Middle Eastern Studies Resources

This selection of resources in Middle Eastern Studies is designed to help you navigate through the wealth of information in Fondren's collections. It is not a comprehensive list.

Indexes & Databases

Indexes can be used to locate articles by topic, title, or author. Other general indexes which may also include relevant information can be found on the Journal Indexes & Databases page.

online | print & CDROM

Online Indexes

Contemporary Authors (courtesy of Texshare) | includes Full Text

Contemporary Authors helps researchers discover biographic details on approximately 100,000 modern novelists, poets, playwrights, non-fiction writers, journalists and scriptwriters. Current writers as well as the most-studied literary figures of the early 20th century, and authors from around the world whose works have been translated into English or published in the United States are featured.

CountryWatch | includes Full Text

Contains detailed textual, data and graphic information for countries and regions. Topics include: country overviews, political history and conditions, economic status, investment overviews, social background, and environmental situation and issues.

Historical Abstracts | includes Full Text

Complete reference guide to the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life). Published since 1954, Historical Abstracts has long been recognized as the leading bibliography for historical study in the world. Currently over 2,000 journals published throughout the world are covered.

International Medieval Bibliography (Note down-loadable IMB-fonts for non-Arabic characters in indexed literature)

The International Medieval Bibliography was founded in 1967 with the support of the Medieval Academy of America, with the aim of providing a comprehensive, current bibliography of articles in journals and miscellany volumes (conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften) worldwide. The discipline areas to which the IMB is relevant include Classics, English Language and Literature, History and Archaeology, Theology and Philosophy, Medieval European Languages and Literatures, Arabic and Islamic Studies, History of Education, Art History, Music, Theatre and Performance Arts, Rhetoric and Communication Studies. (1981-)

Iter Gateway to the Renaissance

Includes a journals database, which includes approximately 135,000 records from scholarly journals pertaining to the Renaissance (1300-1700) and Middle Ages (400-1500), as well as a monographs database (under construction), which acts as a bibliography of monographs, material published in monographs, and collected essays pertaining to the Renaissance (1300-1700) and, eventually, the Middle Ages (400-1500).

JSTOR | includes Full Text | Source List

JSTOR provides online, fulltext access to over 300 core scholarly journals from date of inception to a "moving wall" of 2-5 years from present. The archived collection includes journals in humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The content is searchable by author, title, fulltext with limits by discipline, year, and article type. (Note: pop-up blocking must be disabled.)

LexisNexis Academic | includes Full Text | Source List

Includes government and legal information with access to government and political news, legal news, and state and federal statutes and case law. Also includes law reviews, state and country profiles and other news and reference resources.

P.A.I.S. [Public Affairs Information Service] Combined login with Archive (1915-1976) | includes Full Text

PAIS includes more than 200,000 records from the last ten years relating to the area of public affairs. Citations are to articles from journals, magazines and newspapers, books and book chapters, conference proceedings, and government documents. This database, which has an international focus, is an excellent source for materials on political science, international relations, diplomacy, and any topic which is international in scope. (Alternate interface languages include: French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.) (1975-)

Print & CDROM Indexes

Index Islamicus (CDROM)

Holdings:  ed.3 (1906-1999)

Call Number:  Z3013 .I54  REFERENCE DESK

(Other available formats:  print issues for 2000+ are on order.)

Newspapers

Microforms located in Government Publications (Fondren basement)
Current issues located in Current Periodicals Room

Arab News

Print Holdings:  current 2 months

Call Number:  AN3 .A72

Hayat

Print Holdings:  current 2 months

Call Number:  AN9 .H5

Iran Times

Print Holdings:  current 2 months

Call Number:  AN2.W3 I7

Notes: Published in Washington

Sharq al-Awsat

Notes: Published in London

Text Collections

online | print & CDROM

Online Text Collections

Digital Dissertations and Theses from ProQuest/UMI

A comprehensive source for doctoral dissertations from the United States and Canada. Includes citations for dissertations ranging from 1861 to those accepted last semester. A limited number of master's theses is also included. Titles represent authors from North America and Europe, with over a million titles in full text.

