If there is one area in the library in which one feels that a huge amount of information is within arm's reach, it is the Reference section. Here we will show you exactly what we mean by looking up a few works that should provide us with some useful information about the possible identities of the men in our portraits and then browsing the surrounding shelves for more.

The library's Reference section offers a number of useful tools for quickly finding basic facts and getting started with research projects. For instance, Reference contains encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, manuals, guides, collections of brief articles, and more. Since everything is arranged by call number, once you find one or two relevant works, you will likely find more close by on the shelves. Let's begin by searching the catalog for works on Egypt. For purposes of demonstration, we'll use Fondren library's online catalog WebCat, but a similar process will work at most other libraries. (If you want to learn more about using library catalogs, please visit our WebCat Module).

Our first step is to make sure that our search is limited to the Reference section. Look to the bottom of the Advanced Search page and you will see a series of text boxes. Location the one labeled location and highlight reference. It should look like this:

Figure 4.7. 

Selecting location in the catalog

Then we need to specify what type of reference material we need. We will be searching by region. In the previous module on identifying the flags present in the Souvenir of Egypt, we learned that one of the most prominent flags was the Egyptian flag between 1914 and 1923. Of course, "Egypt" is also printed on the silk, so let's start our search for reference tools that country. .

Figure 4.8. 

Searching on "Egypt"

Our results have a variety of call numbers, but notice the similarity in those that seem most promising.

Figure 4.9. 

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, DT58 .O94 2001 v.1

Figure 4.10. 

Historical Dictionary of Egypt, DT45 .W83 1984

It looks like DT in the 40's and 50's is our area. Through a similar process, we find that

Figure 4.11. 

Britain is in DA around the 20's

Figure 4.12. 

Italy in the DG 450's

Figure 4.13. 

Russia in the DK30's

Figure 4.14. 

And France in the DC30's. They sound as if they are all within arm's length of each other. Let's have a look on the shelves.

Figure 4.15. 

Reference books on the Middle East

Our book on Egypt is not on the shelf. However just to the left we find in the DS section shelves and shelves of books on the Middle East and just to the right as many shelves on Africa, both of which should contain reference material on Egypt.

Figure 4.16. 

Reference books on Britain

Britain is well represented.

Figure 4.17. 

Reference books on France

As well as France. Nearly all of the works we need are within five feet of one another. In browsing between the sections we come across what would appear to be an invaluable resource for our project, Rules and Governments of the World. We need a a comprehensive list of the leaders of the world and the dates they held their positions, so this book seems to be perfect. Let's gather up the most promising works and get to work.

Figure 4.18. 

Our research tools

Figure 4.19. 

Face 1

What do we know about this image from our research so far? The portrait sits beside what used to be the national flag of Egypt, originally the personal standard of Muhammad Ali, who led Egypt in the nineteenth century. We also know that the flag was officially in use there as a national flag from 1914 until 1923. Let's begin our search by finding out who was who in Egypt during that period and the surrounding years and see about locating any images of those figures there might be available. Considering the lack of specific reference material on Egypt during our period, let's cast a broader net and find Egypt in the context of the Modern Islamic World, our first regional encyclopedia.

A regional encyclopedia contains a variety of statistical and historical information about a specific region of the world. It is usually categorized by subject or section of the region and is comprised of entries listed alphabetically within related subject sections. These books differ in their level of detail. For example, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World offers general information about Egypt, but lacks a listing of the country's leaders in the early twentieth century. Rather, the book focuses more broadly on many regions within the Islamic world over some 1500 years. For our purposes, this listing is lacking; there is no listing of Egypt's leadership during our period. This is probably because the Islamic World consists of many regions over some fifteen hundred years.

Let's get more specific. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Middle East and North Africa is an encyclopedia limited to the region of the Islamic World known as the Middle East.The table of contents reveals the diversity of the entries in the work from cultural subjects to countries.

Figure 4.20. 

Let's locate Egypt.

Figure 4.21. 

