A scholar and a librarian, Dr. Omar Khalidi (d. 2010) served as the Librarian for Islamic Architecture at MIT from 1983-2010. Over the years of working with the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture and through his involvement with Islamic communities across the country, Dr. Khalidi began documenting the status of mosques in the United States and Canada.1 He authored several important publications on the topic including: “Import, Implant, Innovate, Mosque Design in North America"; “Fantasy, Faith and Fraternity: American Architecture of Moorish Inspiration"; and the oft-cited article “Approaches to Mosque Design in America.” His collection of images, representing some of the over 2,000 mosques in the United States and Canada, is housed in DOME, MIT's online digital repository.
To honor Dr. Khalidi and his important work, the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT has migrated his "Mosques in the United States and Canada" collection to Archnet; furthermore, the Center has continued building the collection with new sites, images, and publications, expanding the collection to encompass North America writ large. Eventually, we hope to expand the collection to cover the entire Western Hemisphere including Central and South America.
If you would like to contribute sites, images, and/or information, or if you have any questions regarding this collection, please contact AKDC@MIT.
Sharon C. Smith
Former Program Head, Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT
November 2014
Updated by Michael A. Toler, Archnet Digital Librarian
Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT
NOTES:
1From Nasser Rabbat's biographical entry, "Omar Khalidi". For the full text see, http://archnet.org/authorities/2736.