Digital National Security Archive

The database contains more than 35,000 of the most important, declassified U.S. federal documents that led to policy decisions. The Digital National Security Archive contains fifteen complete collections: Afghanistan, Berlin Crisis 1958-1962, Cuban Missile Crisis, El Salvador, Iran-Contra Affair, Intelligence Community, Iran Revolution, Iraqgate, Military Uses of Space, Nicaragua, Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Philippines, Presidential Directives from Truman to Clinton, South Africa, and Soviet Estimate.

Empire Online: 1492-1962

This project is being published in five sections between 2003 and 2007 offering over 60,000 images of original documents linked to essays by leading scholars in the field. These are: Section I: Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969 (March 2003); Section II: Empire Writing and the Literature of Empire (March 2004); Section III: The Visible Empire (Winter 2004/5); Section IV: Religion and Empire (Winter 2005/6); and Section V: Race, Class and Colonialism, c1783-1969 (Winter 2006/7).

Koran

This is an electronic version of The Holy Qur'an, translated by M.H. Shakir and published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an, Inc., in 1983. It is made available through The Humanities Text Intitiative at the University of Michigan.

Print & CDROM Text Collections

Arab Dissident Movements, 1905-1955

Call Number:  DS63.6 .A73  STACKS

v.1: 1905-1920; v.2: 1921-1932; v.3: 1933-1946; v.4: 1947-1955

British Documents on Foreign Affairs--reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Series B: The Near and Middle East.

Call Number:  See Description  STACKS

Part I: 1860-1914: JX632 .B734; Part II: 1914-1939: JX632 .B75; Part III: 1940-1945: JX632 .B83; Part IV: 1946-1950: JX632 .B832

Diplomacy in the Near and Middle East: a documentary record.

Call Number:  DS42 .H78  STACKS

v.1: 1535-1914; v.2: 1914-1956

Islamic Movements in the Arab World, 1913-1966

Call Number:  BP173.7 .I75  STACKS

v.1: 1913-1924; v.2: 1925-1933; v.3: 1934-1948; v.4: 1949-1966.

Microform Sets

Arab-Islamic Biographical Archive

Call Number:  DS37.2 .A73  microfiche

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Online information at http://www.gale.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=745&titleCode=KGS003&type=2&id=179718

Reproduces a one-alphabet cumulation of the most important biographical reference works on the Arab world published between 1858 and 1993. A separate name index provides identifying information to individuals contained in the works.

Church Missionary Society Archive

Call Number:  BV 2500.C48A3  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title with general reel guide

Guide:  Guides for each section. Online information at http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/church_missionary_society_archive_general/editorial%20introduction%20by%20rosemary%20keen.aspx

Sec.1 East Asia, Sec.2 Missions to Women, Sec. 3 Central Records, Sec. IV Africa, Sec. V The Americas, Sec. VI Asia

Colonial Discourses

Call Number:  DA 16.8.C65  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title with general reel guide in contents

Guide:  Series 1,pt.1 only; Online guide at http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/colonial_discourses_series_one/index.aspx

Series One: Women, travel, and empire, 1660-1914. Part 1: Early travel accounts by women and women's experiences in India, Africa, Australasia, and Canada. Parts 2 & 3: Women and the Orient. Series Two: Imperial adventurers and explorers. Part 1: Papers of Sir Richard Burton. Series Three: Colonial Fiction, 1650-1914. Part 1: Fiction from India.

Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files: Iran, 1945-1963

Call Number:  DS318 .C65 - DS318 .C654  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series

Guide:  Reel guides for 1945-1959; Online guide at http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/2upa/Imes/sdCentralIran.asp

Islamfiche; readings from Islamic Primary Sources, Series I

Call Number:  D 199.3.I84   microfiche

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:   Table of Contents, Indexes, and Abstracts for the 49 text selections for Series I. Fiche is filed in microfiche collection, not in binder as indicated in LIBRIS record.

