Description

A Tribute in Memory of Eleazar Birnbaum
Professor Emeritus, NMC

The Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations invites faculty and students to attend a special seminar to remember the life and work of Professor Eleazar Birnbaum who passed away on 2 October 2019 at the age of 89. He was trained in Islamic history and Middle Eastern languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London graduating in 1953. At SOAS he was a member of the famous ongoing Ottoman sources seminar of Paul Wittek. In 1964 he came to the University of Toronto from the University of Michigan and joined the then Department of Islamic Studies (later renamed Middle East and Islamic Studies and in 1996, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations) as an Associate Professor. In 1970 he was named Full Professor. He retired in 1995 but remained active in scholarship and the department until his recent death. His main field was in Ottoman Turkish and other Turkic languages along with Arabic and Persian, but his particular specialty and passion were old Ottoman manuscripts. His large collection of Islamic manuscripts is described by him in two publications—Ottoman Turkish and Çagatay MSS in Canada: A Union Catalogue of the Four Collections (2015) and Arabic and Persian Manuscripts in the Birnbaum Collection, Toronto (2019). This event will also serve as a posthumous launch of the most recent catalogue.