American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR), Amman, Jordan

The American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR), established in 1968, is dedicated to promoting research and publication in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, history, Near Eastern languages, art and architecture, conservation, and many other aspects of Near Eastern studies. ACOR's four main program areas include a fellowship program that awards over 20 fellowships annually, assistance to about 15 international archaeological projects every year, its own archaeological projects, and an impressive publication series.

The ACOR library is one of the premier research libraries in the region. Its two-floor facility, open to the public, currently holds 15,675 volumes and 7,253 bound periodicals representing 14,682 separate issues. Areas of focus include Near Eastern archaeology, anthropology, Arabic language and culture, history and political science of Jordan and the region, history of art and architecture, geography, geology, and related studies. This collection was built over the years by U.S. Government and private funding, as well as many donations from ACOR's friends and scholars. Significant collections were acquired from the personal libraries of G. Ernst Wright, James Sauer, and J. Lawrence Angel. ACOR's impressive reference collection contains many sources that are not available elsewhere in Jordan, including the complete Loeb Classical Library, The Assyrian Dictionary, the Lexikon der Agyptologie, The Cambridge Ancient History, and the Survey of Western and Eastern Palestine by H.H. Kitchener and C.R. Conder. ACOR's rare books collection contains excellent works on the first Western travels in the region, including DeSaulcy's Journey Round the Dead Sea and in the Bible Lands, Guerin's Description de la Palestine, Robert's The Holy Land, Volney's Travels, and many others.

In addition, the ACOR library contains an excellent collection of approximately 1,500 maps that covers Jordan's topography, geology, and archaeological sites. This collection also contains very good regional maps, difficult to find topographic maps of Palestine, and the complete Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Furthermore, the library holds an impressive collection of over 10,000 slides on many archaeological projects and sites in Jordan. A unique aspect of this collection is that it contains slides on ACOR's Petra Church Project, from its inception to completion.