Dr. Adnan Ayyub Musallam's Palestinian Oral History Collection
by

Bethlehem University History Students,
1993 - Present

In the Spring Semester of 1993 students in Hist132 (Modern History of the Arab World) classes began doing their term papers in the form of field work/research in the area of oral history, with special focus on the elderlies and their version of Palestinian historical memory.  At that early stage students' efforts were focused on World War I.  Later on the sample of people interviewed included both old and young, males and females, from different parts of Palestine who explored with B.U. students different historical periods in the 20th century.

Interest in Palestinian oral history was further strengthened when the Irish Friends of Bethlehem University invited Dr. Musallam to spend a week at University College Dublin's Center for Celtic Studies and Department of Irish Folklore in January 1994 to explore the resources of Irish oral traditions and collection.  It was indeed a moving experience and an inspiration to learn about Irish history and the people's struggle to maintain their culture and heritage.  And it reminded me to a certain extent with the Palestinian experience during the British Era, 1917 - 1948.

Since my return from Ireland in 1994 I have been collecting hundreds of duplicate term papers each with cassette tapes.  This unique BU Students Oral History Collection is located temporarily in a storage area near the Archives office in the University Library. The collection covers the following files:

  1. Experiences of the elderlies who lived through the tormenting years of World War I.

  2. The great snows of 1920 and 1950.

  3. The big earthquake of 1927.

  4. Palestinian strikes and revolts, 1936-1938.

  5. The formative stages of the Nakbeh, 1918 - 1948.

  6. The Palestinian uprooting experiences of 1948.

  7. The founding of refugee camps, 1948 - 1951.

  8. Palestinian experiences of June 1967 War.

  9. The Intifada, 1987 - 1988.

  10. The Gulf War of 1991.

  11. The Educational process during the Intifada, 1987 - 1991.

  12. Stages that Palestinian political and security prisoners go through.

  13. The election campaigns of 1995 - 1996.

  14. A collection from Cultural Studies courses (CS 302-303) dealing with comparative studies of past and present traditions and customs.

  15. Bethlehem University Silver Jubilee, 1973 - 1998.

  16. The Partition of Palestine, 29/11/1947