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The documents sent by the communities of the Ottoman Empire are either in "ancient Hebrew" (pre-modern Hebrew) or "Ladino". There are sometimes letters in French. Only between 10% and 20% of the archives would be written in "Ladino".

The oldest documents are pinkasim from 1750 and 1759, difficult to understand, very damaged in 1948. Many are uncommunicable (circa 1850). There is a gap between 1820 and 1830. There are gaps, the community almost disappeared. After that, for the period 1890-1920 which represents many documents of which a part is a little damaged.

The writings represented are mainly the "half-calamus" or handwritten Sephardic rabbinic script (documents in "ancient" Hebrew = rabbinic and/or in "ladino" = Judeo-Spanish) and the writing called "letras de karta" or "solitreo" in the correspondence in Judeo-Spanish. Much of these documents have been transcribed according to the modern Hebrew ms alphabet.

This fonds is part of the Archives of Religious Houses (or Archives of convents) held by the Historical Archive of the Custody of the Holy Land.

The Monastery of Saint Saviour is a Catholic Franciscan monastery located on 1 Saint Francis Street, east of the New Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The site was purchased from the Georgian Orthodox Church in 1560 with permission by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire, and the monastery was constructed in stages. The church building was erected in 1885, with renovation in 1985. The site includes a printing press, an organ workshop, a library and a Catholic school.

Besides from the Franciscan convent, Saint Saviour shelters also the “Parish of Saint Saviour” and a Casa Nova (a Franciscan house for pilgrims).
Convent of Terra Sancta College is a succursal of Saint Saviour’s Latin parish, and a cultural centre of the Custody of the Holy Land.

Structure of the fonds: global extent: 209 files; Apr. 1801 - 30 Oct. 2001
Series A, Regulations. Global extent: 3 files; 1884-[mid XXth century]
Series B, Correspondence. Global extent: 5 files; 1902 - 30 Oct. 2001
Series C, Assets and administration. Global extent: 15 files; Oct. 1885 - 1996
C-I, Inventories. Global extent: 4 files; 1906 - Sept. 1927
C-II, Receipts and accounting notes. Global extent: 1 file; 1986 - 1996
C-III, Daily expenses. Global extent: 9 files; Oct. 1885 - Sept. 1945
C-IV, Revenues and expenditure. Global extent: 1 file; Sept. 1977 - May 1996
Series D, Holy Masses. Global extent: 183 files; Apr. 1801 - 31 Dec. 1976
D-I, Hebdomadal offices. Global extent: 54 files; 31 July 1870 - 1st Jan. 1969
D-II, Masses “pro rege et pontifice”. Global extent: 13 files; Apr. 1801 - 21 July 1974
D-III, Masses dedicated to benefactors (“pro benefactoribus”). Global extent: 35 files; 12 May 1815 - 31 Dec. 1976
D-IV, Masses dedicated to the clergymen’s relatives (“ad intentionem religiosorum de familia”). Global extent: 18 files; 1st June 1822 - 31 Dec. 1976
D-V, Masses “pro eleemosyna”. Global extent: 22 files; 8 Feb. 1833 - 31 Dec. 1976
D-VI, Pious legates. Global extent: 7 files; 2 Jan. 1859 - 20 Apr. 1958
D-VII, Masses “pro defunctis fratribus, pro parentibus religiosorum et iuxta kalendarium”. Global extent: 28 files; 18 Jan. 1861 - 29 Aug. 1976
D-VIII, Offices celebrated by pilgrim priests. Global extent: 1 file; 18 Sept. 1903 - 24 July 1927
D-IX, Masses celebrated at the Austrian Hospice. Global extent: 1 file; 1st Oct. 1941 - 4 Aug. 1943
D-X, Masses dedicated to the Basilica [of the Annunciation in] Nazareth. Global extent: 1 file; 25 Apr. 1959 - 2 Jan. 1968
D-XI, Masses “ad mentem ministri generalis”. Global extent: 2 files; 16 May 1960 - 4 Dec. 1976
D-XII, Summaries of masses. Global extent: 1 file; Jan. 1909 - July 1927
Series E, Chronicles and memoirs. Global extent: 3 files; Jan. 1913 - 30 Dec. 1976
E-I, Various memoirs. Global extent: 1 file; Jan. 1913 - Dec. 1922
E-II, Registers of the pilgrim priests. Global extent: 2 files; 5 Jan. 1963 - 30 Dec. 1976

This is a huge fonds, including more than 90000 units and described by 173 inventories. A number of sections deal with Republic of Turkey and Near East, including topics such as trade, archaeology, water supply and sewer system.

The fonds contains materials of the former State Main, and of St. Petersburg Main Archives : the gathered documents result from the activity of structural institutions of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, and of consular and diplomatic offices abroad; most part of them date back to 1800-1885.
The collection is divided into five artificial ranks, which are divided into families. Documents are then organised according topics.
In the first rank (a significant part of it is closed for researchers) a great number of documents are connected with Jerusalem, including:
I-1 catalogue 12. All-respectful reports on the affairs in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Serbia (1822-1879).
I-1 catalogue 19. Highly confirmed projects of messages on issues in the Middle East (1816-1855).
I-9 catalogue 8. Materials on commissioning diplomatic envoys (in Turkey, as well), information on the events in Turkey, materials on the clergy, and ecclesiastic affairs. Notes, and memos. Materials on construction of the railways, and telegraph (1774-1905).
I-10 catalogue 28. Printed copies of agreements, conventions, treaties (especially with Turkey).
Many documents on Palestine are kept in the Second Rank (1763-1900), including:
II-3 catalogue 34. Russian trade exchanges with countries of the Middle East, reports of consulates, and the general situation in the consulates (1783-1869).
II-3 catalogue 35. Russian trade exchanges with countries of the Middle East, reports of consulates, and the general situation in the consulates (1869-1896).
II-9 catalogue 46. Spiritual affairs, monastic properties, Russian pilgrims in Palestine.
II-9 catalogue 83. Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.
II-10 catalogue 49. Trip of Prof. Pomialovsky to Palestine (1864-1891).
IV-10 catalogue 129. Private messages of administrator of the Consulate in Jerusalem, on the situation in Jerusalem (1801-1879).
IV-16 catalogue 134. On the protection of rights of Orthodox clergy at the East by the Russian government.
IV-18 catalogue 137. A project of arranging the water-supply system in Jerusalem.

