Library Research Guide for British Colonial and Foreign Relations Sources

Britain and Palestine, 1914-1948: archival sources for the history of the British Mandate,  by Philip Jones. Oxford : Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1979, 246 p.
Widener  |  WID-LC    |  DS149.Z99 J597 x
HOLLIS Record
--Some of this material may be available online or in microfilm.  Search in HOLLIS and WorldCat.  Microfilm not available at Harvard can often be obtained via InterLibrary Loan. We can help determine is an archival collection is accessible.
--Personal papers section (pp. 1-141 ) includes brief account of service and positions held for each person.  Organizations and Societies section (pp. 142-168) Includes brief organizations histories)

A guide to manuscripts and documents in the British Isles relating to the Middle East and North Africa, by Noel Matthews and M. Doreen Wainwright ; ed. by J. D. Pearson. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1980. xvii, 482 p.
Widener | WID-LC | CD1048.N4 M37
HOLLIS Record

Sources for the history of the British in the Middle East, 1800-1978. University of Oxford, Middle East Centre, Private Papers Collection. London: Mansell, 1979. 22 microfiches.
HOLLIS Records
--Offers a catalog of the Private Papers Collection in the Middle East Centre, St. Anthony College, Oxford. Includes material  on British Mandate Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states from World War I on. Descriptions of individual items and  information on other collections.

Britain in the Middle East, 1921-1956: an annotated bibliography, by Vincent Ponko, Jr. NY: Garland Pub., 1990, 513 p.
HOLLIS Record

Britain's elusive empire in the Middle East, 1900-1921: an annotated bibliography, by William J. Olson. NY: Garland Pub., 1982, 404 p.
HOLLIS Record
Internet Archive Full Text

Personal Narratives

To find personal writings by British administrators and others, search in HOLLIS Library Catalog Advanced  search: Iraq OR "Middle East" AND Narratives OR Diaries OR Correspondence OR Memoir?.

Britain in the Middle East, 1921-1956: an annotated bibliography, by Vincent Ponko, Jr. NY: Garland Pub., 1990, 513 p.
HOLLIS Record
--Chapter III, Works written by or about Westerners Related to the Middle East (pp. 143-224), is an annotated bibliography of travel books, memoirs of British colonial figures, and biographies.

Confidential print. Middle East includes Egypt. Contains printed material, from single letters to large volumes, circulated to officials in the Foreign or Colonial Office, to the Cabinet, and to heads of British missions abroad. Nature and Scope

The creation of modern Iraq: British India office files, c. 1914-1921. 675 microfiches
Microforms (Lamont)  |  INDEX Microfiche W 6066 = guide 
Microforms (Lamont)  |  Microfiche W 6066
HOLLIS Record

British policy in Asia microform: India Office memoranda. London: Mansell, 1980. 63 microfiches.
Microforms (Lamont) INDEX Microfiche W 2005 = guide (61 p.)
Microforms (Lamont) Microfiche W 2005
HOLLIS Record
--V. 1. The Middle East 1856-1947. (39 microfiches); v. 2. Tibet, Burma and Indo-China 1862-1940 (24 microfiches)
--India Office Records as IOR L/P & S/18

The Oriental question, 1840-1900 microform: files from the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle. 2 ser. (on 38 microfilm reels)
Location : Microforms (Lamont) Film A 540 [Level B]
Location : Microforms (Lamont) INDEX Film A 540 = Guide [Level B] (123 p.)
Files G1-G57 and H1-H40 --Correspondence of British Cabinet ministers and ambassadors, Queen Victoria, and foreign statesmen.

The creation of modern Iraq: British India office files, c. 1914-1921. 675 microfiches. London : IDC Publishers, 2003.
Location : Microforms (Lamont) INDEX Microfiche W 6066 = guide
Location : Microforms (Lamont) Microfiche W 6066
Online guide
--Consists of India Office Political & Secret Department confidential reports, memoranda, maps, and handbooks, as well as policy files describing the background and practicalities of the creation of a political administration, as well as of a social and an economic infrastructure.
--Contents : BII-1 Gazetteers and handbooks -- BII-2 Outbreak of the First World War: situation in Turkish Arabia -- BII-3 Wartime military and civil administration -- BII-4 Wartime economy: trade and communications -- BII-5 Post-war administration and constitution for the state of Iraq -- BII-6 Local government and education -- BII-7 Kurdistan -- BII-8 Iraqi boundaries -- BII-9 Post-war economic development -- BII-10 The oil industry.

