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Diary in photos, vol. II, 1936-1937

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Diary in photos, vol. II, 1936-1937

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Photographs show John D. Whiting's trips around the Middle East region in 1936 and 1937. Whiting, a member of the American Colony in Jerusalem, worked as a tour guide, businessman, writer and photographer. Photographs include locations in Palestine (present day Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip), Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey. People depicted include John D. Whiting, his son Edmund (Wilson) Whiting, the Lind family (members of the American Colony), Bedouin Sheik Majid, Sheik Mutgal el Fiez, and travelers and visitors to the region. Also shown are an Arab strike in Jerusalem, the Nebi Musa festival, Syrian floods in 1937, and views of Jerusalem.
Album page image number 1-20 (p. 5-24): Photographs from Part I, January to May 1936 including: trip to Syria and Lebanon including a woman road builder in Hauran, Saladin's Tomb, Damascus; and Baalbek; the Lind children, wine press at Beit Jibrin, a Gaza beach, Tell Dweir (Deweir) excavations, the road to Beit Ixa (Beit Exa), Irises, Nebi Musa festival (Jerusalem), the visit to Jerusalem of the "Ethiopian king," an Arab strike on May 14th, and trip to Syria including village of Breije and Damascus houses destroyed in Druze rebellion.
Album page image number 21-40 (p. 25-44): Photographs from Part I, June to December 1936 including: trip with Bertha Vester to Beirut, searching people after a bombing (Jerusalem), Edmund (Wilson) Whiting making a model of a man's head, British troops parading, children at book stand in Tel-Aviv, making a new road in Old Jaffa, Armistice Day celebrations including Jewish Legionnaires, Anna Spafford Baby Home, and jetty, stevedores, Bialik school, and stores in Tel-Aviv.
Album page image number 41-57 (p. 46-62): Photographs from Part II, January to April? 1937 including: Wadi Kelt, ain el-Dirweh (Philip's Fountain), Belfort Castle (Lebanon), Hebron street, beaches at Beirut and Tel-Aviv, Jewish settlers planting corn, Jewish people in Jerusalem near the Western Wall, Armenian Convent (Jerusalem), visit with "Sheikh Mutgal el Fiez" in Transjordan, and trip to Transjordan with four "Anglo-Catholic sisters" (Jerash, Kasr Kharani, and Kasr Amra.)
Album page image number 58-74 (p. 63-80): Photographs from Part II, from April to July 1937: trip to Syria including Kasr el Hair, Palmyra, Krak des Chevaliers, bathhouse in Hama, Aleppo, St. Simeon, Selucas, piper at Daphne (Antioch,Turkey), mosque at Jableh, and ruins at Margab and Tartus; the Lind family leaving for the United States, a Gypsy (Romani) blacksmith at Bethel, and packing a stone from Solomon's quarries for the United States.
Album page image number 75-96 (p. 81-101): Photographs from Part II, July to November 1937: trip to Mar Saba, Edmund (Wilson) Whiting's trip to Transjordan including a visit with Sheikh Majid and Sheik Salim Abu el Ghanam, frescoes at Kasr Amra (Qusayr ʻAmrah), trip to Syria with Eric Mendelsohn (architect of Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem) and Dr. Haim Yassky (Director of Hadassah Medical Organization), Mendelsohn on top of hospital in Haifa, Ej Jorah village, Jenin, Benyamina, and Syrian floods including relief efforts and refugees at Dmeir and Mouaddamiyeh.
Album page image number 97-117 (p. 102-122): Photographs from Part II, December 1937: shepherds and sheep at Beit Sahur, Pontius Pilate's aqueduct near Bethlehem, Hebron, Arab girls at Dirweh; trip to Syria including ruins at Shiloh, Bedouin woman at Huleh, Aleppo citadel, girl baking in a tannur oven, St. Simeon, Armenian women digging peanuts, Ladakiyeh, British cannon at Merkab, the Cedars of Lebanon, Roman bridge, fishermen at Sidon (Lebanon), and Mosque of Jazzar in Akka (Acre).
Arrangement: Photographs arranged chronologically.
LOT title from album.
Most of the photographs were taken by John D. Whiting. G. Eric Matson and others may have also taken some of the photographs. Matson, Whiting, Hanna Safieh, Joseph H. Giries, and others contributed to the work of the Matson Photo Service, the successor to the American Colony Photo Department (1898-1940). For more information about the American Colony Photo Department and the Matson Photo Service see: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.matpc. For more information about the John D. Whiting Collection see: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/629_whiting.html
Album has parchment (vellum) bound cover. Handwritten on spine: Diary in photos, Vol. II, 1936-1937, Whiting.
Album unpaginated, album page numbers supplied by Library staff. Pages 1-4, 45, and 123-126 are blank.
Captions for photographs found in list: Diary in photos, 1936-1937, included with album. Some additional caption information found in: Film catalogue, No. 1, [1934-1938]. Copy in John D. Whiting Supplementary Archive, Box 2.
Captions for no. 952 and no. 970A from Film catalogue, No. 1, [1934-1938].
John D. Whiting's diaries, correspondence, and other materials are located in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division (Papers of John D. Whiting).
Forms part of: Visual materials from the papers of John D. Whiting (Library of Congress).
Transfer; LC Manuscript Division; 2006; (DLC/PP-2006:051:39).

