About
The Skilliter Centre Research Library focuses on Ottoman history. Originally made up of Susan Skilliter’s bequest of some 3,000 books, it now comprises over 12,000 volumes. It has a large collection of travel accounts and Ottoman material from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and collections of published archival material. In addition to works of history, the library also has works on art and literature, and a substantial number of offprints.
You can search the catalogue on iDiscover.
The Skilliter Centre Research Library collection is for reference only. To make an appointment to consult the collection, please contact the Librarian.
Visiting the Library
All books are for reference use only and appointments to visit the Centre should be made in advance. The collection is catalogued and browsable on iDiscover.
For enquiries relating to research and archive materials, or to make an appointment to consult the collection, please contact the Librarian.
Archives
The Skilliter archive collection includes correspondence, unpublished papers, and documentation, as well as photographic material, in discrete special collections. We hold a founding collection of the Susan Skilliter archives, along with material from other significant donors and contributors to Ottoman history.
For enquiries relating to research and archive materials, or to make an appointment to consult the collection, please contact the Librarian.
We have recently digitised the Eckstein Albums, a collection of photographs documenting a medical survey of maternal and infant health in rural Anatolia 1935-1939.
An eminent pediatrician who fled the rise of Nazism, Eckstein was also a gifted photographer and portraitist. He used his commission to capture the social and economic realities of rural Anatolian villages through the work of women and children in farming and family life.
The Eckstein Albums offer unique photographic documentary evidence and insight into Turkish medical history, and the engagement of Jewish migrants in Atatürk’s health and social reforms.
Collections
The different collections which make up the library are rich and varied, and a valuable resource for researchers: it is estimated that around 20% of the library’s holdings represent the only copy of that item held in the UK.
Languages of items include Turkish, English, French, Italian, Latin, Greek, German, Georgian, Maltese, Japanese, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Hungarian, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Hebrew, Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, and Persian.
The Library has a collection of rare books, which includes volumes from the early sixteenth century, some of which are stored in the Katharine Stephen Room of Newnham College Library.
The library has grown through a combination of purchases, bequests and donations, and it holds a number of discrete special collections. These include the Judith Humphrey collection of books on Crete, and the Margaret Bainbridge collection of Turkish literature, folklore, and language material. The library also houses the Niyazi Berkes collection on late Ottoman and Turkish Republican history.
Find out more about the Skilliter Library collections via our Gems on Shelves series.
