This collection consists of digital files only. These digital files are available on the open web.
This collection consists of digital files only. The digital files are available on the Columbia University Digital Library Collections (DLC) via links below and at the following address:
This collection consists of digital files only. The digital files are available on the Columbia University Digital Library Collections (DLC), as well as on the web.
Mr. Mahrous Mustafa Bseiso (1884-1968) hails from the renowned Bseiso family which is a branch of the Kayali family, whose well-documented lineage goes back to the noble Hashemite ancestry. For over a millennium, the Kayali family produced countless scholars, scientists, artists, poets, and business people in the larger Levant and Palestine, one of whom was Mr. Mahrous Mustafa Bseiso, an entrepreneur and philanthropist. Mr. Mahrous's great grandfather Alhaj Ahmed Bseiso Al Kayali was the first to have the Bseiso last name (in the late 1700s), whose care and kindness extended not only to the people of Palestine, but also to stray cats he sheltered in his mills. Alhaj Ahmed Bseiso Al Kayali was colloquially designated as the "carer of cats", or "Abu Besseh/Bseiseh" ("cat" in Arabic), a designation which was adopted by his descendants as the particular family branch name: "Bseiso".
The archive documents purchase agreements, land deeds, and the existence and usage of water reservoirs in Palestine throughout the early to mid-1900s. It details some of Mr. Bseiso's work as a leading businessman who consolidated large swaths of land in Biʾr al-Sabʿ/Beersheeba, Palestine in the 1930s in and around the city center (what is now the city's suburbs). The archive contains many documents detailing land-purchase deeds from neighbors, business owners, and family members, revealing a large quantity of land ownership (acreage or dunams in Arabic) directly under Mahrous Bseiso, and documenting the rentals and usages of water reservoirs owned by Mr. Bseiso (many of the reservoirs have been documented to go back to the Byzantine era) by neighboring farmers who needed water to grow their crops. Mr. Bseiso introduced cutting-edge irrigation machinery into Beersheba, purchased farming equipment from the Jaffa Iron Works company for land cultivation, which allowed him to transform the dry land into prosperous gardens and farms.
The archive is also a testimony to the long standing family and business relations between the Bseiso family, and the various Arab families in Palestine, and to existing legal infrastructures which regulated daily life in Palestine. The purchase agreements were witnessed, signed, and sealed with Palestinian stamps and notarized marks for authenticity purposes. In addition, the documents and land deeds are often signed by a selection of historically relevant people from the Beersheba area, including prominent Sheikhs of large tribes of the Negev desert and various other businesspeople of the Beersheba region, hence serving as a testimonial to the long standing history of Arab families in the region, and their relation to and ownership of the land, prior to the Nakba, 1948, when the Bseiso family, like many other Arab families, were forced to leave Palestine, leaving their properties behind.
The Bseiso family website has been archived by Columbia University Libraries web archiving program, and is available here: https://thebseisofamilyarchive.com
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection consists of digital files only. These digital files are available on the open web.
This collection consists of digital files only. The digital files are available on the Columbia University Digital Library Collections (DLC) via links below and at the following address: https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/bseiso
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Mahrous Mustafa Bseiso Land Deeds Collection; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Gift of Mr. Adel Bseiso, 2022, through Global Studies.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Finding aid created from donor-provided description.
2023-10-12 Links to digital objects added. kws
Hajj Mahrous Afandi bin Mustafa Bseiso (1884-1968) was a Palestinian business magnate, industrialist, and philanthropist. He was born and raised in Jerusalem to the prestigious Bseiso family. At the peak of his career, Mr. Mahrous owned large swaths of land in and around Bi'r Al-Sab' where he set out to bring industrialization and socio-economic development to that often-overlooked part of Palestine.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
| Genre/Form | ||
|---|---|---|
| Contracts | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |
| Place | ||
| Palestine | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |
| Subject | ||
| Land titles | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |