West African Arabic Manuscript Database

West African Arabic Manuscript Project


[First posted in AMIR 5 May 2012, updated 30 March 2018]
UPDATE: The database platform has been updated. First several thousand digital copies of manuscripts will go on-line this summer [2018]

AMMS is a bi-lingual database that was developed at the University of Illinois in the late 1980s to describe a collection of Arabic manuscripts in southern Mauritania (Boutilimit). It subsequently has been used to catalogue seven other West African collections including the manuscript libraries at the Institut Mauritanien de Recherche Scientifique, Northwestern University, and the Centre Ahmad Baba in Timbuctu.  Currently (during 2011-2) print catalogues from West Africa published by al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation are being added to it. For more information on the activities and publications of the Foundation and these catalogues visit http://www.al-furqan.com

The database has a search engine designed to identify manuscripts and authors when only fragmentary information is available, in Arabic or Roman script, for records now in excess of 23,000. Experimental linkage of digital images of manuscript texts to the records is currently underway.

The database and the AMMS cataloguing tool are publicly available at no cost to users. The AMMS software for cataloging is free and can be downloaded for local use. Thirty-odd fields in Arabic and English cover all the descriptors normally employed in manuscript work and users may customize the input fields for the needs of particular collections. We encourage the inclusion of newly-catalogued material into the main data base; please contact the editors.

إن نظام إدارة المخطوطات العربية ثنائي اللغة-عربي/إنجليزي- المعروف بال AMMS (إختصاراً من الحروف الأولي للبرنامج the Arabic Manuscript Management System) قد تم تطويره من قبل جامعة ألينوي the University of Illinois في الثمانينيات لتوصيف مجموعة من المخطوطات العربية من بوتيلمت بجنوب موريتانيا، و من ثم فقد لََمَت الإستعانة بهذا النظام لفهرسة سبعة مجموعات أخرى من غرب أفريقيا، بما في ذلك المجموعات الخطية لمعهد الأبحاث العلمية بموريتانيا Institut Mauritanien de Recherche Scientifique ، وجامعة نورث وسترن Northwestern University ، و مركز أحمد بابا بتمبكتو. و خلال عامين 2011-2 سيتم إضافة الفهارس المطبوعة التي أصدرتها مؤسسة الفرقان للتراث الإسلامي للنظام. و للإطلاع على المزيد من العلومات عن إصدارات و أنشطة المؤسسة بالإضافة إلي هذه الفهارس يمكن تصفح الموقع الإلكتروني: http://www.al-furqan.com

إن قاعدة معلومات البرنامج قد تم تصميمها خصيصاً لتعيين المخطوطات أو المؤلفين حتى عند وجود معلومات جزئية، سواءً بإستخدام الحروف العربية أو الرومانية، ضمن سجل يربو على 23,000 مدخل. و حالياً، فهناك عمليات تجريبية لربط بعض المخطوطات بنسخها الضوئية.

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  Alphabetical List of Open Access Islamic Manuscripts Collections

Timbuktu Manuscripts at Aluka

Aluka / Cultural Heritage / Collection / Timbuktu Manuscripts

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Ancient Manuscripts from the Desert Libraries of Timbuktu

Ancient Manuscripts from the Desert Libraries of Timbuktu
The Library of Congress >> Exhibitions

Timbuktu, Mali, is the legendary city founded as a commercial center in West Africa nine hundred years ago. Today it is synonymous with the phrase "utterly remote," but this was not always so. For more than six hundred years, Timbuktu was a significant religious, cultural, and commercial center whose residents traveled throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. Timbuktu was famous for educating important scholars who were well known throughout the Islamic world. Many individuals traveled to the city to acquire knowledge; others came to acquire wealth and political power.

Situated on the edge of the Sahara Desert, Timbuktu was famous among the merchants of the Mediterranean basin as a market for obtaining the goods and products of Africa south of the desert. However, Timbuktu's most famous and long-lasting contribution to Islamic and world civilization is the scholarship practiced there. By at least the fourteenth century, important books were written and copied there, establishing the city as the center of a significant written tradition in Africa.

These ancient manuscripts cover every aspect of human endeavor. The manuscripts are indicative of the high level of civilization attained by West Africans during the Middle Ages and provide irrefutable proof of a powerful African literary tradition. Scholars in the fields of Islamic Studies and African Studies believe that analysis of these texts will cause Islamic, West African, and World History to be reevaluated. These manuscripts, surviving from as long ago as the fourteenth century, are remarkable artifacts important to Malian and West African culture. The exhibited manuscripts date from the sixteenth to eighteenth century.

The manuscripts on view are from the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library and the Library of Cheick Zayni Baye of Boujbeha, two of the most noteworthy institutions in the Timbuktu area. As part of its continuing effort to create a universal collection of recorded knowledge from all geographic areas and all historical eras, the Library of Congress is particularly proud to have the opportunity to exhibit these important cultural artifacts from Mali. The Library is also pleased that copies of these manuscripts will be deposited in its collections and will be available for use by researchers and scholars.

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Tombouctou Manuscripts Project

 Tombouctou Manuscripts Project - Timbuktu Manuscripts Project

"The Tombouctou Manuscripts Project at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is dedicated to research various aspects of writing and reading the handwritten works of Timbuktu and beyond. Training young researchers is an integral part of its work"

Blog keeps track of efforts to protect cultural heritage of Mali in light of the recent political developments.

Registered users have access to database with primary and secondary sources and can upload relevant materials.
On the list of publications there are two titles available for download.

Timbuktu: Script and Scholarship, prepared by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project and Iziko Social History Collections Department (Cape Town, 2008). Download here.

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From Istanbul to Timbuktu: Ink Routes (Cape Town: Tombouctou Manuscripts Project, 2009). Download here.

Open Access Manuscripts Library - Islamic Manuscripts from Mali

Islamic Manuscripts from Mali

"Islamic Manuscripts from Mali features 32 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library and the Library of Cheick Zayni Baye of Boujbeha, both in Timbuktu, Mali. The manuscripts presented online are displayed in their entirety and are an exemplary grouping that showcase the wide variety of subjects covered by the written traditions of Timbuktu, Mali, and West Africa.
The manuscripts are written in various styles of the Arabic script. These styles were developed in Timbuktu and the surrounding regions of Mali and West Africa.
There are special presentations of maps, photographs, and other information about the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library. These presentations provide a fuller picture of the culture and society which produced and preserved these valuable artifacts of human endeavor.
Digital images of the manuscripts were donated by Abdel Kader Haidara, owner and director of the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library. The Library of Congress will include additional manuscripts in the future as new digital images are received."