Leila El Khalidi

Leila Hussein Fakhri El Khalidi (1927–2020) was born in Jerusalem. She graduated from the American Junior College in Beirut before going on to work under the Palestinian Mandate Government from 1943 to 1946. She was the head librarian at the PLO Research Centre in Beirut, then joined SAMED (the Palestinian Martyrs’ Works Society), where she founded the Society’s Central Library and headed a research unit for Folklore and Folk Arts and Crafts. In 1971, the PLO Research Centre Library was recognised as the national library of the Palestinian people and, in 1986, the folk museum collection at SAMED was established: both testament to Leila’s work.