The Islamic Manuscript Association is an international non-profit organization dedicated to protecting Islamic manuscript collections and supporting those who work with them. It was formed in response to the urgent need to address the poor preservation and inaccessibility of many Islamic manuscript collections around the world.

The Islamic Manuscript Association:

• Articulates standards and guidelines for best practice in cataloguing, conservation, digitization and academic publishing so that Islamic manuscript collections may be made more accessible and preserved for posterity.

• Promotes the highest ethical and professional standards in the care and management of Islamic manuscript collections.
• Promotes excellence in scholarship on Islamic manuscripts, particularly Islamic codicology and disciplines related to the care and management of Islamic manuscript collections.

• Provides a platform for presenting scholarship on Islamic manuscripts, particularly Islamic codicology and disciplines related to the care and management of Islamic manuscript collections, at its biennial conference at the University of Cambridge.

• Provides a wide range of online resources about manuscripts and their care.

• Awards grants to support the care of Islamic manuscript collections and advance scholarship on Islamic manuscripts.

• Organizes regular training workshops in cataloguing, conservation, digitization and academic publishing as well as an annual workshop on Islamic codicology in cooperation with Cambridge University Library.

• Facilitates dialogue between individuals with scholarly and professional interests in Islamic manuscripts and institutions holding collections of Islamic manuscripts.

The Islamic Manuscript Association includes among its members libraries and museums possessing collections of Islamic manuscripts as well as individuals with scholarly and professional interests in Islamic manuscripts. Over 700 persons from 25 different countries are members. Members have the right to vote, hold office, apply for grants and receive members’ rates for the biennial conference and training workshops.

The Islamic Manuscript Association is an affiliated project of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge.

Conferences

The Islamic Manuscript Association’s conferences have been held at the University of Cambridge every summer since 2005 in partnership with the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation and the University’s Centre of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, now renamed the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies. Each conference gathers a large number of people from around the world to share current scholarship on Islamic manuscripts, particularly Islamic codicology and disciplines related to the care and management of Islamic manuscript collections, as well as to discuss the problems experienced by those working with Islamic manuscripts and to propose constructive and sustainable solutions.

– 2016: Sufism and Islamic Manuscript Culture
– 2014: Tenth Anniversary Conference: Manuscripts and Conflict
– 2013: Manuscripts of the Mamluk Sultanate and Its Contemporaries
– 2012: The Science of Manuscripts; Manuscripts of Science
– 2011: Islamic Manuscripts in South and Southeast Asia
– 2010: Central Asian Islamic Manuscripts & Manuscript Collections
– 2009: Access & Rights
– 2008: West African Islamic Manuscripts
– 2007: New Techniques and Technologies for Conservation and Digitisation
– 2006: Establishing the Islamic Manuscript Association
– 2005: Conservation, Cataloguing, Accessibility, Copyright, and Digitisation

Publications

The Islamic Manuscript Association is proud to have supported a range of both print and online publications in the field of Islamic manuscript studies since its founding in 2006. Foremost among these is the Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, published in collaboration with Brill. As of 2014, the journal is published in three issues per year.

Contacts

• Address: The Islamic Manuscript Association, c/o Tradigital, Silberburgstr. 126, 70176 Stuttgart, Germany
• Phone: +49 711 669 78 20
• Fax: +44 711 669 78 40
• Email: admin@islamicmanuscript.org
• Website: http://www.islamicmanuscript.org