Approaching Ottoman History by Complete volumes of all British Colonial Office and Foreign Office Confidential Print for the Middle East. From the Egyptian reforms of Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Middle East Conference of 1921, the Mandates of Palestine and Mesopotamia and the Suez Crisis in 1956, to the partition of Palestine, post-Suez Western foreign policy and the Arab-Israeli conflict, these government documents inform the volatile situation in the region today.
British documents on Ottoman Armenians, 1856-1890 by A unique and challenging type of source for historians is the travel narrative. Especially common during the nineteenth century, Europeans and later Americans would travel abroad and then publish an account of what they saw and experienced. Historians can use these as a perspective on the cultures and events that these writers witnessed, but more often then not, they tell us more about the writer's colonial preconceptions and biases. When using these as primary source, keep in mind the author and intended audience, and think critically about what the traveler saw and could understand about "the Other."
Missionaries also see the world through a unique lens, sometimes combining colonial perspectives with their mission to proselytize and win religious conversions. Unlike their touring and traveling counterparts, missionaries typically spent long periods of time in one place and developed relationships with their host communities. Consider all of these dynamics as you read and interpret the writings of missionaries.
To find published travel narratives from all time periods, search the FSU Library for a geographic location (e.g. country, city, region) plus the phrase "description and travel."
The Nineteenth Century Collections Online includes Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange; British Politics and Society; British Theatre, Music, Literature: High and Popular Culture; Children's Literature and Childhood; European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection; Europe and Africa, Colonialism and Culture; Mapping the World: Maps and Travel Literature; Photography: The World Through the Lens; Religion, Spirituality, Reform, and Society; Science, Technology, and Medicine, 1780–1925; Science, Technology, and Medicine, 1780–1925, Part II; Women: Transnational Networks.
Orientalism by International newspapers may also provide useful coverage of events in the Middle East. Keep in mind what perspectives the authors and publishers of these newspapers may bring to their subject.
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