Skip to content
Ottoman BureaucracyPeople, places and careers in Ottoman public service

Job title

Muhimme Kalemi Muduru

Group of job titles: Correspondence and registry

Stored spellings: Muhimme Kalemi Muduru; Muhimme kalemi muduru

2 officials held the job title Muhimme Kalemi Muduru. Its 12 annual entries run from 1866 to 1900 (AH 1283 to 1317). The median of the 12 recorded monthly salaries is 1,842.5 kuruş, against 500 kuruş for the whole collection in the same years. The entries name 1 place, Istanbul.

Officials
2
Years on recordAH 1283 to 1317, 12 years with an entry
1866 to 1900
Median monthly salaryfrom 12 recorded salaries
1,842.5 kuruş
Places with officials
1

Profile of the group: Correspondence and registry

No source read describes Muhimme Kalemi Muduru 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

Places of Muhimme Kalemi Muduru, the place with most officials first
PlaceProvinceOfficialsAnnual entriesYears
Istanbul (Dersaadet)Istanbul (Dersaadet) province2121866 to 1900

Ottoman officials recorded

2 officials, the one with most annual entries first.

Officials of Muhimme Kalemi Muduru
OfficialYearsAnnual entriesKuruş a monthBirthplace
Fahri Efendi1889 to 1900111,600 to 2,205Nevşehir
Mehmet Lütfi Bey1866/6711,500Istanbul (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