About Collection

Documents and ephemerally materials are amongst the primary sources that enlighten Ankara’s various periods in the light of people, institutions and places. Vehbi Koç Ankara Studies Research Centre (VEKAM) has been constructing a collection accordingly. VEKAM has been gathering all kinds of documents and ephemerally materials which are important for Ankara’s history.

Ottoman documents which are in the collection provide information about administrative and judicial processes and simultaneously they enlighten social, cultural and economic life of the city during Pre-republican Era (before 1923). Most of the archival materials regarding Pre-republican Era of the city is composed of official recordings and documents. Therefore it is very hard to obtain this period’s archive materials which had been distributed to a wider society. This constrains the collection. Foundation records, administrative institution’s notifications served to people or private institutions, foreign mission correspondences belonging to this era are noticeable.
Ankara’s daily life changes and transforms when it becomes the capital city in the Republican Era. Republic with its institutions, architecture, education, cultural activities is animated in Ankara for all Anatolian cities to take as an example in 1920’s. Ankara is also very important for Republican Era Modernity Studies for this reason. Consequently and inevitably substantial amount of the collection pieces are documents that are about modernity in Ankara in the context of politic and administrative processes, cultural and social engagements and historical importance.

Development of the collection is maintained as a whole curatorial work. Our aim is to detect the important factors that influence the city in the course of history and submit them to research. Selection criteria of the collection is determined according to this goal. Current research about Ankara history is reviewed and the new data gathered from
these research guide us while developing the collection.

Each document in the collection is considered as an important information source for the city history and in the same time a lot of material types are present in the collection. Ottoman fermans and berats, court records, bills, invoices, letters, diplomas, ration cards, correspondences, identifications, invitations, notices, posters, tickets, greeting cards brochures are submitted to research.