التراثHeritage

Where the family
comes from

A dated record of the Almail family in Kuwait — what we can document, what we have inherited, and what is still uncertain.

Family timeline

  1. c. 1890s

    The earliest record

    The family name appears in a written record for the first time, in connection with the pearling trade out of Kuwait's old harbour.

    Date approximate — inferred from a later account, not a primary document.

  2. 1938

    The first ledger

    A bound merchant's ledger begins, the earliest continuous record the family holds. It runs, with two gaps, until 1961.

    Digitised in full; scans available to family members.

  3. 1946

    From pearls to shipping

    Entries shift decisively away from the pearling season and toward shipping and freight — the family's trade reoriented within a single decade.

  4. 1952

    The family house

    The house in Kuwait City is built and becomes the centre of family life: the majlis for gatherings, the courtyard for everything else.

  5. 1961

    A new state, a new scale

    With independence, the family's businesses widen into construction supply and services. The third ledger closes as formal accounts begin.

  6. 1978

    The first family council

    An informal council is convened to settle shared matters — the house, the endowment, and support for family members in education.

  7. 1994

    The education fund

    The council formalises its scholarship support into a standing fund, open to any family member in higher education.

  8. 2019

    The archive project

    A working group begins cataloguing photographs, letters and ledgers. More than 1,400 images have been digitised to date.

  9. 2025

    Restoring the majlis

    A fourteen-month restoration returns the majlis to use — original doors and plasterwork kept, structure and services renewed.

  10. 2026

    This portal

    The family's record moves online: a directory of members, a journal of what we are doing, and a heritage archive that anyone can correct.

الأرشيفThe archive

Held, catalogued,
and open to the family

1,400+

Photographs digitised

3

Merchant ledgers, 1938–1961

88

Years of continuous record

Scans are available to any family member on request, and the originals are kept in archival storage. If you hold letters, photographs or documents that belong in the collection, the working group would like to hear from you.

Contribute to the archive