ARIT

For 47 years, ARIT has supported and nurtured scholars and students who share an interest in Turkey. ARIT has exciting prospects for new developments in the libraries and centers. In the course of the current budget process, however, ARIT has lost significant funding and needs the support of friends and patrons. For more information, please see the 2011 appeals letter here.

ARIT is the only American institution that supports U.S.-based research in Turkey through the ARIT centers in Istanbul and Ankara and through fellowship programs in the U.S. and Turkey. Please consider becoming a Friend of ARIT. The Friends' groups support ARIT fellowships and programs in Turkey that expand our understanding of art and archaeology, culture, and history from earliest prehistory to present times, as well as programs that foster collegial exchanges and collaborations.

ARIT reaches out beyond the academic world to a broader constituency by means of three groups of Friends of ARIT, one each in Ankara, Istanbul, and the U.S.  ARIT scholars and affiliates often give lectures, organize and lead group tours, and arrange symposia especially intended to provide local Americans, Canadians, and others with insights into the culture, history, and archaeology of the country.

Twice a year the Institute publishes the ARIT Newsletter, distributed widely in the academic community and among the Friends of ARIT. It provides information about the ARIT's recent activities and programs, including the news from each center, research reports from recent fellows in Turkey, lists of current fellows and donors.

ARIT hosts a series of lectures open to the public in the Ankara and Istanbul centers, and several lectures annually in the United States. For a copy of the most recent ARIT Newsletter and membership in the North American Friends of ARIT, please use the links in the heading above or contact the ARIT U.S. office. Please contact the centers in Istanbul and Ankara for information about the local Friends' organizations in Istanbul and Ankara.

In return, the Friends of ARIT raise money to provide funds for both general ARIT operations and specific ARIT projects. Contributions from the Friends have funded the purchase of up-to-date equipment and furnishings, including computers, audio-visual equipment and photocopiers, for the hostels and libraries in Istanbul and Ankara. The Friends groups in Turkey help pay for expanded living space in the ARIT hostels, and provide funds for the Friends of ARIT fellowships.

NEH ENDOWMENT CHALLENGE GRANT: ARIT is engaged in raising funds to complete the match for a National Endowment for the Humanities Endowment Challenge Grant. This grant aims to enhance the ARIT library facilities and collections in Istanbul and Ankara and to develop a permanent fund to support ARIT library operations. With the move in 2007 and incorporation of the Machteld J. Mellink collection in Anatolian archaeology, the Ankara library project is well underway. Currently ARIT is developing the resources to support enhanced facilities and resources for the Istanbul library, including special collections in Byzantine and Ottoman studies, and the new acquisition of the library of the American Board of Missions. For every three dollars that a donor gives to the NEH Challenge grant match, the NEH will add one additional dollar. Please consider making a special gift to support the ARIT NEH Endowment Challenge project.

ARIT is a non-profit institution incorporated in the state of New York that has been accorded tax exempt status by the United States Internal Revenue Service [Section 501 (c) (3)].  All contributions to ARIT are tax-deductible. Donations in kind (such as books or journal subscriptions for the center libraries) are also tax-deductible.

Volume 52, Fall 2011
      - ARIT loses much of its federal support for overseas operations and programs
      - ARIT Istanbul Library posts publications from the Library of the American Board of Missions on-line
      - ARIT Ankara director shares new developments concerning permits for U.S. archaeological excavations and surveys
      - Research reports

Volume 51, Spring 2011
      - ARIT Istanbul facilities and developments
      - Library of the American Board of Missions at ARIT Istanbul
      - ARIT Ankara names Coulson - Cross Aegean Exchange fellows for 2011
      - Research reports:  Ottoman Women, Legal Reform, and Social Change; Spanish Moriscos in the Ottoman realm

Volume 50, Fall 2010
      - Local Archives and Libraries of Overseas Research Centers (LAORC) launches new database on the Digital Library for International Research (DLIR)
      - Access to research facilities in Istanbul
      - ARIT facilitates cooperation with new permit procedures for archaeological projects
      - Research reports:  Religion and politics and the Ottoman-Iranian border; Polychromy of Roman marble sculpture from Aphrodisias

Volume 49, Spring 2010
      - Meet the new ARIT President
      - New ARIT Turkish fellows pursue a broad range of research projects
      - Archaeologists adapt to new excavation regulations
      - Research reports:  Late Antique Portrait Sculpture; Perspectives of German-Turkish return migrants.

