{"word_count": 297, "character_count": 1980}
The Qatar Digital Library (QDL) is making a vast archive featuring the cultural and historical heritage of the Gulf and wider region freely available online for the first time. It includes archives, maps, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs and much more, complete with contextualised explanatory notes and links, in both English and Arabic.The QDL has been developed as part of a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding on Partnerships between the Qatar Foundation, the Qatar National Library and The British Library. The website was developed by the Partnership in collaboration with Cogapp. The agreement of work for the first phase of the Partnership began in 2012, with the digitisation of a wide range of content from the British Library’s collections. Find out more about the Partnership.Content currently available on the QDL was developed during the first phase of the partnership, reaching a total of 500,000 images by the end of 2014. More content is being added all the time, but current highlights the QDL is proud to showcase include: India Office  Records that span the period 1763–1951, comprising files from the Bushire Political  Residency  Records and the Bahrain  Agency  RecordsJ. G. Lorimer’s Gazetteer of the  Persian Gulf , Oman and Central Arabia (1908, 1915), a classic introduction to the history of the Gulf500 maps, charts and plans of the  Persian Gulf  and the wider regionThe Private papers of Sir Lewis Pelly,  Political Resident  in the  Persian Gulf  between 1862 and 1872Arabic Scientific Manuscripts from the British Library’s Manuscripts Collections, covering topics such as medicine, mathematics, astronomy and engineeringA selection of photographs, postcards and other printed objects as well as sketches, drawings and watercolours; etchings, engravings and illustrationsA selection of audio collection materials including 200 shellac discs recorded in Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq between 1920 and 1940For more information, click here&#160;