American Colony, a non-denominational utopian Christian community was founded by a small group of American expatriates in Ottoman Palestine in 1881. The collection is a gift to the Library of Congress from the board of directors of the American Colony of Jerusalem, Ltd., which is made up of American, British, and Swedish descendants of the early colonists. The materials in the collection were initially retained by Bertha Vester in connection with her writing of the memoir Our Jerusalem (1950), and later by her daughter-in-law Valentine Vester and others at the American Colony Hotel. The collection focuses on the personal and business life of the colony from the waning years of the Ottoman Empire, through World War I and the British Mandate, and into the formation of the state of Israel. The bulk of the materials dates from 1870 to 1968 and relates to the leadership of the colony by members of the Spafford, Vester, and Whiting families. Photographs show members of the American Colony, a Christian community in Jerusalem founded by immigrants from the United States and Sweden. Includes photographs of American Colony leader Anna Spafford, her daughters Bertha (Spafford) Vester and Grace (Spafford) Whiting, Frederick Vester (husband of Bertha), John D. Whiting (husband of Grace), and her grandchildren (Anna Grace, Horatio, Tanetta and John (Jock) Vester, and Spafford and David (Whiting). Primarily portraits and photographs of the grandchildren as they take part in various activities, such as playing at the beach, participating in a July 4th pageant, having tea, celebrating first birthday, riding on a donkey, playing musical instruments, playing in garden and snow. Also includes a photograph of the American Colony store with Frederick Vester. Album page image number 1-12 (inside front cover-p. 11) Photographs include: a family portrait of Whiting and Vester families: Standing left to right: Jacob Spafford, Grace and John Whiting, Frederick and Anna Grace Vester; seated: Anna Spafford holding John (Jock) Vester?, Horatio Vester, Bertha Vester holding unidentified baby; floor: Tenetta Vester, Spafford and David Whiting. Grace Whiting holding Spafford, Anna Spafford holding David?; Jock and David in baby carriage, baby and toddler portraits, child playing outside with nurse, Spafford? celebrating first birthday, July 22, 1911; donkey ride, tea time, July 22, 1912; Spafford playing in leaves, feeding a horse and playing with water faucet, July 1911; family outing, portrait of Vester children, bath time for Spafford, and Vester children playing at the beach. Album page image number 13-26 (p. 12-25) Photographs include: Whiting family portrait (Grace, Spafford, John D.) 1911, Vester family portrait (Frederick, Anna Grace, Bertha), Bertha with Anna Grace on her back, Vester children playing in the garden and playing musical instruments with friends, Jock Vester and David Whiting feeding a turkey, Spafford Whiting in a baby carriage, Vester children pose with friends, Yates family, great grandmother Mary Whiting holding Spafford, children playing in the snow, Jacob Spafford? with child, Granny Hornstein, Selim Barakat, Vester children with Spafford, children with umbrellas, children on sled, woman and little girl standing outside, Anna Grace sitting with Tanetta and Horatio?, girls playing with dog, July 4th pageant (little boys lined up holding toy rifles), American Colony store with Frederick Vester standing out front, unidentified child with Spafford? and David? sitting in the grass, unidentified woman in Arab dress holding a child, Grace Whiting having tea with women, John D. Whiting and child riding on a donkey, David playing with plants, Whiting and Vester families at Ein Karem, David Whiting, and Spafford Whiting playing with hammer and wooden crates.

date_range

Date

01/01/1936
person

Contributors

Whiting, John D. (John David), 1882-1951, photographer
Matson, G. Eric (Gästgifvar Eric), 1888-1977, photographer
place

Location

Reḥovot (Israel)31.89694, 34.81861
Google Map of 31.896944444444443, 34.81861111111112
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Source

Library of Congress
copyright

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