Initiated in the Fall of 2003, the project Historians of the Ottoman Empire aims at filling an extensive gap in the field of Ottoman Studies by offering scholars a major bio-bibliographical reference book on Ottoman historians.
In
contrast to earlier similar projects
in the field, Historians of the Ottoman Empire intends to comprise all the
historians who have lived and produced
within the geographical limits of
the Ottoman Empire -- regardless
of the language in which they wrote.
The reference book will thus cover
works of history primarily in Turkish,
but also in Arabic, Persian, Armenian,
Greek, and other languages.
To
our surprise, the first few months
of
study generated a list consisting
of almost a thousand historians (Franz
Babinger's work from 1927 on the
same subject listed about 380 historians).
Even this stage of the project demonstrates
the dire need to update the reference
material that scholars have been
using up to now.
The
editors, in consultation with an
international board of advisors,
have set up a list of scholars who have already researched
and written about particular Ottoman historians; these scholars are being
contacted and assigned the relevant
entries. As the articles accumulate,
the results will be made available
to researchers through the World
Wide Web.
The
most important intended contribution
of this project is to accompany each
author-entry with a list of manuscripts
(along with their locations) for
this author's works. Unpublished
manuscripts will be given particular
attention, and a short summary or
a table of contents will be provided.
The
Historians of the Ottoman Empire is intended to be a major reference
work for scholars and students
of
the Middle East, North Africa,
South-East Europe, and the Caucasus,
as well
as for non-specialists interested
in the histories and cultures of
these regions.
All information on this web site is copyrighted ©. Articles may be used by giving
proper credit to the authors and
the web site. They may not be reproduced,
altered, or distributed in any form.
Please also refer to the two related
questions in FAQ. |
