Beirut Consulate Post Records Collection 1859-1939

The materials in this collection are primarily in English. Some materials are in Arabic and French.

The Beirut Consulate Post Records Collection represents a selection of records from the United States Consulate in Beirut. In 2016, the Khayrallah Center digitized these records at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland while conducting research. The center targeted records pertaining to the World War I era and money (remittances) sent from immigrants in the United States to relatives in Lebanon, as well as correspondence from this time period. The center also digitized lists and records of passport applications from 1859-1939.

During the period covered by these records, the US Consulate in Beirut handled minor diplomatic matters such as issuing passports and visas, and serving the needs of American citizens residing in its jurisdiction through correspondence, inquiries, and assisting migrants, and tourists. The vast majority of the consulate’s records on American citizens refer to missionaries and emigrants who had become naturalized American citizens but returned to the Levant or required the consulate’s aid in communicating with relatives who remained there.

The original records are housed at National Archives II in College Park, Maryland. To learn more about Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State, see the National Archives’ description of Record Group 84.

During the time period covered, the general jurisdiction of the Beirut Consulate included the cities of Beirut, Damascus, Sidon, Tyre, Haifa, Acre, Safad, Tripoli, Latakia, Homs, Aleppo, Zahle, and Aintab and the surrounding countryside in areas within modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, and Southern Turkey among others.

The collection includes twenty-four books with records spanning the years 1859 to 1939. The bulk of the materials pertain to the years 1915 and 1916. Contents of the books include miscellaneous record books, Morgenthau Williams Payments, relief payments, correspondence books, passports, and New French Relief.

The items in this collection are arranged by volume number.

The donor retains full ownership of any copyright and rights currently controlled. Nonexclusive right to authorize uses of these materials for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes are granted to Khayrallah Center pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. Usage of the materials for these purposes must be fully credited with the source. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials.

These materials are digital copies of an original resource held by another institution. The KCLDS Archive often works with other institutions to make digital materials available online to the public. KCLDS is not able to grant permission to use or reproduce these materials. The KCLDS Archive strongly encourages users to contact the holding institution for permission to use or reproduce materials from their holdings.

[Identification of item], Beirut Consulate Post Records Collection, GR 0005, Hoda Z. Nassour and Herbert R. Nassour Jr., MD, Archive of Lebanese Diaspora

KCLDS Database of World War I Remittances

Materials at the National Archives and Records Administration digitized by the Khayrallah Center, 2016 (Accession No. 2016.001).

Processed by Marjorie Stevens, 2017. Finding aid content contributed by Marjorie Stevens and Laura Lethers, 2017 and 2023. Finding aid created by Allison Hall, 2023 November.