needs for teaching staff in your unit should primarily be met by assigning the university's permanent teaching staff to courses and thesis supervision,..." and the reason for this is explained as financial obligations related to the audits of the Court of Accounts. Given this situation for courses, we began to think together with Research Assistant Dr. Elif Yılmaz Şentürk and Research Assistant Varol Sağlam, with whom we frequently discuss how theory and practice complement each other and the importance of case presentations in the process we worked together on the Marmara Visual Memory Project. We decided to publish a series of books that will bring together both theoretical studies and other stakeholders, practitioners, problem-solvers, thinkers, those with different perspectives, and good examples on the topics we selected. We determined the subject of the first book to be private archives, which we consider important and a priority.