Interdisciplinary area studies center at the University of Michigan. Records include material from the Department of Near Eastern Studies predating the founding of the center as well as files on center directors, conferences, seminars, and lectures. Administrative files include executive committee minutes beginning in 1971, center reviews and evaluations, and records on funding and funding agencies.
The records of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies document the founding and functioning of the center, from the 1960s to the 1990s, and include historical materials about the Department of Near Eastern Studies dating from the 1940s and 1950s. The records cover the center's history fairly evenly, but document the period from the 1970s to the 1990s in greater depth than the center's first decade. While the 1960s are documented in correspondence, funding reports, and press clippings, records from the later decade also include executive committee minutes, material from conferences and lectures, and photographs. The CMENAS records cover a variety of topics related to the history, politics, economy, literature and art of the Middle East. Furthermore, the records document how American universities studied those topics from the 1940s to the 1990s.
The records are arranged in twelve series: Area Centers Material, Executive Committee, Evaluation, Funding, Historical Material, Intra-University Programs, Name File, National Organizations, Outreach, Publications Related Files, Special Activities, and Photographs.