Çorum in the Ottoman Archives Catalogue

The Osmanlı Arşivi Çorum Belgeleri Kataloğu (Ottoman Archives Çorum Documents Catalogue) was compiled by İrfan Yiğit for the Çorum Municipality City Archive and published by Çorum Municipality Culture Publications in 2017. It is the product of a two-year survey at the Presidency (formerly Prime Ministry) State Archives’ Ottoman Archives Directorate: digital copies of roughly 32,000 pages of documents whose title or text mentions “Çorum” were brought to the City Archive in 2016, with contributions from the General Directorate of State Archives and archive specialist Mustafa Tatlısu. Each catalogue entry gives the abbreviated code of the fond the document belongs to (for example C.EV for Cevdet Evkaf, or DH.MKT for the Correspondence Office of the Ministry of the Interior), its file and folder numbers, its date, and a short subject summary — so researchers can request the digital image of a document at the City Archive.

The dates in the catalogue are mostly given in the Hijri calendar, with some late documents from the First World War years dated in the Rumi (Ottoman fiscal) calendar; since the book gives no Gregorian equivalent, this page reproduces them unconverted, as printed (an approximate Gregorian year appears in parentheses with “≈”). The summaries below have been rewritten in our own words; records concerning debts, crimes or lawsuits involving named private individuals have been omitted.

For a general overview of Çorum’s Ottoman-era history, see History; for the city’s best-known Ottoman buildings, see Çorum Clock Tower, Veli Paşa Han and Çorum Grand Mosque; for Osmancık, see Koyun Baba Tomb and Akşemseddin and Koyun Baba. This page does not repeat that material; it summarizes the catalogue’s records by theme instead.

Disasters: Earthquakes, Fires, Famine, Locusts

• An earthquake destroyed mosques and small prayer halls (mescid) in Çorum; with nowhere left to hold Friday and holiday prayers, a mescid in the Karakeçili quarter was converted into a mosque (C.EV 283/14419, H.1209, p. 132).
• Before the damage from an earthquake could be repaired, a fire broke out that ruined the market district, leaving residents unable to supply the camels requested for the army (C.DH 37/1802, H.1215, p. 124).
• A mild earthquake felt in Ankara was also felt in Çorum and İskilip, with no loss of life (DH.EUM.6.Şb 53/14, H.1336 ≈1918, p. 198).
• A report described a flood that caused loss of life and property in Kırşehir, Yozgat, Çorum and their villages (DH.EUM.EMN 88/24, H.1332 ≈1914, p. 211).
• Measures were requested against a locust outbreak in the village of Hamamözü, in the district of Çorum (DH.MKT 1625/51, H.1306 ≈1889, p. 287).

Migration and Settlement

• A village founded by Ahıska (Meskhetian) refugees in Çorum was named “Mahmudiye” (BEO 618/46279, H.1312, p. 87).
• A village founded by Ahıska refugees settled in Hamamözü was named “Mamuretülhamid,” after the sultan (BEO 802/60084, H.1314, p. 89).
• A village founded by Batumi refugees settled in the Hüseyinabad sub-district was named “Beşiktepe” (BEO 3684/276280, H.1327, p. 97).
• Villages founded for Circassian refugees in the district of Çorum were named Ertuğrul, Mecidiye and Osmaniye, and official seals were sent for their imams and headmen (DH.MKT 1911/55, H.1309, p. 294).
• Greeks relocated from Canik were reported to have been settled across the Sungurlu, Mecitözü and Hüseyinabad district/sub-district area (DH.ŞFR 571/5, R.1333, p. 393).

Buildings and Pious Endowments (Vakıf)

• Funds were allocated for the repair of the Gülabibey Mosque and Madrasa in Çorum (BEO 1201/90024, H.1316, p. 63).
• The village of Kalkankaya (Hacı Bayram) was endowed to support the staff of a mosque that had been destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt (C.EV 151/7536, H.1212, p. 127).
• Rental income from the Kapan Han and other endowed buildings was reported to be spent by the trustee on repairing water channels (C.İKTS 21/1045, H.1212, p. 140).
• The refurbishment of carpets and furnishings was discussed for Çorum’s main mosque, a Seljuk-era building also repaired under Murad IV (DH.MKT 1121/91, H.1324 ≈1906, p. 270).
• The Mevlevi lodge (dergâh) in Çorum was reported to be in ruin, its endowment income insufficient for repair, prompting a request for treasury support (DH.MKT 1177/67, H.1325 ≈1907, p. 272).

