Jerusalem Christians Correspondence

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0102 MS 380273
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	: Jerusalem Christians Correspondence
Date(s)	: 1841-1904, 1979
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 file
Name of creator(s)	: Church of England | Archbishop of Canterbury Church of England | Bishop of Jerusalem Arabic Literary Club | Jerusalem

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

From at least 1821 the Church Missionary Society advocated the establishment of a permanent post in Jerusalem. The London Jewish Society, which aimed to convert Jews to Christianity, also took an interest in the city. The first permanent station was established in Jerusalem in 1833 and the first Bishop, Michael Solomon Alexander (a converted Jewish Rabbi), arrived in 1841 with the aim of converting Jews and Palestinians to Christianity. The Bishopric started as an Anglo-Prussian union, for Anglicans and Lutherans. In 1845, the first Anglican Church (Christ Church, Jaffa Gate) was dedicated. The second Bishop (1845-1879) was Samuel Gobat von Cremines. After the death of the third Bishop (1879-1881), Joseph Barclay, the Bishopric became a solely Anglican Bishopric, centred on the Cathedral Church of St George, which was built and dedicated in 1898 under the fourth Bishop, George Blyth (d 1914).

Khalil Sakakini (1878-1953) was a Palestinian educationalist and Arab nationalist.

Isa Daoud Al-Isa (1878-1950) was a Palestinian journalist and poet, the co-founder (in 1911) and editor of the Arabic newspaper based in Jaffa, Filastin.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Correspondence of Christians in Jerusalem, 1828-1904, comprising a printed letter from William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Prelates of the Eastern Churches, concerning the new Anglican Bishopric in Jerusalem, 1841, and article by A L Tibawi (The Muslim World, lxxix, no 1, 1979) concerning the letter; manuscript letter from the Agent of the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, 1868; manuscript letters from Arab Protestants, one to the Church Missionary Society and one to Bishop Barclay, 1880; correspondence and papers exchanged between George Blyth, Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, and Khalil Sakakini, and Isa al-Isa, discussing activities of the Arabic Literary Club and various educational matters, 1903-1904.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
Arabic and English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

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

Finding aids:

Database. Notes with the letters summarise their contents.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated in 1980.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Some of the documents are discussed in the bibliography of A L Tibawi, British Interests in Palestine 1800-1901 (1961), and in Revue de l'academic arabe (Damas, 1974), pp 871-881.

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources:
website of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem: http://www.jerusalem.anglican.org/history.htm
Further information on Jerusalem: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08364a.htm
Information on Khalil Sakakini: http://www.sakakini.org/khalil/sakakini.htm
Information on Isa Al-Isa: http://www.passia.org

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Jun 2002