The Ottoman Bank Archives
and Research Centre

Founded in March 1997 by the the Ottoman Bank, in collaboration with the History Foundation ( Tarih Vakfi ), the Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre has been pursuing its activities in the former Head Office of the Ottoman Bank in Karaköy, since the end of 1999. Apart from its core endeavor, the classification of the Ottoman Bank archives, the centre has undertaken a number of projects up to now, including research related to oral history, publications, exhibitions, a documentary, colloquium and a competition.

The Ottoman Bank archives chronicle a process beginning with the establishment of the bank in 1856, right through the 1950s. Researchers have free access, via a Catalog. to the wealth of information and documents - digitalized to constitute a database - in the bank's archive. Besides the bank archives, the digitalized copies of yearbooks relevant to the period in question, various statistics, photographs, and insurance maps can also be accessed in the catalog, under the heading Documentation.

Within the Centre, a specialized library, whose rapidly growing collection already reaches some 7,500 books, gathers works focusing on the economic, political and social history of the Republic and of the Ottoman Empire beginning with the Tanzimat era.

The Ottoman Bank lives on through the Garanti Bank

Following the Ottoman/Garanti Bank merger on December 16, 2001 , the Centre has pursued its activities under the aegis of the Garanti Bank and has, since that date, enlarged its vision and the scope of its projects.

The invaluable legacy passed on by the Ottoman Bank is displayed by the Centre in the Ottoman Bank Museum housed in the bank's former head office in Karaköy. In collaboration with Bogaziçi University , the Centre has taken on new projects to enhance the use of and access to the bank archives and expand its educational and research opportunities.

With its archives, library, educational resources and the activities it undertakes, the Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre seeks to constitute a complementary point of reference to that of the state archives, and a gathering place where economic history in general and finance and banking in particular can be discussed and taught.