_ 253 _ historians with almost complete disregard of this source. Turkish official historiographers were, of course, allowed access to the archives, and frequently published the full texts of documents in their chronicles. But these were usually public and political statements, and in any case hardly constitute an exploitation of archive material in the modern sense. The “discovery” of the Ottoman archives dates from the period of the revolution of 1908, when an Ottoman Historical Society was formed, with the study and publication of archive documents as one of its stated objectives. An article in the first issue of the Society’s journal by Abdürrahman Seref, the official historiographer and president of the Society, surveyed the state of the archives, and proposed a plan of work.(A) During the years that followed a number of scholars published many selected documents in the journal of the Society and elsewhere. While the manner of publication often left much to be desired, the documents thus made available (A) Tarikh-i ‘Osmani Enjümeni Mejmü’asi, 1911, pp. 9-19 and 65-9. See also P. Wittek, Les Archives de Turquie, Byzantion, xiii, 1938, pp. 691-9. In 1907-1911 E. Karácson, hitherto the only western scholar to carry out systematic research in the Ottoman Archives, worked on the Istanbul records and advised on their classification. He died in 1911 of blood-poisoning contracted during his work.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy