The University Libraries own approximately 1400 manuscripts in several languages of which the majority are in Arabic. They have been collected throughout the last century by illustrious faculty members of the University such as Dr. Harvey Porter, Dr. Asad Rustum, President Bayard Dodge and librarians. The core clusters were acquired from prestigious private libraries of the American Mission, the Syrian Association, Nawfal Nawfal and the distinguished Lebanese historian Issa Iskandar al-Ma’luf. Their richness of subjects such as theology, Arabic language and literature, history, geography and the sciences attract numerous researchers from all over the world. Some have become well-known and have acquired a name of their own such as the Beirut Codex in Syriac. The manuscripts were catalogued by Dr. Yusuf Khoury, Librarian at the time, and listed in his catalog ‘al-Makhtutat al-‘Arabiyah al-mawjudah fi maktabat al-Jami’ah al-Amirikiyah fi Bayrut’ in 1985.

Digitized Arabic Manuscripts

In 2002 the "AUB Manuscripts Appraisal Project" was undertaken and contracted to Mr. Nabil Saidi, expert in appraising and evaluating Oriental manuscripts.

Twenty seven valuable manuscripts were selected and then digitized by the Digital Documentation Center at AUB. These manuscripts appear on the website of the University Libraries, with informative descriptions provided by Mr. Saidi.

All queries about the manuscripts may be directed to the Archives and Special Collections staff at:
asc@aub.edu.lb, ext.2609/10.