Family Papers: Studies in the Contemporary Social History of Palestine

This book addresses important phases of the modern history of Palestine using family papers, memoirs, diaries and photos as primary sources. In the first section, the book examines the numerous archives that offer important sources to study the Palestinian history, assessing the archive contents, including Israeli archives, the archives of Jerusalem churches, the records of religious, civil and military courts, and the building register in Palestine.

The second session is a collection of studies based on family papers especially by individuals who played different roles in the history of Palestine in the twentieth century. In the third section, a number of researchers use public archives of a different aspect such as the "Tabu" papers (title deeds), legal registers, photos and registers of the British police.

The fourth section covers the diaries of the Palestinian elite during the British mandate, along with the religious endowment in Jerusalem according to Ottoman registers and manuscripts. It also highlights the story of Karima Abboud, the first photographer in Palestine.

These studies have been presented as papers in a conference held by the Institute of Jerusalem Studies in Beir Zeit University in the summer of 2008. In this book, we collected the best articles submitted during the conference.

Contributors:

Bechara Doumani, Mousa Srour, George Hantelian, Mustafa Kabha, Samera Esmir, Salim Tamari, Hanna Abu Hanna, Adel Yahya, Kimberly Katz, Issam Nasar, Saleh Abdul Jawad, Samih Hamoudah, Mohammad Ghosheh, Khodr Salameh, Ahmad Marwat.