Volume 48, Fall 2009
      - ARIT President Sams recounts his presidency that is coming to an end
      - ARIT center affiliates have diverse backgrounds and interests
      - ARIT Ankara and Cypriot American Archaeological Research Institute exchange scholar/directors
      - Research reports:  Piracy in the Ottoman Mediterranean; Hittite conception of space.

Volume 47, Spring 2009
      - ARIT Mellon Fellows contributions.
      - New tours and sites in Turkey
      - Machteld J. Mellink remembered in Ankara
      - Research report:  A study of Ottoman deeds in Çorum yields detailed histories.

Volume 46, Fall 2008
       - ARIT Ankara director changes: farewell to Baha Yildirim, greetings to Elif Denel.
       - Turkish Language programs and fellowships program grow
       - ARIT continues to seek new facilities for the Istanbul center
       - Research reports:  Ottoman military levies; Little Ice Age crisis in Ottoman lands.

Volume 45, Spring 2008
        - ARIT begins building a library endowment with the help of the NEH Endowment Challenge grant.
        - Kress Foundation fellows cited; Turkish fellowships program grows
        - ARIT seeks new facilities for the Istanbul center
        - Research reports:  Turkish Alevism; Greek pottery at Gordion.

Volume 44, Fall 2007
        - ARIT wins NEH Endowment Challenge grant to upgrade libraries.
        - Joukowsky Family Foundation supports publication of fellows' research.
        - Research reports:  Suleyman the Lawgiver; Cultural Debates in Istanbul Recording Studios.

Volume 43, Spring 2007
        - Ankara Library receives Mellink collection and expands.
        - Expanded intensive Department of State Turkish language programs continue.
        - Research reports:  The Making of the National Identity in Ottoman Macedonia; The Tektaş Burnu Shipwreck.

Volume 42, Fall 2006
        - The Council of American Overseas Research Centers marks twenty-five years.
        - New Department of State funding supports advanced language study in Turkey for U.S. beginning students.  
        - List of ARIT Fellowships for 2006-2007.
        - Research report:  The Architectural Patronage of Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad

Volume 41, Spring 2006
       - Machteld Johanna Mellink remembrance.
       - New legal status for ARIT in Turkey in process. 
       - Annual Fund drive.
       - Research reports:  Thracian Names and the Greek Epigraphic Evidence in East Thrace and Asia Minor; Secularizations and their Discontents:  a Cross-National Study; The Civil Basilica of Aphrodisias.   

Volume 40, Fall 2005
        - George and Ilse Hanfmann Fellowship Program.
        - Increased research activities in libraries and hostels in both Ankara and Istanbul.  
        - List of ARIT Fellowships for 2005-2006.
        - Research report:  Roman urbanism in southwestern Turkey; history of the Sabbatian communities.    

 Volume 39, Spring 2005
        - The Turkish Cultural Foundation offers new support for Turkish fellows in Turkey.
        - Increased support means more Turkish fellows supported in the program administered by the Istanbul Dernek. 
        - Aegean Exchange fellows plan their research projects in Greece.  
        - Annual fund drive.
        - Research Report:  Byzantine-Ottoman 'overlap' architecture in Turkey.   

Volume 38, Fall 2004
        - William D. E. Coulson - Toni M. Cross Aegean Exchange gains permanent funding through the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
        - Changes in the laws guiding applications for research permissions occupy directors in both centers.  
        - List of ARIT Fellowships for 2004-2005.
        - Research report:  ancient wine-making in Turkey.    

Volume 37, Spring 2004  
        - Interest in U.S.-based research in Turkey on the increase; research are programs thriving.
        - New Turkish law changes the process for foreigners applying for research permissions.    
        - Hanfmann Fellows travel abroad to carry out varied research projects; the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Consulate in Ankara continues to support the Aegean Exchange Program.
        - Research report:  prehistoric dietary habits examined through micro-wear analysis.