Activities - Summaries

Offerings of The Ottoman Bank Historical Research Center

Lorans Tanatar Baruh

The Ottoman Bank Historical Research Centre being a realisation of Ottoman Bank and Economic and Social History Foundation of Turkey's historical projects hosts the archives of the Ottoman Bank. Since the creation of the Centre in 1997, besides the detailed inventory and scanning of the archives, a library specialised in finance, banking, as well as in economic, political and social history of the late Ottoman and Republican period has been created. Two exhibitions are realised and three publications appeared.

The core of the Centre, the archives cover a period extending from 1856 to 1953, thus providing invaluable information on the history of Ottoman Empire and of the Republic of Turkey. The Ottoman Bank established as a state bank, subsequently assumed the official functions of state treasurer, bank of issue and financial agent of the Empire and combined these functions with those of investment, commercial and deposit banking. Consequently, the archives of the Ottoman Bank revealed a different vision through each of its functions which allows research of varied subjects, ranging from political to financial, from economic to social history.

This paper will include the story of the Ottoman Bank Historical Research Centre as well as a detailed and illustrated description of this first private archive collection opened to the academic world in Turkey. Last but not least, activities and projects will be presented in order to offer a vision of the accomplishments of the Centre.

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