Digitization of the Vera Beaudin Saeedpour Kurdish Library & Museum Collection

Material Description

Binghamton University is planning to digitize materials from the Vera Beaudin Saeedpour Collection which contains a wide range of materials pertaining to politics of cultures, namely Kurdish and Middle Eastern. Subject areas represented in this collection also include history, political science, anthropology, archaeology, sociology, and belles lettres. The materials in the manuscript collection were arranged categorically, such as newspapers, journals, and photographs. The same concept was applied to the artifacts, for instance, clothing, textiles, and jewelry. Based on this categorization, we plan to digitize the following: correspondences between Dr. Saeedpour and newspapers, politicians, scholars (1977-2010); Dr. Saeedpour's research and writings; wide range of newsletters and newspapers in Kurdish, Turkish, and English published in Iraq, Turkey, and various Western countries such as Sweden, France, Brussels, and Germany; greeting cards; photographs depicting people, landscape, events (1960s-2000s); maps of Kurdistan and surrounding areas (early 19th century-mid 20th century); artwork of various Kurdish artists; and interviews with Iraqi Kurdish refugees who are currently living in the Binghamton area. The Saeedpour Collection was received by Binghamton University as a donation from Vera Beaudin Saeedpour's children in 2010.

Summary

Binghamton University is requesting funds for the digitization of materials in the Vera Beaudin Saeedpour Kurdish Library & Museum Collection. The Saeedpour Collection is a significant assemblage of materials documenting Kurdish culture and is reported to be the largest of its kind in North America. Given the size and complexity of this collection, we anticipate the project to take two years to complete. Bound journals and newspapers will be outsourced for digitization and unbound journals, newspapers, correspondence, and photographs will be digitized in-house. Clothing, artifacts, and jewelry will be photographed by a professional photographer. Funding will be requested for employee assistants to digitize and document the collection and assist with the creation of metadata for online access. These assistants will include an archivist/Middle Eastern historian, project assistant, Kurdish translator, and student assistants. Digitizing these materials will provide researchers and scholars global access to the collection.