Job title
Divan Kitabeti
Group of job titles: Correspondence and registry
2 officials held the job title Divan Kitabeti. Its 9 annual entries run from 1847 to 1875 (AH 1264 to 1291). The median of the 9 recorded monthly salaries is 2,100 kuruş, against 500 kuruş for the whole collection in the same years. The entries name 2 places. The place with the largest number of officials is Kibris, with 1.
- Officials
- 2
- Years on recordAH 1264 to 1291, 9 years with an entry
- 1847 to 1875
- Median monthly salaryfrom 9 recorded salaries
- 2,100 kuruş
- Places with officials
- 2
Profile of the group: Correspondence and registry
No source read describes Divan Kitabeti by itself, so this is the profile of its group of job titles.
Offices that wrote, copied, registered and kept the papers of a department: correspondence offices (tahrirat), the offices of the corresponding secretary (mektubi), records offices (evrak) and registrars (mukayyit).
Hard skills
- official writing (kitabet, inşa) and fine handwriting, taught first in the offices and from 1839 in schools for officials
History
Before the reforms clerks were trained in the offices (kalem) themselves. Boys of twelve, or even seven or eight, attended an office and learned the forms of official writing from senior clerks; after three to five years without pay they became supernumeraries (mülazım) on a small salary.
Sources
- Akyıldız, Ali (2019). Mekteb-i Maârif-i Adliyye. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, supplement vol. 2 (revised third printing), 236-238. Online copy (read 14 October 2026).Pages or part: 236. Used for: hard skills, history.
- Findley, Carter V. (1980). Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire: The Sublime Porte, 1789-1922. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Pages or part: 78, 171-172, 199. Used for: summary.
- İpşirli, Mehmet (2001). Kalemiye. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 24, 248-249. Online copy (read 14 October 2026).Pages or part: 248-249. Used for: hard skills, history.
Places
| Place | Province | Officials | Annual entries | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kibris | Archipelago (Cezayir-i Bahr-i Sefid) province | 1 | 5 | 1870 to 1875 |
| Istanbul (Dersaadet) | Istanbul (Dersaadet) province | 1 | 4 | 1847 to 1851 |
Ottoman officials recorded
2 officials, the one with most annual entries first.
| Official | Years | Annual entries | Kuruş a month | Birthplace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muftuzade Mehmet Hilmi Efendi | 1870 to 1875 | 5 | 2,100 to 2,850 | Kahramanmaraş (Maraş) |
| Mustafa Tevfik Efendi | 1847 to 1851 | 4 | 60 | Istanbul (Dersaadet) |
Years run from the first to the last annual entry. An official without a recorded name is listed after the named officials.
How to read these records: years and calendars, what first recorded means, gaps between annual entries, and salaries.
Subjects
- Divan Kitabeti
- Ottoman job titles (Osmanlı memuriyet unvanları)
- Labour history (emek tarihi)
- Salaries of officials (memur maaşları)
- Ottoman history (Osmanlı tarihi)
- Ottoman bureaucracy (Osmanlı bürokrasisi)
- Ottoman officials (Osmanlı'da memurlar)
- Ottoman personnel registers (Sicill-i Ahvâl defterleri)
- Ottoman registers (Osmanlı defterleri)