Jerusalem
Image Not Available
Bound volume
Jerusalem
ca. 1900
Bound volume with albumen silver prints
Overall: 35 x 24.6 x 5.2 cm
Gift of Donald K. Weber, 2009
2009.0311.0001-0048
DescriptionLuxury tourist album with large format (9 x 11 inch) albumen photographs mounted one per page. Images document locations of the principal events in both the Old and New Testament in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho and other areas in Biblical lands. The album was intended for the Christian traveler and includes a cross on the cover. All are captioned in the image, printed through in white from the negative. The photographs were produced under the auspices of the "American Colony", a commune founded in Jerusalem in 1881 by Horatio and Anna Spafford of Chicago. Around 1900, Elijah Meyers, a member of the American Colony, began taking photographs of places and events in and around the city of Jerusalem. His work eventually expanded into a full-fledged photographic division within the Colony, including Hol Lars (Lewis) Larsson and G. Eric Matson, who later renamed the effort as the Matson Photographic Service.
The album is in good condition, with heavy wooden covers (olive tree wood?) and labeled "Jerusalem" in English on the recto and in Hebrew on the verso. Interior is lined with peach-colored moiré silk. However, many of the photographs are faded and interleaving tissues are ragged.
The album is in good condition, with heavy wooden covers (olive tree wood?) and labeled "Jerusalem" in English on the recto and in Hebrew on the verso. Interior is lined with peach-colored moiré silk. However, many of the photographs are faded and interleaving tissues are ragged.
Inscriptions recto (carved into wooden album cover): Jerusalem
verso (carved into wooden album cover): [Hebrew words]
verso (carved into wooden album cover): [Hebrew words]
