Apart from texts, the IISH has a great many posters of leftist political organizations and trade unions and a collection of Turkish photographs dating back to the 1950s. There are over 1000 posters, and this collection expands by 100 copies annually. Apart from posters, the Image and Sound Department at the IISH has photographs and films, audio tapes, textiles, buttons, and historical objects. Audio-visual materials can be searched in the IISH catalogue. Some special collections are mentioned below:
Films
- The film collection belonging to the Turkish Labour Party (TIP) was saved only just in time after the military coup in 1980, and then was placed in the care of the IISH. Access is restricted.
- Documentary film about Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, better known as 'Ibo', leader of the Maoist TKP/ML-TIKKO. Ibo was assassinated 1973. The filmmaker Enrak Cilason donated all his materials to the IISH.
- Videotapes of May Day demonstrations.
Photos
Thousands of photos of May Day demonstrations, trade unions, political parties, Kurdish movements, migrant organizations, and foreign workers are stored in the Image and Sound Department. Very special is a collection of photo albums containing portraits that once belonged to the dissident communist ideologist Dr Hikmet Kivilcimli. The photo collection of H. Inanç is a unique source on the 'village institutes' (Köy enstitüleri). This was a social experiment intended to raise the educational level in the countryside in the 1940s. Many of the 17,000 pupils of these institutes later played a part in the teachers' trade union, Türkiye Ögretmenler Sendikasi (TÖS).
Sound
Sound materials include interviews with trade union activists, 1970-1980, writers, sound tapes of Nâzim Hikmet reading for Radio Budapest, Kurdish leaders, including Molla Mustafa Barzani and others.
