Holt, Peter Malcolm (Holt Collection of the Mahdi)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0102 PP MS 7
Held at	: School of Oriental and African Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.soas.ac.uk/Archives/home.html ›
Full title	: Holt, Peter Malcolm (Holt Collection of the Mahdi)
Date(s)	: Created c1889-1970
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 12 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Holt | Peter Malcolm | b 1918 | historian

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Peter Malcolm Holt was born on 28 November 1918. He was educated at Lord William's Grammar School and later at Oxford University, where he obtained Master of Arts and D. Litt degrees. He joined the Sudan Civil Service, Ministry of Education in 1941, where he served until 1953. He was appointed Government Archivist from 1954-1955. In 1955 he returned to the United Kingdom and joined the School of Oriental and African Studies. In 1964 he was made Professor of Arabic History. From 1975-1982 he was Professor of History of the Near and Middle East at the University of London. In 1980 the Republic of Sudan awarded him the Gold Medal of Science, Letters and Art.

His publications include The Mahdist State in the Sudan 1881-1898 (1958); The Modern History of Sudan (1961); Historians of the Middle East (co-ed. with B. Lewis, 1962); Political and Social Change in Modern Egypt (1968); The Cambridge History of Islam (co-ed. with A. K. S. Lambton & B. Lewis, 1970); and Studies in the History of the Near East (1973).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, c1889-1970, of Professor Peter Malcolm Holt, chiefly comprising collected notes, facsimiles and microfilms of manuscripts relating to Muhammed Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allah, the Mahdi. The papers relate to Holt's major works The Mahdist State in the Sudan 1881-1898 and The Cambridge History of Islam.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
In addition to English, some material is written in Arabic.

System of arrangement:

The papers have been arranged in the following sections: notes, photocopies and microfilms of manuscript material relating to the Mahdi and Sudan; photocopies of Arabic manuscripts; microfilms; maps; and correspondence relating to The Cambridge History of Islam.

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

Finding aids:

Unpublished handlist.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated in 1977 and 1987.

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
16 May 2000