Middle East Politics & Diplomacy, 1904-1950: the papers of Sir Ronald Storrs (1881-1956) from Pembroke College, Cambridge

Call Number:  DD469 .G7 S754  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Guide

Papers of Sir Ronald Storrs from Pembroke College, Cambridge

Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Asia, 1910-1929

Call Number:  DS35.77 .R43  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Printed guide and finding aid including brief abstracts on microfilm reels 1-4

Reels 1-6 contain document lists; reels 8-17 relate to Azerbaijan, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia; and reel 28 relates to Afghanistan, Transjordan, and Yemen.

Turkish Biographical Archive

Call Number:  CT1902 .T87  microfiche

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Guide included in fiche

Western Books:The Middle East from the Rise of Islam

Call Number:  DS 42.4.W47 1994   microfiche

Library Catalog Access:  series & individual titles

Guide:  Guides for each unit thru unit 10

Received as published.

Reference Works

Language Dictionaries:

Language dictionaries can be found in the Reference section under the following call number ranges. Some older dictionaries may also be available in the Stacks for check-out.

• Arabic: PJ6001-8517
• Armenian: PK8001-8451
• Persian (Ancient-Modern): PK6001-6399
• Turkish: PL21-396

Encyclopædia Iranica. Ehsan Yarshater. Routledge & Kegan Paul; Mazda: 1982-.

Call Number:  DS253 .E52   REFERENCE

Encyclopaedia of Islam. (CDROM) Brill: 2002.

Holdings:  v.1-10

Call Number:  DS35.53 .E532   REFERENCE DESK

Other available formats:  PRINT: DS37 .E5 (v. 1-11) REFERENCE

Encyclopaedia of Islam. new ed. H.A.R. Gibb, et al. Brill: 1954-2002.

Holdings:  v.1-11

Call Number:  DS37 .E51   REFERENCE

Other available formats:  v.1-10 available on CDROM

Encyclopedia of World Cultures. David Levinson. G.K. Hall: 1991-1996.

Call Number:  GN307 .E53   REFERENCE

v.1 North America; v.2 Oceania; v.3 South Asia; v.4 Europe (Central, Western, and Southeastern Europe); v.5 East and Southeast Asia; v.6 Russia and Eurasia, China; v.7 South America; v.8 Middle America and the Caribbean; v.9 Africa and the Middle East; v.10 Indexes

Historic World Leaders. Anne Commire. Gale: 1994.

Call Number:  CT104 .H57   REFERENCE

v.1 Africa, Middle East, Asia, Pacific; v.2-3 Europe; v.4-5 North & South America

Historical Atlas of Islam. (Includes CDROM) 2nd, rev. ed. Hugh Kennedy. Brill: 2002.

Call Number:  G1786 .S1 H6   REF-ATLAS

International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages

IEMA Online is a supplement to Lexikon des Mittelalters online, providing original articles that cover the time period 300-1500 CE, in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Lexikon des Mittelalters online

The standard encyclopaedia for medieval studies. It deals with all branches of Medieval Studies and covers the period from 300 to 1500 AD/CE for the whole of Europe and parts of the Middle East and North Africa. Users can perform automatic bibliographic searches in the International Medieval Bibliography Online.

Oxford Dictionary of Islam. John L. Esposito. Oxford University Press : 2003.

Available Online

Call Number:  BP40 .O95 2003   STACKS

Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. John L. Esposito. Oxford: 1995.

Call Number:  DS35.53 .O95   REFERENCE

Films at Fondren Library

The following are live WebCat searches which retrieve current lists of our films in the languages specified, most of which have English subtitles. The Language Resource Center also collects foreign-language films. You can search their catalog on the Language Resource Center Website.

Arabic Films

Armenian Films

Iranian Films

Turkish Films

You can also search our catalog for a specific film by title, director or main actors (via author search); or, on the power search page, you can limit a keyword search to films by selecting a format of "VM" (Visual Materials).

Checkout for films is as follows:

Videotape 1 films (documentaries) circulate to all Rice patrons for a week.

Videotape 2 films (feature films) circulate to Faculty for 3 days; Staff and Students can view the films inside the Library (we have recently upgraded our viewing equipment).