Dr Duncan Haldane, who passed away on 22nd August, 2006 was the Head Librarian & Curator at The Institute of Ismaili Studies from 1997 to 2004. Representatives from the Institute joined Dr Haldane’s family at a service of thanksgiving held on 4th September at All Saints’ Church, Putney Common.

Dr Haldane also taught on Islamic Arts as part of the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities and was a mentor and advisor to many students at the IIS. During the Institute’s World of Learning Campaign (2000-2001), he accompanied an extensive exhibition and delivered talks on The Institute of Ismaili Studies’ collection in Los Angeles, San Jose, Chicago, Miami, Paris, Nottingham and London.

In 2003, as part of the Institute’s 25th Anniversary colloquium “Word of God; Art of Man” at the Ismaili Centre, London, Dr Haldane presented a paper entitled “Arts of the Celestial Pen: Qur’ans from the Library of The Institute of Ismaili Studies”. Proceedings of this conference are to be published and will include this paper. Dr Haldane participated in several international conferences, published articles in various art journals, and lectured in Islamic art in several institutions.

Dr Haldane graduated from the University of Edinburgh where he studied Arabic and was awarded his doctorate in 1973. His doctoral thesis was subsequently published as a monograph entitled “Mamluk Painting”.

He held a number of varied roles: he worked for the BBC’s Arabic Service and subsequently as their Middle East Representative, based in Cairo. He spent 9 years at the Victoria and Albert Museum where he worked as the Deputy Keeper of the National Art Library and had specific responsibility for all Islamic book materials and Library exhibitions. His book, Islamic Book bindings in the Victoria and Albert Museum was published by the World of Islam Festival Trust in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1983.

Dr Haldane also worked at the University of Surrey, Roehampton for three years and was the Conference Organiser for “Art and the Visually Impaired” in 1995. He was a visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter’s Department of Islamic studies from 1995 to 1998. He was a member of the Middle East Libraries Committee (MELCOM, UK) and of the South Asia Archive and Library Group. In 2005, Dr Haldane joined the Altajir Trust.