Lebanon Archives and Libraries

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  • Archives collect and preserve original documents of organizations such as churches or governments. Libraries generally collect published sources such as books, maps, and microfilm.
  • If you plan to visit a repository, contact them and ask for information about their collection, hours, services, and fees. Ask if they require you to have a reader’s ticket (a paper indicating you are a responsible researcher) to view the records, and ask how to obtain one.
  • Although the records you need may be in an archive or library, the FamilySearch Library may have microfilmed and/or digitized copies of them.

Archives[edit | edit source]

Hazine
Website
Online collection of archives and libraries and their digitized materials in the Islamic world, including the Middle East and North Africa


National Archives Center of Lebanon
Hamra Street, Piccadilly Center
Beirut, Lebanon

Telephone: (961-1) 36 57 83; 34 49 41
Fax: (961-1) 85 28 25
Facebook

Endangered Archives: Lebanon

Libraries[edit | edit source]

Addresses of the Revival Project of the Lebanese National Library
Workshops
Port of Beirut, Free Zone, 2nd and 3rd floors
Lebanon
Tel/fax: 961-1-562161 - 171

Office
Ministry of Culture
Hatab Bldg., 6th floor
Madame Curie Road (Facing Bristol Hotel)
Beirut, Lebanon
The future location of the Lebanese National Library will be in Sanayeh (the premises of the former Faculty of Law of the Lebanese University).

Tel : 961-1-735191
Email : geka@bnl.gov.lb, geka@lnl.gov.lb
The future location of the Lebanese National Library will be in Sanayeh (the premises of the former Faculty of Law of the Lebanese University). Website]

The Lebanese National Library throughout the stages of its short history, has been confronted with a variety of difficulties, born not only out of the violence of men but also from their negligence; and from the absence of a responsible administrative structure....The effects of war
In 1975, the Lebanese differences become a tear, and the line of fire almost crosses the National Library (a red line that is nevertheless called "green", a fine euphemism but also a reference to the papyri, precisely, which, in the absence of printed books , multiply there near the gutted pipes…).
The team that takes care of the library is dispersed according to the forced displacements that an entire population undergoes. When they can, some, moved by a love of books contracted in their daily business, return to the scene to see the damage and are sorry for their helplessness and the absence of directives to save what is not yet burned. stolen or ransacked.
In 1979, i.e. four years after the start of the war, four years during which militiamen of all persuasions had plenty of time to "hone their culture" there, the National Library was declared "suspended from activity" and the government Lebanese entrusts the National Archives with the manuscripts (or what remains of them), the old documents and the portraits of the Lebanese intellectuals which adorned the reading room. Between 1982 and 1983, the modern collection was crated and deposited in a room, located in an area which would in turn be bombarded. Broken panes let rainwater and dust through, boxes are infested with insects, molds find ideal conditions to grow there.
Emerging from the war, Lebanon is rebuilding: roads, airports, major projects... For the National Museum, society is mobilizing, and the site is very quickly launched.
The National Library seems less prestigious. Information professionals and members of the Association of Librarians of Lebanon develop projects, which find little echo among officials. Finally, it was an expert mission by the National Library of France, in 1994, which alerted to the urgency of saving the documents and drew up an initial rehabilitation plan 1 . The boxes are stored in a drier warehouse, and a temporary room is assigned to the National Library, too narrow to envisage large-scale rescue operations. A few dozen cases are opened, inventoried, the books cleaned, but very quickly the scale of the task exceeds the means made available. The library risks being forgotten in the mysteries of a bureaucracy that does not concern itself with planning its action.[1]

American University of Beirut
P.O.Box 11-0236
Riad El-Solh / Beirut 1107 2020
Lebanon

Ph​one: 01-350000 Ext: 2609/2610/2635
Email: asc@aub.edu.lb
Digital Collections
Yearbooks
Finding Aids

For more information on contacting or visiting the American University of Beirut and its associated libraries, please see Arsheef.org.

Arab Genealogy Books Online
Website
Open access collection of Arabic genealogy books that have been digitized and can be browsed by country/region. Books contain valuable information about tribal histories and family lineages.

Museums[edit | edit source]

National Museum of Beirut
Corner Damascus Blvd. & Ave Abdallah Yafi Avenue
VGH8+928 Beirut, Lebanon

Phone: +961 (0)1 612 295
Email: info@beirutnationalmuseum.com
Website
Wikipedia: National Museum of Beirut
Facebook

Record Offices[edit | edit source]

Here are three places to obtain copies of or information from birth, marriage, and death records:

  • Mukhtar: The primary registration unit is the office of the Mukhtar (head of the local government). Each village in Lebanon has a Mukhtar that is in charge of keeping records. See Lebanon Mukhtar Records to learn more about Mukhtars and how to contact them.
  • Bureau of the Census: "If you know the Arabic names and the appropriate dates, you may be able to obtain birth and death certificates from district or central offices of the Bureau of the Census. Address your inquiry to the Census Office in the community (i.e., village, city, county) where your ancestor lived." [2]
  • Muhafazat: Birth, death and marriage records are also kept at the Office of the Registrar in each governate (called muhafazat).[3] The contact information for the Office of the Registrar in each district can be found on the appropriate district page. Click below for the district you need:
District قضاء Governorate محافظة
Beirut بيروت Beirut بيروت
Akkar عكار Akkar عكار
Miniyeh-Danniyeh الضنية North الشمال
Zgharta زغرتا North الشمال
Koura الكورة‎ North الشمال
Batroun البترون‎ North الشمال
Bsharri بشري North الشمال
Tripoli طرابلس North الشمال
Hermel الهرمل Baalbek-Hermel بعلبك - الهرمل
Baalbek بعلبك Baalbek-Hermel بعلبك - الهرمل
Byblos جبيل Mount Lebanon جبل لبنان
Keserwan كسروان Mount Lebanon جبل لبنان
Matn المتن Mount Lebanon جبل لبنان
Baabda بعبدا Mount Lebanon جبل لبنان
Aley عاليه Mount Lebanon جبل لبنان
Chouf الشوف Mount Lebanon جبل لبنان
Zahlé زحلة Beqaa البقاع
Western Beqaa البقاع الغربي Beqaa البقاع
Rashaya راشيا Beqaa البقاع
Hasbaya حاصبيا Nabatieh النبطية
Marjeyoun مرجعيون Nabatieh النبطية
Nabatieh النبطية Nabatieh النبطية
Bint Jbeil بنت جبيل Nabatieh النبطية
Tyre صور South الجنوب
Sidon صيدا South الجنوب
Jezzine جزين South الجنوب

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ "History of the LNL", Lebanese National Library, http://bnl.gov.lb/english/history.html, accessed 8 December 2022.
  2. ↑ Genealogy Today, Sandra Hasser Bennett, "Researching Your Lebanese or Syrian Ancestry", ©2000 Sandra Hasser Bennett. (accessed 21 July 2020).
  3. ↑ U.S. Embassy in Lebanon, Obtaining Vital Records, (accessed 21 July 2020).
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