Cemalettin Server Revnakoğlu’s personal archive is significant in Turkish cultural history. The archive is currently located in the Süleymaniye Library, and the documents that it contains related to the history of Istanbul Sufism and the tariqas draw special attention. Due to his special interest and duty, Revnakoğlu visited many dervish lodges and zawiyas, shrines and tombs, mosques and kulliyes in Istanbul; he gathered information about these places from both written and oral sources and recorded his own observations.

This study only cites only some of the Bektashi fathers and Bektashi zawiyas from Revnakoğlu’s Sufism archive consisting of thousands of documents. Revnakoğlu contacted almost all of the Istanbul Bektashi fathers; he wrote the dervish lodges of Merdivenköy, Çamlıca, Kuyubaşı, Karyağdı, Karaağaç, Sütlüce, Rumelihisarı, and Topkapı Bektaşî and also identified humble Bektaşî lodges operating in Istanbul. He is the only person who has been attributed the titles of sheikh, caliph, professed, and gifted and who wrote about the Istanbul era of the Bektashi—from persons to lodges— from the inside. Revnakoğlu, whose father was also a part of Bektashism, personally knew most of the sheikhs that he had spoken with. In the biographies he wrote, what draws attention is his depth, mastery of the subject, and a literary language that is not seen in other studies of this kind. Individuals were determined either directly by their own familiarity or by the testimonies of those around them, and Bektashi fathers were depicted in a style that would make the reader sympathize with them. On the other hand, Revnakoğlu gathered information by asking those who knew the sheikhs what he did not have the chance to know. He included his own observations and evaluations about Baba İbrahim, Baba Hasan Basri, Baba Tevfik, Ali Fethi Beybaba, and Ali Bey, whom we cited in this study, and even recorded rumors about them. Particularly, the wits, rumors and jokes about Baba Tevfik’s Bektashism, who was unique to him, have drawn attention. Among other people recalled by Revnakoğlu was Baba Hasan Basri, who had spread Bektashism in the Grand Bazaar and Üsküdar after receiving the diploma for becoming a Bektashi father from Baba Ali Nutku (sheikh of Çamlıca Bektashi Dervish Lodge and Bektashi Ali Bey); although not well known in the field due to his little influence, he has served in many works—especially in the apostils of Aşık Pasha and Lutfî Efendi’s Histories. Revnakoğlu also spoke about Ali Fethi Beybaba, who received a diploma from Baba Nutki and was admired by Revnakoğlu because he preserved his childhood embarrassment and never benefited from the tariqa.

It is possible to reach the Bektashi joy—which manifested itself in many tariqas with the decrease in the fanaticism of Bektashism in the nineteenth century—in archive documents. Ziya Efendi (the sheikh of Üsküdar Rifa‘i Dervish Lodge) and Baba Emin (the sheikh of Yedikule Ussaki Dervish Lodge) reflected the Bektashi aspects into their tariqas. The latter, a member of a branch that is described as disruptive, transformed the Ussakiyya s into the Bektashi color; after him, Caliph Fahreddin Himmeti Efendi carried on the Bektashi joy in Ussakiyya. Baba Haşim, who carried this joy into Celvetiyya, paid the price of his choice because he was Bektashi, and his funeral prayer was not allowed to be performed in the Celvetiyya dervish lodge. When he died, he was brought to the dervish lodge of Celvetiyya to perform the funeral prayer, but he was not taken inside because he was Bektashi, and his funeral prayer was performed near the main door. Later, this place was named the Hashimiyya coffin rest.

Dede Ramiz, of whom Revnakoğlu claimed to know every aspect and sometimes criticized for his behavior, brought Bektashi joy to Khalwatiyya. On the other hand, Sheikh Mustafa Efendi, who was said to be an astonishingly Alevi with his long mustache, brought the Bektashi joy into Naqshibandiyya. Some of the sheikhs, whom Revnakoğlu stated belonged to other tariqas while tending toward Bektashi, had benefited from both being Bektashi and the status of fatherhood. One of these sheikhs was Abdülvahid Çelebi from Mevleviyya, who reflected the Bektashi color most intensely in Mevleviyya; moreover, the sheikh of Bahariye Mevlevi Lodge, Dede Hüseyin Fahreddin, also fed off the sheikh of Sütlüce Bektashi Dervish Lodge, Baba Münir. Revnakoğlu conveyed the biography of Abdülvahid Çelebi, who received his caliphate from Bektashiyya and made his contribution, with his remarkable aspects. Revnakoğlu related that Abdülvahid Çelebi was not liked by the palace and some Bektashi people because he helped the libertarians, and he also touched on the jealousy in Bektashiyya. A copy of a long document in which Abdülvahid Çelebi confessed to being Bektashi is preserved in the Revnakoğlu archive. This document reflects many folkloric materials, beliefs, and practices regarding daily life and special days such as Muharram. All these documents in Revnakoğlu’s archive, who also gathered information about Bektashism while working on the history of Istanbul dervish lodges, prevented the forgetting and progressive loss of information belonging to the last period of this history.