The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive was launched to collect various documents including identification papers, official records, letters, diaries, manuscripts, maps, photographs, films, and audio recordings that were under threat of loss, damage, or confiscation. Such items were digitized and made widely available on a website open for users inside Palestine and abroad in Arabic and English, to shed light on the different aspects of Palestinian life, history, and legacy. A visitor can browse the Archive through exploring the different collections offered by hundreds of Palestinians to be safely saved for future generations. One can also navigate the website through topics that summarize many aspects of Palestinian life such as culture & arts, resistance & struggle, displacement & diaspora, social & organizational movement, everyday life, education & extracurricular activities, women, and others.

The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive sheds light on a timeline of over two centuries of Palestinian narratives told from a history-from-below perspective. It focuses on the average Palestinian who might be overlooked or distanced by history. The project also aims to promote a culture of safekeeping and digital archiving, as well as raise awareness about the importance or archives and their limitless possibilities.

Since its launch, the project established a network of institutional relations with local and international partners interested in archives in Palestine. It also sought to build partnerships and strategic relationships with the local community and with other institutions working in archives and academic research. All that was closely tied with the Palestinian Museum’s various research and education programmes.

Over the past few years, many Palestinian individuals, families, and institutions offered their archives to be made accessible to Palestinians in Palestine and in the diaspora, and to anyone interested in Palestine around the world, as well as researchers and artists who wish to use such distinctive archive in their art and research.

The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive began its journey in its first phase on February 18th, 2018, followed by the second phase on March 1st, 2021. Now it aims to launch a third phase to carry on with its journey, and widen its geographical scope, relations, and partnerships inside and outside Palestine.