Research Guides: MES : Middle East Studies: Primary Sources

Middle East

Confidential Print: Middle East [AM Digital] 1839-1969 This link opens in a new window
Letters, telegrams, reports, treaties, etc. generated by the British Foreign and Colonial offices. Topics include the 19th century Egyptian reforms of Muhammad Ali Pasha; the Middle East Conference of 1921; the Mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia; the Suez Crisis in 1956; the partition of Palestine; post-Suez Western foreign policy; the Arab-Israeli conflict; etc.
Empire Online [AM Digital] This link opens in a new window
Primary sources related to colonial history, politics, culture and society, from Columbus to debates on American Imperialism, in thematic sections: Cultural Contacts; the Literature of Empire; the Visible Empire; Religion; and Race, Class & Imperialism.

Iranian Oral History Project (Harvard)
The collection consists of the personal accounts of 134 individuals who played major roles in or were eyewitnesses to important political events in Iran from the 1920s to the 1980s. Of these, 118 narratives have been digitized and are available to researchers through this database. The collection provides scholars and practitioners the opportunity to listen to and read the personal accounts of many of Iran's former political leaders as they recall the times and events that shaped their lives and the life of their country.

Empire Online [AM Digital] This link opens in a new window
Offers images of original (primary source) documents taken from libraries and archives around the world including correspondence, diaries, literature and illustrations. Includes essays by leading scholars in the field of Empire Studies. Covers a range of topics and includes Africa, the Americans, Australasia, Oceania and South Asia. Includes documents published between 1492-1969.