These documents, which are examples of primary sources on the last period of the Ottoman Empire and the early years of the Republic through the eyes of the Ebüzziya family, a family of journalists, are divided into two groups: the Ebüzziya family and Ziyad Ebüzziya. The first group of documents begins with journalist, writer, publisher, and calligrapher Ebüzziya Mehmed Tevfik and continues with his sons Talha Ebüzziya and Velid Ebüzziya. Featuring correspondence with late Ottoman intellectuals, such as Ali Suâvi, Server İskit, Yunus Nadi, Recāizāde Mahmud Ekrem, family correspondence, articles published in the newspaper Tasvîr-i Efkâr, numerous works printed at Matbaa-yı Ebüzziyâ, and works with arabesque decorations, the document group contains valuable documents and information that shed light on the last period of the Ottoman Empire. The second document group consists of the correspondence of Ziyad Ebüzziya, the grandson of Ebüzziya Mehmed Tevfik, who lived in the Republican period, with the prominent figures of the period, in addition to calendars, postcard samples, and more. They were printed at Ebüzziya Printing House and constitute a private collection. The collection contains a wealth of material such as photographs, engravings, maps, and newspaper clippings. The documents included are dated between 1837 and 1993 and are categorized in 177 folders and 3,878 files.
Ebüzziya AilesiCüneyd Kosal (1931-2018) is an important kanun (zither) player and composer who grew up in the last periods of classical Turkish music and has the title of the largest collector in his field with his extensive archive of sheet music that he meticulously compiled over 65 years. In addition to contributing to the publication of the notes of classical works within the Ministry of National Education, he restored and notated hundreds of works, of which only sound recordings have survived to the present day, and brought them into the repertoire of Turkish religious music.
The archive, which is among the most important written sources of Turkish music today, contains nearly 83.000 pieces of sheet music, 182 manuscript notebooks and retail copies of sheet music, and 478 books and journals on Turkish music. The 7,428 works in 182 manuscript notebooks have been cataloged and opened for research.
Dr. Bora Keskiner, who works in the field of Ottoman art history, continues his studies as an expert on Islamic calligraphy. His collection consists of various letters, manuscript notebooks, and manuscript notes that Keskiner obtained from various booksellers. It is important in terms of presenting a portrait of the Mevlevī community in Istanbul in the post-Republican period and showing how the Sufi environment in Ottoman society evolved after the Republic, making it especially appealing to researchers of recent Sufi history.
The documents dated between between 1927 and2000 are categorized in four folders and 124 files. Almost all of the letters in the collection contain letters to Sadık Kurç, a Mevlevī sheikh. Sadık Kurç’s correspondence with Halil Can constitutes the most important series in the collection, while his correspondence with Mehmet Ceylan is also significant. The most prominent articles in the collection are the song notebooks.