Education and Health

• Teachers and staff were requested for a Rüşdiye (secondary) school built in Osmancık with local residents’ contributions (BEO 1213/90951, H.1316, p. 64).
• A building was purchased in Çorum to serve as a syphilis (frengi) hospital (DH.MKT 458/11, H.1319 ≈1902, p. 310).
• Construction of a bacteriology laboratory was to be accelerated, and measures requested against an outbreak of cattle plague in the village of Abdalbudu (DH.MKT 2609/60, H.1323 ≈1905, p. 339).
• After overcrowding caused a typhus outbreak in Çorum’s prison, some inmates were transferred to the military barracks (DH.MKT 2847/30, H.1327 ≈1909, p. 348).
• Funds were provided for an extension built onto the Çorum İdadi (lycée) (MF.MKT 1064/41, H.1326 ≈1908, p. 485).

Roads and Communications

• A concession for operating automobiles on the highways linking Ankara, Kırşehir, Yozgat and Çorum was under review (BEO 3101/232519, H.1325 ≈1907, p. 83).
• Official thanks were extended to those working on the newly built İskilip-Çorum highway (DH.İD 178/36, H.1332 ≈1914, p. 245).
• A ceremony marked the start of extending the telegraph line from Çorum to Osmancık (DH.MKT 1217/33, H.1325 ≈1907, p. 273).
• The Sungurlu-Alaca telegraph line was completed and opened for communication (DH.MKT 1267/44, H.1326 ≈1908, p. 276).
• Permission was granted to rebuild the Çorum telegraph office, which had collapsed (DH.MKT 1659/73, H.1307 ≈1889, p. 288).

Public Security

• Members of the Selmanlı tribe who had robbed travellers on the Merzifon-Amasya road were captured and jailed in Çorum (C.ZB 30/1484, H.1279 ≈1862, p. 161).
• A search was launched for Greek bandits who raided a village near Hamamözü, opening fire on residents leaving the mosque and looting their property (DH.EUM.6.Şb 40/17, H.1336 ≈1918, p. 196).
• Measures were requested against the Kürt Dede gang, which had been plundering tithe grain in villages around Çorum (DH.EUM.6.Şb 52/21A, H.1336 ≈1918, p. 197).
• A force of a hundred men was requested to pursue bandits active in the Çorum area (DH.ŞFR 80/17, H.1335 ≈1917, p. 377).
• Orders were given to pursue and neutralize the Kördede gang, active on the borders of Çorum, Kastamonu and Sivas (DH.ŞFR 87/294, H.1336 ≈1917, p. 380).

Trade, Crafts and Mines

• A report was prepared on silver and copper mines located in the districts of Çorum and Kırşehir (C.DH 98/4868, H.1237 ≈1822, p. 125).
• An order set out the annual purchase and delivery of cehri (a yellow dye plant) from the İskilip and Çorum region for Istanbul’s calico printers (C.İKTS 40/1987, H.1220 ≈1805, p. 140).
• A delay in the district treasury’s transfer of funds to the Kayseri saltpetre factory was flagged as a risk to the factory’s production (BEO 3157/236733, H.1325 ≈1907, p. 92).
• Customs duty rates were set for cotton brought to Çorum for sale (C.ML 410/16786, H.1256 ≈1841, p. 148).
• A judicial inquiry was opened into the vandalizing and looting of a flour mill in İskilip (DH.MUİ 24/3-5, H.1328 ≈1910, p. 353).

Excavations and Antiquities

• Funds were transferred to Makridi Bey, in charge of an excavation in Çorum — a trace, in the Ottoman archive, of Theodore Makridi’s early fieldwork in the region (MF.MKT 1174/3, H.1329 ≈1911, p. 489).
• Anderson, from Oxford University, was reported to want to study and photograph antiquities in the Çorum, Merzifon, Amasya, Tokat, Zile and Niksar area (DH.ŞFR 236/53, R.1315 ≈1899, p. 365).
• A Russian and German party was reported to have measured and examined antiquities in villages and castles around the Hüseyinabad sub-district and Sungurlu (DH.ŞFR 267/20, R.1317 ≈1901, p. 366).
• Byzantine-era coins found in the village of İkizli, Sungurlu, were reported delivered to the Imperial Museum (DH.MKT 821/50, H.1321 ≈1904, p. 321).
• Ancient coins found in the village of Abdalbudu were to be gathered and sent on, with the wages of the excavation workers paid from Education Ministry funds (MF.MKT 327/2, H.1314 ≈1896, p. 491).

Sources

• Osmanlı Arşivi Çorum Belgeleri Kataloğu (Ottoman Archives Çorum Documents Catalogue), ed. İrfan Yiğit, Çorum Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, Çorum 2017, ISBN 978-605-82689-3-7. https://www.corum.bel.tr/public/uploads/2023/05/orum-belgeleri-osmanli-arsivleri.pdf