Gertrude Bell Archive offers an online edition of her letters, diaries and many photographs.  Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) was a traveler, diplomat, archaeologist and photographer in the Middle East in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Original correspondence. Middle East, 1921. Great Britain. Colonial Office. 5 microfilm reels
Location: Microforms (Lamont) Film A 1109 [Level B]
Summary: Contains official dispatches, directives, reports, cables and correspondence for the year 1921 from records housed at the Public Records Office. (Record group: CO 732/1-5).

Mesopotamia. London: H.M.S.O., 1920, 134 p.
Online version
Location: Baker Business Historical Collections -- Baker Old Class F 533 G786a
Location: Microforms (Lamont) Microfiche W 5677 (3,249-3,250) [CTRG95- B1443]
Location: Widener H 779.20 vol. 11
--Handbook prepared under the direction of the Historical Section of the Foreign Office; No. 63

General correspondence, political. Eastern, 1921. Great Britain. Foreign Office. 1 microfilm reel. (Public Record Office; FO 371)
Microforms (Lamont) | Film A 1108 Level B

General correspondence, political. Palestine, 1921. Great Britain. Foreign Office. 9 microfilm reels.
--Contains official dispatches, directives, reports, cables and correspondence for the year 1921 from records housed at the Public Records Office.
HOLLIS Record

Confidential British Foreign Office political correspondence. Palestine and Transjordan, 1940-1946
HOLLIS Record

Confidential British Foreign Office political correspondence. Palestine, 1947-1948
HOLLIS Record

The following books contain, largely, documents from the British National Archives.  Some volumes available full text in Internet Archive. Examples are listed below. There are many others (listed here with short descriptions). Titles not listed below can be searched in HOLLIS Library Catalog.

The Arab bulletin: bulletin of the Arab Bureau in Cairo, 1916-1919. 4 v.
Link to HOLLIS record 
- Widener | WID-LC | DS62.4 .A692x

Diplomacy in the Near and Middle East : a documentary record, 1553-1956. 2 v. in 1.
Link to HOLLIS record

Foreign Office annual reports from Arabia, 1930-1960: Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Yemen. 4 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

The Iran-Iraq border 1840-1958. 11 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Iraq administration reports 1914-1932. 10 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Iraq: defence intelligence 1920-1973. 6 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Islam: political impact, 1908-1972: British documentary sources. 12 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Islamic movements in the Arab world, 1913-1966. 4 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Israel, boundary disputes with Arab neighbours 1946-1964, ed. by Patricia Toye and Angela Seay. Slough : Archive Editions, 1995, 10 v.
HOLLIS Record

Land legislation in Mandate Palestine, ed. by Martin Bunton. Cambridge: Cambridge Archive Editions, 2009, 8 v.
HOLLIS Record

Minorities in the Middle East, Muslim minorities in Arab countries, 1843-1973. 4 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Minorities in the Middle East. Christian minorities 1838-1967, Christian minorities 1838-1967. Greek Orthodox communities, Roman Catholic, Jacobite, Caldean and Syrian Catholic communities in the Levant and Iraq. xxii, 775 p.
Link to HOLLIS record

Minorities in the Middle East. Jewish communities in Arab countries, 1841-1974. 6 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Minorities in the Middle East. Kurdish communities, 1918-1974. 4 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Minorities in the Middle East. Religious communities in Jerusalem 1843-1974 and minorities in Israel / ed. by B. Destani. Slough : Archive Editions, 2005, 4 v.
HOLLIS Record

OPEC: origins & strategy, 1947-1973. 6 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Palestine and Transjordan administration reports, 1918-1948, ed. by Robert L. Jarman. Slough : Archive Editions, 1994, 16 v.
HOLLIS Record

Palestine boundaries, 1833-1947, ed. by Patricia Toye. Slough : Archive Editions, 1989, 4 v.
HOLLIS Record

Political diaries of the Arab world, Iraq.[Actually intelligence reports] 8 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Political diaries of the Arab world. Palestine & Jordan, ed. by Robert L. Jarman. Slough : Archive Editions, 2001, 10 v.
HOLLIS Record

Records of Iraq, 1914-1966.15 v.
Link to HOLLIS record

Records of the Hashimite dynasties: a twentieth century documentary history. 15 v.
Link to HOLLIS record