Author: Mandana Bender

December was rich with academic events in Istanbul. On her second research week, Negar took advantage of the opportunity to attend various talks and meet scholars and researchers across disciplines. During this period, she attended one of the rare public talks by Emine Fetvacı at the ANAMED Library, which focused on an Ottoman manuscript, Kalīla… Continue reading ISTANBUL, December 2025, Part II

This December, Negar stays in Istanbul for a long research trip. She started a visit to the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, whose collection of around 600 manuscripts forms a small but highly valuable corpus in the city, beautifully situated beside the Bosphorus. There, she examined several works and had a brief yet fruitful conversation with the… Continue reading ISTANBUL, December 2025, Part I

Over the summer, Yih-chuen has been exploring project-related resources and delving into catalog research in libraries. Her recent trip took her to the Bodleian Library in Oxford in October 2025, where she continued to study catalogs that are not available in Germany. So far, she has consulted over 50 catalogs in total to prepare for… Continue reading OXFORD, October 2025

The second week of the Leiden Summer School on Philology and Manuscripts from the Muslim World was quite productive as participants had to prepare a presentation based on their own research field. Apart from that,  one of the central highlights of this week was the introduction to the Leiden University Library catalogue and its special… Continue reading LEIDEN, August 2025, Part II

In August, Negar participated in the 7th Leiden Summer School on Philology and Manuscripts from the Muslim World 2025, a highly competitive program that accepts only 15 participants each year. Being selected was both an honor and a fortunate opportunity to study and do research in Leiden, where the courses brought together diverse topics, expert… Continue reading LEIDEN, August 2025, Part I

In the beginning of August, Ilse and Negar’s went  to Tashkent, the capital or Uzbekistan, for a research trip, which was a wonderful mix of cultural exploration and productive research. On Sunday, the first day of the visit, Ilse and Negar began by exploring several museums and enjoying sightseeing around the city. One of the… Continue reading TASHKENT, August 2025

In June, Yih-chuen conducted a field trip to the U.K. to gather data from Persianate manuscripts made with Chinese papers, which were decorated with different techniques. This corpus of manuscripts has previously been studied by renowned scholars, including Professor Dr. Ilse Sturkenboom, the lead investigator of our research project. However, many questions remain open and… Continue reading LONDON, June 2025

Negar recently returned from a productive and inspiring research trip to Vienna, which beautifully combined academic exchange with quiet moments of personal reflection. Her trip began with a two-day academic conference at Central European University (CEU). As part of the program, she gave a lecture in the Turkish Studies Department, presenting her research on the… Continue reading VIENNA, June 2025

Research Trip to Chester Beatty, Dublin, May 2025 Negar recently traveled to one of the most remarkable museum libraries in the world, Chester Beatty, a place that holds a true treasure at its heart. The carefully curated collection is among the best-organized resources for studying and researching Ottoman manuscripts. During her visit, Negar had the… Continue reading DUBLIN, May 2025

In February 2025, our team member Yih-chuen Liao visited Tokyo to explore Japan’s rich tradition of East Asian decorated papers. The first stop of her visit brought her to a special exhibition “Kohitsu (古筆切)” at the Nezu Museum, and the second stop was the Tokyo National Museum. Despite Nezu Museum’s central location in Tokyo, the… Continue reading TOKYO, February 2025