Latin American Collection at USEK Library: Overview

Project to digitize the memory of Lebanese and Syrian immigration to Latin America

The project aims at digitizing, among others, newspapers, magazines, old books, photographs, and documents produced by the Lebanese and Syrian communities, specifically in Latin America since the 19^th century, during the great immigration wave. USEK’s pioneering role consists of starting to form studios to digitize the relevant material to be found in the region and store it within USEK’s digital library in Lebanon, thereby making research easier for scholars and other stakeholders.

Two agreements have been signed so far with digital studios in two countries:

Argentina – 2016 Agreement

USEK – Fundación Ninawa Daher (Ninawa Daher Foundation), Buenos Aires.  

Founder and President: Alicia Daher. 

(http://www.diariosiriolibanes.com.ar/Sociedad/Instituciones/Proyecto-de-conservaci%C3%B3n-del-patrimonio-Liban%C3%A9s) 

Brazil – 2018 Agreement

USEK – Câmara de Comércio Árabe-Brasileira (Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce) 

Former president: Rubens Hannun. Current president: Brazilian diplomat Osmar Chohfi

CCAB Cultural Sector: Silvia Antibas, director. Heloisa Abreu Dib Julien, coordinator. Mirna Adel Nasser, digitization.

https://anba.com.br/en/project-immigration-set-launch-arab-chamber/  

https://anba.com.br/projeto-sobre-imigracao-sera-lancado-na-camara-arabe/ 

Working in coordination with USEK’s Library and Latin American Studies and Cultures Center (CECAL) , the three partners and their teams are undertaking research on collections (at the level of institutions, libraries, private individuals, etc.) to locate magazines, newspapers, and other publications in Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese in Latin American countries with the purpose of rebuilding and preserving these collections in immigration memory.

The first newspaper established by Lebanese immigrants in Latin America was Al-Fayha, published in 1894 in Campinas, São Paulo and owned by Salim Balech. Historian Philippe Hitti estimates at 166 the number of Arabic-language newspapers and magazines published in Latin America in 1950 (95 in Brazil, 58 in Argentina, 8 in Chile, 3 in Cuba, and one in Uruguay). 

In addition to our digitization studios in two countries, we are conducting research on collections in other Latin American countries. The digitized collections are available in the library catalog.

The below table lists the Institutions, Libraries, and individuals etc. that have authorized us to digitize their own collections or the collections of Lebanese and Syrian emigrants dating back to the 19th Century onward.