Early Arab Press: AUB Libraries

"Al-Tabib" or "The Doctor" or "The Physician" was the first Arabic medical journal in the Middle East, established by Dr. George Edward Post, a surgeon and one of the founding fathers of the Syrian Protestant College (SPC), now known as the American University of Beirut. The journal played a significant role in the dissemination of medical knowledge across the Arabic-speaking world during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Thamarāt al-Funūn is a weekly newspaper founded in 1875. Sheikh Abdel-Kader Mustafa al-Kabbani, a prominent figure in the public field during the late nineteenth century, managed its operations and editorship. Thamarāt al-Funūn was published for thirty-four years. It was concerned with publishing local and international news, as well as news related to the Islamic and Arab worlds in the political, social, economic, cultural, literary and scientific fields, in addition to publishing translated news from foreign newspapers and magazines.
The AUB University Libraries publish the digital archive of “Thamarāt al-Funūn” newspaper, a valuable gift by Mrs. Inaam Kabbani al-Nsouli, the grand-daughter of its founder. She has funded the digital reprint of the newspaper for open access to researchers around the world, based on the principle of “the right for access to information” with online full-text search.

al-Mar’ah al-Jadidah was issued monthly by the Women's League. It was one of the first women magazines in the Nahda era that were dedicated to women's issues. As stated in Arabic on its title page, "it was a magazine whose aim is to spread the spirit of independent education, improve family life, and promote Syrian women literary works scientifically, and socially". The magazine provided a space for raising issues related to women's life style, interests, and issues. The editor, Julia Tohmeh (1883-1954), was a pioneer in education, social involvement and journalism in Lebanon.

The Lebanese Newspapers' Digital Archive collection offers a rich and diverse archive of local newspapers. This collection serves as a valuable resource for research and academic inquiry, offering invaluable insights into Lebanon's modern history. The Lebanese Newspapers' Digital Archive includes the four major Lebanese newspapers: Annahar, Assafir and Al-Hayat (in Arabic), and L'Orient Le Jour (in French), spanning from their beginning until the early 2000s.