Is'af al-Nashashibi Library (MIN)

• Issaf Nashashibi Center for Culture and Literature

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.

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.

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.

Saturday – Thursday, 08:00 - 15:00

The archive is opened to the public, and there is no need to make an appointment.

Documents can be photocopied, using the photocopier and scanner available.

Entry prepared on November 2018.

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

Author: Open Jerusalem http://www.openjerusalem.org/