Books

The lab has served as an incubator for books using documentary geniza sources since its founding in 1985. The documentary infrastructure of many of these books has been absorbed into the PGP database. 

Projects we have helped nurture include Mark R. Cohen’s books on poverty and charity in the Jewish community of Egypt, M. A. Friedman’s publication of Goitein’s India book, Roxani Margariti’s book on the Jews of Aden and the Indian Ocean trade, Marina Rustow’s book on Arabic-script documents from the Fatimid state, Jessica Goldberg’s book on Mediterranean trade, Arnold Franklin’s book on Jewish descendants of King David, Phil Lieberman’s dissertation on Jewish legal deeds and Eve Krakowski’s book on female adolescence and Jewish law. 

Over the coming years, you can expect to see books from Brendan Goldman on Jews under the rule of the Crusaders in Palestine, Jennifer Grayson on the Jews of Baghdad from the early Abbasids to the Mongols, Oded Zinger on Jewish women navigating rabbinical courts and Craig Perry on household slavery and the medieval slave trade.

We also host small datasets on particular subjects. These include supplements to published books, as well as the kernels of potential research projects that you’re welcome to use in your own research.