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Chris Kutschera Ephemera Collection

Call Number

AD.MC.010

Dates

1936-2011, inclusive
; Bulk, 1970-2005, bulk

Creator

Kutschera, Chris, 1938-2017

Extent

2.5 Linear Feet in 2 records cartons, 1 document case, 2 oversize folders

Language of Materials

English , French .

Abstract

The Chris Kutschera ephemera collection contains books, pamphlets, brochures, postcards, maps, and other ephemera acquired by Kutschera during his time as a journalist covering the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and the USSR. Much of the collection is made up of travel-related materials: maps, guidebooks, and exhibition catalogues.

Biographical note

Chris Kutschera was the pseudonym used by French journalist Paul Maubec (1938-2017), and his wife, the photographer Edith Maubec. An independent journalist, Kutschera covered the Eritrean struggle for independence, the oil industry in the Arabian Peninsula, and other topics from the Middle East, but was best known for his writings about the Kurdish people. His best known publications included "Le Mouvement National Kurde (Flammarion, 1979), "Le Défi kurde ou le Rêve Fou de l'indépendance" (Bayard Editions, 1997), and "Le Kurdistan, Guide Littéraire (Editions Favre, 1998), "Le Livre noir de Saddam Hussein" (Oh ! Éditions, 2005), and "La Longue Marche des Kurdes: 40 ans de reportage au Kurdistan" (JePublie, 2011), among other titles. [Source: Wikipedia, "Chris Kutschera," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kutschera, accessed 5 April 2020].

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in three series. Series I contains dated works with a more formal publication history, mostly books, journals, and magazines. The works are arranged alphabetically by title, with one folder corresponding to one work. Series II contains ephemera, undated works, and items with a less formal or discernible publication history, mostly brochures, postcards, and booklets. This series is broken down into folders labeled with places or country names, arranged alphabetically by country name. Each folder then contains the items corresponding to it; this geographic placement is thematic and not based on where the item was created--for example, an exhibition on Eritrea held in France is placed in the Eritrea folder. Those items which cannot be associated thematically with a particular country or region have been placed in a General Ephemera folder. Within each folder (or series of folders, in the case of larger subsections like Kurdistan or USSR) the items, if dated, are arranged in reverse chronological order, from newest to oldest, with undated items after the oldest dated item. Series III contains larger and more official maps, many of which also contain tourist information. They are organized into folders alphabetically by country and depending on the number of maps for a particular country; within the folder they are alphabetical by country and then in reverse chronological order for maps of the same country.

Scope and contents

The collection consists of published works and ephemera acquired by journalist Chris Kutschera during his professional and personal travels and assignments. The collection contains three series. Series I contains the publications, those items with published dates and produced more formally, while Series II is made up of ephemera and Series III consists of maps, the majority of which are for tourist purposes. The scope and themes of both series are similar. Nearly all of the items focus on North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the USSR. A large portion are travel literature: guidebooks, maps, postcards, tourist brochures, historical pamphlets. Some of the items are more academic (journals and books) and focus on the history and cultures of the region. Others are government produced: annual reports, propaganda, commemorative postcards and stamps. Particular areas of focus are the Kurdish political movements inside Iraq and ephemera related to Iraqi Kurds in general, items connected to the Iran-Iraq War, and items pertaining to the Gulf. The items are in a variety of languages, but mostly French and English, with a smaller portion in Arabic, Kurdish, and Farsi. The bulk of the items are from the late 1970s to the late 1990s-early 2000s.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use onsite. For more information contact nyuad-asc-group@nyu.edu.

Conditions Governing Use

The collection is subject to all relevant copyright laws. For more information, contact nyuad-asc-group@nyu.edu.

Preferred citation

Published citatations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); Chris Kutschera Ephemera Collection; MC 010; box number; folder number; Archives and Special Collections; New York University Abu Dhabi Library.

Immediate source of acquisition

The collection was purchased from Chris Kutschera in 2015.

Collection processed by

Samuel Ball, updated by Brad Bauer, 2020

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 18:17:44 +0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English

Processing Information

Processed by Samuel Ball, 2016; with updates by Brad Bauer, 2020.

Repository

NYU Abu Dhabi, Archives and Special Collections
NYU Abu Dhabi
New York University Abu Dhabi, C-2
P.O. 129188
Abu Dhabi
nyuad-asc-group@nyu.edu