Eltaher Collection

The Eltaher Collection is a collection dealing with the history of the Arabic world from 1912-1974, with a special focus on the life of the well-known Palestinian Arab journalist, Muhammad Ali Eltaher. This collection includes books, pamphlets, photographs, personal correspondence, and newspaper clippings among other documents, and while mostly in Arabic, does include some English language sources. He mainly covered subjects related to Arab nationalism, counter to the colonial practices of powers such as Britain and France, and was often persecuted for his outspoken publications on the subject.

Beyond this collection, the Library of Congress website is an open-access resource available for students and teachers to browse. It boasts a wide selection of documents, many of which are free to use. These documents include photographs, books, films, web archives, legislation and more, from a range of subjects and time periods. The Library of Congress also offers some lesson plans making use of primary sources they host, a blog describing teaching methods, and other resources to enhance both the student and teacher experience. These resources, combined with its easy to use platform, make it, as well as this collection, great resources and guides for use in the classroom.

This collection is specifically a good resource for learning about the fight for decolonization in the Middle East and Northern Africa, from the perspective of those being colonized. Obviously many of these sources are in Arabic, but they still make excellent historical resources, as well as sources that can be used for a variety of studies, including language use/practice, paleography and political relations in the mid-20th century.