Primary contact
Arabian Child Building
Facing Eastern House
al-Sheikh Gatah
Jerusalem
Identity area
Identifier
JM-MIN
Authorized form of name
Is'af al-Nashashibi Library (MIN)
Parallel form(s) of name
Other form(s) of name
- Issaf Nashashibi Center for Culture and Literature
Type
Contact area
Type
Address
Street address
Arabian Child Building
Facing Eastern House
al-Sheikh Gatah
Locality
Jerusalem
Region
Country name
Postal code
Telephone
+ 972 (0) 2 581 8232
Fax
+ 972 (0) 2 581 3233
Note
Description area
History
The Isa’f Nashashibi Center is the name of the mansion in which the Palestinian literary figure, Isa’f al-Nashashibi lived. Ownership of the property was transferred officially to the Dar Al-Tifl al-'Arabi Institution, which was founded by late Hind al-Husayni, who after the 1948 war, took care of orphans of Palestinian families. Its current director is Ms. Mahira al-Dajjani.
The impressive building known after its original owner was turned into a research centre by Dr Ishaq Al-Husseini in 1982. The building built in 1924 was used as the French Consulate until 1961 and the German School of Archaeology until 1982. Only in 1997 it was decided to renovate it and reopened it as a centre of culture and literature and part of the Dar al-Tifl al-'arabi.
Geographical and cultural context
Mandates/Sources of authority
Administrative structure
Records management and collecting policies
Buildings
Holdings
The main collections came as gifts from famous individuals such as Aref al-Aref, Fawzi Yussef, Mohammad al-Husseini, Wajiha al-Husseini, Nasser al-Din Nashashibi and the personal collection of Dr Issaq al-Husseini. The library contains 780 manuscripts and 500 rare books. The oldest manuscript is dated to 1175 AD.
The manuscripts are in Arabic, although the library also owns about 30 titles written in Ottoman Turkish and Persian. Half of the manuscript titles, like others in the libraries of Jerusalem, are related to the Islamic religion and its branches of fiqh, hadith, Sufism and the sciences of the Qur'an; while Arabic language and literature forms about a quarter of the total number of the manuscripts. The remaining quarter includes scattered topics, including the manuscripts written in Ottoman Turkish and Persian. The manuscript collection has been copied onto 16 mm microfilm. The microfilms can be used with prior permission from the center’s microfilm reader.
Finding aids, guides and publications
The collection has been catalogued by Dr Bashir Baraqat (Bashir Barakat, Catalog of Manuscripts of Is'af al-Nashashibi Library, Jerusalem 2002, 2 vols). The collection has been fully digitised and is available on CD or by order through email.
Access area
Opening times
Saturday – Thursday, 08:00 - 15:00
Access conditions and requirements
The archive is opened to the public, and there is no need to make an appointment.
Accessibility
Services area
Research services
Reproduction services
Documents can be photocopied, using the photocopier and scanner available.
Public areas
Control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Entry prepared on November 2018.
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
http://parc-us-pal.org/resources/jerusalemArchives.htm#fourteen
Jerusalem historical libraries and archives revisited, Revised report prepared for Open Jerusalem, October 2014, Merav Mack
Maintenance notes
Author: Open Jerusalem http://www.openjerusalem.org/