THE ROLE OF THE DOCUMENTS AND MANUSCRIPTS CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF JORDAN IN PRESERVING RECORDS RELATED TO THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE THROUGH ELECTRONIC COMPUTING

Abstract

Dr. Fatima Salim Al Tarawneh*

The establishment of the Documents and Manuscripts Center at the University of Jordan was a response to a need felt by university's founders since its establishment. In 1972/1973, the Royal Decree was issued to establish this center, which became a pioneering landmark of the university that plays its role in encouraging scientific research, preserving heritage, and providing a conducive environment for students. The center's mission includes collecting documents, manuscripts, records of Sharia courts, Islamic endowments, newspapers, in addition to collecting reports, maps, narratives, files, memoirs and photos, preserving and documenting them in accordance with scientific standards.

Sharia Documents are also considered one of the most important historical sources, and these documents include laws, decrees, proclamations, appointments, transactions, personal status cases, marriage contracts, divorces, inheritance inventories and endowments.

Therefore, Sharia records chronicle historical facts about social, economic, administrative, and cultural life, which do not exist elsewhere, unveiling the ambiguity surrounding the Ottoman era in the Levant.

Based on the aforementioned, this study aims to highlight the role of the Documents and Manuscripts Center at the University of Jordan in preserving the history of the Levant during the Ottoman era by digitizing all the relevant records, manuscripts and documents related to this period, and thus allows researchers and specialists in modern and contemporary Levantine history to access rich scientific material previously scattered, consolidating historical knowledge within an electronic cloud, facilitating study of this period.