Guides: HIS 344: Classical Islam & the Middle East: Primary Sources

Art & Architecture

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The MFA's Art of Asia collection contains art, objects, and artifacts from the Islamic world.

Explore the exhibitions section for past exhibitions on Islamic art. In particular - check out the "Sacred Pages: Conversations about the Qur'an" exhibition page.
Harvard Art Museums
Browse the collections of the Harvard Art Museums for their collections on Islamic art.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Browse the MET's collection of Islamic art from amulets and talismans to carpets to calligraphy.

Primary Source Documents of the Islamic World

Internet Islamic History Sourcebook
A subset of primary source material from Fordham University's three online Sourcebooks pertaining to Islamic studies.
IMS: Selected Sources Islam
The Internet Medieval Sourcebook project is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts available for educational use. The sourcebook is organized and maintained by Fordham University.
Cambridge Digital Library
Cambridge University Library's collection of Islamic manuscripts dates from the origins of Arabic scholarship in Cambridge in the 1630s when the University founded a Professorship in Arabic and William Bedwell donated a Qurʼān to the Library. Among their digitized collection includes a complete illustrated Qur'an and a number of very early fragments dating back to the first centuries of the Islamic calendar.
Islamic Heritage Project
A digital collection of Islamic manuscripts, published texts, and maps from across Harvard's libraries and museums.

Primary Source Material

Primary sources can be a variety of materials in different mediums. The key to identifying primary source materials is determining if this source originates or was created during the time under study. Sources were present during the event or time period and offer a first-hand perspective on the historical event or time period under study. Examples of primary source documents include:

Artifacts
Images/Visual Art
Maps
Music
Official Documents
Documents written during the time under study
Personal Accounts
Travel Narratives