Newspapers that made Lebanon's history... are not found in his national library

Lebanese newspapers from the 1940s and 1950s are not available at the National Library, the state’s principal institution, which is supposed to serve as the primary and main venue for preservation, collection, cataloging, and providing services to researchers. For the record, the National Library, despite changes in its name, was established in 1922 during the French Mandate.

It was a shock for me when I was searching for Al-Hayat newspaper, owned by Kamel Mroueh, which was launched in 1946, while I was in Beirut reviewing certain years to compile articles written by a prominent media figure.

The issue was not limited to Al-Hayat alone; there are other newspapers such as Al-Hadaf, issued by the Press Syndicate President, Professor Zuhair Assiyan, in 1943, as well as Nidaa Al-Watan (Call of the Homeland) from 1959, owned by Tawfiq Al-Mutni.

I witnessed the activity and operations of the National Library during the 1960s and 1970s when it was housed in the Parliament building at “Najme Square,” before it moved to the “Sanaiye” area after the civil war.

It never occurred to me that I would find those newspapers or others cataloged and stored electronically, as I understand the successive wars this country endured, the lack of funding, and the neglect it suffered. However, for the National Library to be devoid of complete collections of Lebanese newspapers is a major tragedy, even if some of them are found at the American University of Beirut.

In 2026, I heard that they are in the process of archiving some newspapers electronically, more than 100 years after the establishment of the National Library, while most Arab and world national libraries have transitioned to digital archives, electronic search, and facilitating services for researchers... Beirut is still taking its first steps.

While trying to obtain issues of Al-Hadaf, Nidaa Al-Watan, and Al-Hayat, I received advice from friends and colleagues working in the library and media sectors: “You should look for ‘black market traders,’ and there are many of them, each specializing in selling a specific product, such as purchasing theater documents and archives in Lebanon, photo albums, or old daily newspapers. Alternatively, you can visit the Sunday market, where you might find what you are looking for.”

The spirit of competition and development in Lebanon’s cultural and media environment has died out, except for rare cases and individual initiatives at the personal level.

What remains resilient and keeps pace with the world of electronic archiving are several libraries of Lebanon’s prestigious universities, which preserve, document, store, and provide services to researchers and interested parties. These educational institutions are entrusted with this role and mission.