Documents are an essential and important source for those who do research in history as being witness of past events; hence the center cares for collecting published and unpublished documents related to the history of Qatar and the region, or collecting copies of them such as documents of Bushehr Residency, documents of Yıldız Sarayı and other local and foreign documents, and then translating them into Arabic in order to enrich the sources of academic research.
This department aims at collecting as much as possible of paper and digital original photographs that provide visual sources related to Qatar and Arab Region. These include various scenes of places, markets, pearl hunting, and photographs of eminent personalities among rulers and notables, which were taken by travelers and amateurs. Some of these photographs are published and some others belong to private collections.
A rare collection of the oldest European maps related to Qatar, Arabian Gulf and Arabia since 1478 until the early 20th century. This collection provides researchers of maps with important historical information about the development of drawing European maps, in addition to a collection of marine survey charts done by Indian Navy in the early 19th century.
A rare collection of the earliest newspapers and gazettes since 1857, which chronicle the birth of Arab Press and constitute unmatched record in its history, where it covers hundreds of titles such as “Miraat al-Ahwal, Hadiqat al-Akhbar, al-Ahram, al-Hejaz, al-Qiblah, al-Tankyit wa al-Tabkyit, al-Ra’ed al-Masri, al-Ra’ed al-Tunisi, al-Munadi, al-Karmil and al-Nafir” and other titles of Diaspora Press like “Jirab al-Hawi, Jirab al-Kurdi, al-Fayhaa, al-Afkar, Abu Alhul, al-Nahla, Barjees fi Paris, al-Asma’i, al-Mizan” and others.
The library contains a rare collection of historical references and sources that relate to the history of Qatar and the Gulf, so it is essential for those who do research in the history of the region to resort to it, since this department contains a set of the books of travelers, politicians and diplomats who wrote about the region, specially as some of them were eyewitnesses, not to mention the aide references from the specialized encyclopedias and periodicals.
This department attends to preparing historical and heritage research and studies as well as translating the related foreign references and sources like books of travelers and Political Residents. It also publishes a biannual scientific magazine in history and heritage, in addition to a series of specialized books for leading scholars and researchers.
The center assumes collecting oral historical materials through interviewing trustworthy historians and history memorizers and keeps them as a historical source.