Entry on Egypt in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Middle East and North Africa

The entry provides some historical information related to our project: “"The French invasion of Egypt under Napoleon Bonaparte and the short occupation (1798-1801) which followed exposed Egypt to Western ideas and technology (see Modern History). French withdrawal was followed by the foundation of a new dynasty under Muhammad 'Ali, an officer from Kavala in Macedonia who led Albanian soldiers to Egypt in the nominal service of the Ottomans. Muhammad 'Ali held power from 1805 until his death in 1849, establishing virtual independence from Istanbul and initiating a process of modernization which reached its peak during the period of rule of his grandson, Khedive Isma'il. A negative legacy of Muhammad 'Ali's successors, Sa'id and Isma'il, was to saddle Egypt with an unmanageable foreign debt. The debt led to assumption by Britain and France during the last quarter of the nineteenth century of a large degree of control over the economy. Isma'il was forced to abdicate in 1879; in 1882 British forces invaded Egypt to suppress a movement of opposition to the Khedive's rule and the growth of foreign control, led by an army officers, Ahmad 'Urabi. In one form or another British control continued until 1936, when an Anglo-Egyptian Treaty gave Egypt a limited independence. Full independence was only secured after the last of the dynasty founded by Muhammad 'Ali, King Faruq, was overthrown by the nationalist 'Free Officers' Movement.'"” We have a few names that may be our man, Ahmad ‘Urabi and King Faruq. The others seem before our period. Let's try another encyclopedia.

The Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East covers the same region, but may provide different results since it is focused on a specific period.And indeed, we have a few more potential matches: “ "Britain took virtual control of Egypt's finances and foreign affairs, and the real ruler was Britain's consul general. In response, a national movement emerged with the objective of achieving Egypt's independence. The struggle of Mustafa KAMIL, Muhammad FARID, and Sa'd ZAGHLUL achieved 1922. On 28 February, Britain's declaration terminated the protectorate (declared in October 1914), proclaimed Egypt a sovereign, independent kingdom, and reserved four issues for future negotiations: imperial communication, defense, minorities, and the Sudan. On 15 March 1922, Ahmad FU'AD was proclaimed king; a constitution was issued on 9 April 1923." ” Mustafa Kamil, Muhammad Farid, Sa’d Zaghlul and Amhad Fu’ad. Let's try a political dictionary we found.

A political dictionary offers an alphabetical listing of a variety of terms including proper names and the names of events related to the political history of a region. It is an invaluable resource for one researching a region of the world with which they are unfamiliar.

Our political dictionary focuses on the region at hand during the period we are focusing on: Political Dictionary of the Middle East in the 20th Century . Under the listing for Egypt we find a few more candidates: “"On the eve of World War I, E. was, in international law, part of the Ottoman Empire, but actually ruled by the British. On 18 Dec. 1914, one month after war had been declared, Britain severed the formal link between E. and the Ottoman Empire and declared E. a British Protectorate. E. was promised that Britain would guide her toward self-rule and that the capitulationist would be abrogated at the end of the war. At the same time the British deposed the Khedive 'Abbas Hilmi and replaced him with his uncle, Hussein Kamel, giving him the title of Sultan (he died in 1917 and was succeeded by his brother, Ahmad Fu'ad.)”‘Abbas Hilmi and Hussein Kamel.

Our regional encyclopedias and dictionaries are also good for identifying the role individuals played in its history, as you can see.

Figure 4.22. 

Biography of Ahmad Urabi

Figure 4.23. 

Biography of Sa'd Zaghlul

But we are provided with no pictures. At this point we have gathered enough information to move on to the next resource; we have names, but still no faces to match them to.

Looking for an image, whether a photograph or a sketch or anything really, there is one online resource that is tough to beat: the Google image database. When you get to the homepage, just enter the full name of the person you would like to see an image of and Google will search through millions of images for a match.

Let's try a few of our names to see what faces come up. If you would like to take a look at our portrait for comparison click here, Face 1. Our search produces the following images for the names we've identified:

Figure 4.24. 

Mustafa Kamil at MUZonline

Figure 4.25. 

Mohammad Farid at SIS, the Egyptian State Information Service,

Figure 4.26. 

Sa'd Zaghlul at Al-Ahram

Figure 4.27. 

Amhad Fu’ad at genealogia

Figure 4.28. 

'Abbas Hilmi at FirstWorldWar.com

Figure 4.29. 

and Hussein Kamel at l'Egypte d'Antan.

It would seem that the mustachioed fez look was a popular one in early twentieth-century Egypt, but it also seems clear that Hussein Kamel's portrait comes the closest to our man. When we look to the details it is further confirmed. Notice the similarities in dress, particularly the sash, large button and medal combination in both images. It appears that we have identified the first face as Hussein Kamel, who we quickly discover in our encyclopedias was the Sultan of Egypt from 1914 until 1917.

Figure 4.30. 

Face 2

What do we know about this portrait so far? It sits beside the national flag of the United Kingdom. Our loose dating of this piece is, for the moment, somewhere between 1915-1920. Face 1 turned our to be the Sultan of his region. Let's see who was on the throne or in power in the UK during our period. The first place to look for this kind of information is Who's Who.

Who's Who is an annual British publica