Graham Shaw, Director of the British Library Oriental & India Office Collections, has posted on IFLANet an
"assessment of damage to Libraries and Archives in Iraq", which gives a useful concise summary of what is known (and not known) so far about the fate of printed books, MSS & archival collections in Baghdad, Mosul, Basra and elsewhere. It can be found at
http://www.ifla.org/VI/4/admin/iraq0205.htm
[Iraqcrisis List]
Excerpts:
National Archives of Iraq (which shared the same building as the National Library): containing documents from the Ottoman period onwards - size of contents unknown (no published catalogue
traced) – likewise looted and burnt, but again some material at least (e.g. Ottoman cadastral registers) reported to have been evacuated beforehand and to be safe [...]
[Basra] Archives of the Court of Justice: contain the Ottoman period documents on the Basra region - nothing known [...]
[Conclusion] Most serious 'irreplaceable' loss = National Archives - probably some documents from the Ottoman period will be duplicated in archives in Turkey - some documents from the British period will also be found in BL (India Office Records) - but by no means all.
See also the French "APERCU SUR L}ETAT DES BIBLIOTHEQUES ET DEPOTS D}ARCHIVES IRAKIENS AU TERME DE LA GUERRE D}AVRIL 2003" in the same Mailing List.
"assessment of damage to Libraries and Archives in Iraq", which gives a useful concise summary of what is known (and not known) so far about the fate of printed books, MSS & archival collections in Baghdad, Mosul, Basra and elsewhere. It can be found at
http://www.ifla.org/VI/4/admin/iraq0205.htm
[Iraqcrisis List]
Excerpts:
National Archives of Iraq (which shared the same building as the National Library): containing documents from the Ottoman period onwards - size of contents unknown (no published catalogue
traced) – likewise looted and burnt, but again some material at least (e.g. Ottoman cadastral registers) reported to have been evacuated beforehand and to be safe [...]
[Basra] Archives of the Court of Justice: contain the Ottoman period documents on the Basra region - nothing known [...]
[Conclusion] Most serious 'irreplaceable' loss = National Archives - probably some documents from the Ottoman period will be duplicated in archives in Turkey - some documents from the British period will also be found in BL (India Office Records) - but by no means all.
See also the French "APERCU SUR L}ETAT DES BIBLIOTHEQUES ET DEPOTS D}ARCHIVES IRAKIENS AU TERME DE LA GUERRE D}AVRIL 2003" in the same Mailing List.
KlausGraf - am Mittwoch, 7. Mai 2003, 23:35 - Rubrik: English Corner