This fonds is part of the Archives of Religious Houses (or Archives of convents) held by the Historical Archive of the Custody of the Holy Land.

The Monastery of St. Francis ad Coenaculum (familiarly known as the Little Cenacle) is located on Mount Zion, near the place where the Last Supper is commemorated and where, in the 14thcentury, the Friars Minor built the first monastery in the city of Jerusalem.

The Cenacle (from Latin cēnāculum "dining room", later spelt coenaculum and semantically drifting towards "upper room"), also known as the "Upper Room", is a room in the David's Tomb Compound in Jerusalem, traditionally held to be the site of the Last Supper.
In the 1330s, it passed into the custody of the Franciscan Order of Friars who managed the structure until 1524. At that time Ottoman authorities took possession of the Cenacle converting it into a mosque. The Franciscans were completely evicted from their surrounding buildings in 1550.
The friars betook themselves to the nearby bakery, where they lived until 1560 when they transferred to the Georgian monastery El Amud, called St. Saviour's.
On March 29, 1936 the Franciscans returned to within a few yards of the Cenacle, having bought the old bakery from the Dejani family that held the Cenacle and transformed it into the Convent of St. Francis, and the Church ad Coenaculum.

Structure of the fonds: global extent: 21 files; Feb. 1926 feb. - 3 Sept. 2000
Series A, Convent’s chapter. Global extent: 1 file; 18 Aug. 1986 - 8 Feb. 1993
Series B, Correspondence. Global extent: 1 file; 21 Dec. 1980 - 9 Dec. 1993
Series C, Holy Masses. Global extent: 2 files; 23 Apr. 1936 - 5 Jan. 1971
Series D, Chronicles and memoirs. Global extent: 17 files; Feb. 1926 - 3 Sept. 2000
D-I, Various memoirs. Global extent: 5 files; 17 May 1948 - 14 June 1962
D-II, Registers of pilgrim priest. Global extent: 7 files; 9 Jan. 1971 - 3 Sept. 2000
D-III, Registers of pilgrims. Global extent: 1 file; Feb. 1926 - [mid XXth century]
D-IV, Chronicles. Global extent: 4 files; 5 July 1960 - Dec. 1997

The Ruhi al-Khalidi collection is composed in part of vocabulary collections (Arabic-English lexicons organised into lists), notes taken from various works, including those of Ibn Khaldun, letters, a book inventory, a catalogue of library works and at least two diaries containing a succession of collages. The documents identified were produced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the volumes in the collection, entitled "Catalogue of the books of Ruhi Bey El Khalidi at the Khalidieh Library, Jerusalem" (Rwhi_25/14), records in writing a large collection of printed works from Ruhi Khalidi's personal library. This catalogue would have been produced after Ruhi Khalidi's death or at the end of his life and reflects his varied interests, with several titles relating to religion, history and travel, particularly to Bordeaux, where Ruhi Khalidi was consul, and to the Gironde. This collection is kept at the Khalidi Library in Jerusalem.

Items inventoried from the fonds:

• Rwhi_25/01 Diary.
• Rwhi_25/02 Diary.
• Rwhi_25/03-09 Arabic-English glossary.
• Rwhi_25/10 Chrono courrier.
• Rwhi_25/11 Notebook.
• Rwhi_25/12 Notebook.
• Rwhi_25/13 God is good (drafts of letters, list of books).
• Rwhi_25/14 Inventory of books.
• KHD_Ind_43 Catalogue of library books.
• DOC_02 Letters.

The consulate’s archives show how worked the representatives of France in Jerusalem since 1842 and reveal whom they interacted with : local authorities, the different communities living there, Consulates from other countries, the French Embassy and the French Foreign Office.
These documents are also a way to understand the political and religious conflicts that took place from time to time during that period (Crimean War in 1853).

This inventory includes the transcription (into Arabic and Turkish) and translation into English of the 18 volumes of reports (55% in Ottoman Turkish, 45% in Arabic) from the Ottoman municipality of Jerusalem between 1892 and 1917.

This fonds includes documents like petitions or letters written to the Inspectorship between 1900-1909 (Hijri dates: 1318-1327). These petitions usually dealt with requests for promotion and appointment, salary, gang and bandit activities, demands for tax, complaints about administrative corruption, etc.
The starting and ending Hijri dates for this fonds are: 1318-1329.

This record group is supposed to be the documents created by the service of the town clerk during the British Mandate. However, most of the documents have been created between the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1950s. The gap into the records for the first years of the Mandate remains unexplained.
This record group mainly consists of correspondence and reports which show the organisation of the Municipality. Moreover, a section of this record group deals with the security of the City during the 1930s and 1940s.