The Ismaili Special Collections Unit (ISCU) has launched an online catalogue of special collections housed at the IIS. Featuring information on thousands of items. The catalogue will enable a wide range of audiences, including researchers, to explore heritage relating to Ismaili communities online.

The IIS holds a significant repository of special collections related to the heritage of Ismaili communities and other Muslim traditions. These collections include nearly 3,000 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Indic and other languages, as well as coins, glass weights, medals and other historical artefacts, photographs and audiovisual materials, rare and special printed materials (including periodicals) and archival collections.

In 2013 the IIS established ISCU as part of its continuing endeavors to systematically preserve, develop, digitize and catalogue these collections; ISCU was also founded to study and facilitate research on these materials, in order to contribute to the IIS’s vision of promoting scholarship on the heritage of Ismaili communities and that of other Muslim groups. These special collections have been at the heart of the research, publications and educational programs undertaken by the IIS over the years.

Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies