Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online Volume 1, Issue 1 | Page 58

2/2/2016

Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online

Modern Assyrian Research Archive (MARA)
By: MARA Foundation
Modern Assyrian Research Archive (MARA). http://www.assyrianarchive.org/
Volume: 1 Issue: 1
April 2013
Review by
Fadi Dawood, ABD
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
University of London, United Kingdom
Access to a reliable source of archival documents and other primary sources is essential for historians, social scientists, and for those studying the
modern Assyrian community in the Middle East, the Modern Assyrian Research Archive (MARA) will provide an excellent source for both
primary and secondary sources. Established in 2008, MARA is a web-based archive housed at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at
the University of Cambridge, and organized by scholars and doctoral students studying the Assyrian community of the Middle East. MARA
administrators are in the process of collecting and digitizing a large number of historical documents, pictures, audio, and video recordings. They
aim to make these sources digitally available for both researchers and the general public. In fact, half of the materials are now available for use by
researchers. The administrators hope to make the entire collection digitally available during the early months of 2013.
MARA’s webpage is well organized, and easily navigable. The home page has two distinct links: the first is for the archives, and the second is for
the non-for profit foundation that administers and manages the archives and research library. When visiting the archives, a photograph of General
Agha Petros, and various other pictures of ordinary Assyrians greet the user. At the top of the page, tabs link the user to various important sections
that include information about the organization, the mission statement of the archives, the advisory board, donors’ lists, other relevant information,
and most importantly, a tab dedicated to the archival collection.
The “archive” tab is organized like a library search engine, where the user can look for materials by title, author, keyword, publisher, ISBN,
language, or call number. This section is available to all users, and it could potentially serve as a starting point for researchers looking to compile a
bibliography of primary and secondary sources available on the modern Assyrian community. The type of publication, author, and year can also be
sorted in the search menu, which allows researchers to quickly organize and sort search results. The search engine is linked to WorldCat, in which
users can rapidly look for copies of any material not available digitally on the MARA website.
For researchers interested in using the already digitized material available at the archive, the process is very simple. A quick registration form must
be completed, and the user is then able to login to the website, with the ability to view and utilize the available material. Once in the member
section, the user is able to save searched results, navigate to external sites where some of the published materials can be found, tag certain
publications to view and use in the future, and most importantly, view digitized materials, including but not limited to, memoirs, letters, and diaries
of colonial officials, missionaries, and members of the Assyrian community. Another research tab is entitled “links”; this page offers a variety of
external research websites that might be useful for researchers studying the Assyrian community and other important historical subjects.
The MARA search tools are very user friendly. One of the many benefits of the MARA website is that it provides a great venue in which
researchers can navigate and compile large bibliographies. MARA also allows the user to 66W7277