MEDOC and Mamluk Studies Resources

Mamluk Studies Resources

The Middle East Documentation Center at The University of Chicago

The Middle East Documentation Center

MEDOC is a research unit supporting scholarly work in Middle Eastern Studies. It is currently undertaking a number of projects to this end.

MEDOC is coordinating the development, through the cooperative efforts of many libraries, of a microfilmed collection of resources pertinent to Middle Eastern Studies. The Catalogue of Microforms Projects in Ottoman, Persian and Arabic represents the fruits of this ongoing project.

MEDOC publishes and serves as the editorial focal point for Mamlūk Studies Review.

The most well-known online project of MEDOC is the The Chicago Online Bibliography of Mamluk Studies, two searchable databases listing primary and secondary literature from or relating to the Mamluk period.

MEDOC has several online projects in development:

The Mamluk Mint Series Web Resource was inaugurated in 2003 with support from the U.S. Department of Education. The goal of this project is to create a classification system for Mamluk coins to supercede that given by Paul Balog in his 1964 book The Coinage of the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt and Syria, which cannot be conveniently expanded, and to provide online images of the Mamluk coins held in various museums and research institutes around the world. The results of this endeavor, in the form of a searchable online database, will be available in due course on this site.

The Arabic Translation Databank is an attempt to identify all translations of modern and classical Arabic literature (broadly defined) into English. Compilation and programming of the database is in progress. When a sufficient mass of items is reached, the database will be available on this site. The further intention is to make available online as many of these texts as possible, including both those which are in the public domain and those whose copyright holders grant permission. This project is being undertaken in cooperation with Mideast Medievalists.

MEDOC publishes Chicago Studies on the Middle East, on behalf of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Chicago.

MEDOC created the Mamluk Listserv as a discussion forum for scholars interested in the history and culture of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria.

To subscribe, see https://lists.uchicago.edu/web/info/mamluk