Historian pioneers archival research

Internationally known scholar Donald Quataert, professor of history, is continually searching out new kinds of research materials in his quest to learn as much as possible about Ottoman economic, labor and social history.

Known by colleagues are one of the most skilled and creative researchers in a challenging field, Professor Donald Quataert is credited with almost single-handedly establishing the literature on 18th- to early 20th-century labor and economic history in the Ottoman Empire.

A prolific writer, Quataert’s publications include The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922, a textbook that is widely used and in its second edition, and that has been translated into Turkish, Greek, Portuguese, Korean, Arabic and Italian. He is also the sole author of another half-dozen books and editor or co-editor of nine additional books and dozens of articles.

Quataert was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to continue his research of the coal miners of the Ottoman Empire, 1829-1922. The research resulted in his book, Coal Miners and the State (2006), one of few in-depth descriptions of labor history in the field of Ottoman history due to how difficult and demanding archival research can be in that region of the world. His research and the book covered not only the imperial Ottoman archives in Istanbul, but also mining inspector reports that detailed life and death inside the mines.

Quataert’s impact on his field, which barely existed 30 years ago, is well established, as noted by colleagues across the globe. Learn more about Donald Quataert and his research in Ottoman history.