The Khalili Research Centre Image Database contains just over 30,000
images that have been scanned of the slides used for teaching Islamic
Art at the University of Oxford since the 1960s. The database
includes slides from important collections including those of Olga Ford,
Sylvia Matheson, and Antony Hutt, alongside slides and photographs
taken by academics and researchers affiliated to the KRC, Ashmolean
Museum, or Faculty of Oriental Studies.
We continue to work on
adding images to the database, and improving the metadata for records
already within the archive, and we hope that it will prove a valuable
resource to both students of Islamic Art and the public in general
The ACOR Research Library
Photographic Archive Project is made possible under a Fiscal Year 2016
American Overseas Research Centers grant from the U.S. Department of
Education.
The American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan, is a
non‑profit, 501(c)(3) academic institution dedicated to promoting
research and publication in the humanities and social sciences, with a
particular focus on issues related to Jordan and the broader Middle
East. ACOR exists both to facilitate research by postgraduate
researchers and senior scholars and to assist in the training of future
specialists who focus on all phases of Jordan’s past and present.
The ACOR Library holds a remarkable photographic archive related to
its role in preserving and promoting the country’s heritage. The
complete collection, estimated to number more than 100,000 images,
provides primary visual documentation of Jordan, including the major
archaeological and cultural heritage projects the center has sponsored
across the country over the decades. Given its broad range of content
and subject matter, the ACOR Library photographic archive has the
potential to be a crucial resource for American, international, and
Jordanian scholars involved in cultural and natural heritage
preservation and management.
As a first step in making this extensive archival collection
available to researchers, the ACOR Library has begun to process,
digitize, and make fully accessible (and searchable) online a majority
of ACOR’s major institutional and donated photographic holdings. By
leveraging technology to make these photographs available and freely
accessible, the ACOR Library will better equip American, Jordanian, and
international researchers and policy makers to monitor and assess the
numerous threats facing heritage sites in the Middle East and especially
Jordan.
Syria has captivated travelers for centuries, inspiring visitors with
its rich heritage, fascinating history, diverse culture, vibrant
markets, delicious cuisine, stunning landscapes, well-preserved
archaeological sites, remarkable monuments, and spectacular religious
shrines and places of worship. Foreigners who have had the opportunity
to visit Syria tend to agree that its residents are among the most
hospitable, warm and kindhearted people anywhere they have traveled.
After spending several years exploring the region, I felt a personal
obligation to share the beauty of Syria with the world. Compiled from a
collection of nearly 30,000 photographs taken between 2006 and 2009,
Syria Photo Guide was created to serve as a resource for those
interested in learning more about the country’s cultural and historic
sites.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, the desire to travel and
explore surfaced in me from a young age. By age twenty, I had traveled
independently to thirty countries throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, the
Indian subcontinent and North America. At twenty-three years old, I
planned an ambitious journey that was to take me overland from Egypt to
China over the course of eighteen months. It was on this trip, in 2003,
that I was first introduced to Syria. While I had traveled extensively,
nowhere else had I encountered people so welcoming and hospitable.
Syria’s incredible diversity, captivating history, and astounding
variety of archaeological sites and natural attractions deeply impressed
me. I aborted plans to continue traveling overland through Central Asia
to China, refocusing my journey on better understanding the Middle
East. Having initially planned only a few weeks in the country, I
extended my stay to nine months. During this time I immersed myself in
Syria’s culture and developed a deep appreciation for the country.
In 2006 I undertook another trip to Syria, determined to get to know the country in even greater depth. Basing myself in Bab Sharqi, Damascus,
I lived in the country throughout most of 2006 and 2007. Combining my
passion for photography with my interest in Syria’s heritage, I spent
much of my time visiting, documenting and photographing Syria’s wide
range of archaeological, cultural and natural attractions. I contributed
articles about these sites for a local English-language magazine
entitled “What’s On”, in addition to teaching English at a local
language center. My most recent visit to Syria was from September 2008
through March 2009. I currently reside in San Luis Obispo, California
and I am pursuing a degree in cultural anthropology. In addition to
continued work on Syria Photo Guide, I have recently had Lens on Syria, a collection of my finest photography of the country, published by Just World Books.
In light of the horrific conflict that has engulfed Syria since 2011,
I hope that Syria Photo Guide can provide a reminder of the immense
beauty and rich heritage of the country that is gradually being lost
through the senseless violence and destruction of war. On a personal
level, it has been absolutely devastating to witness the Syria I know
and love be destroyed, and the fates of so many kind and generous people
I spent time with unknown. This website is dedicated to the Syrian
people, to whom I will always be indebted for providing some of the most
wonderful years of my life.
AGSL Digital Photo Archive - Asia and Middle East
presents over 20,000 images from the holdings of the American
Geographical Society (AGS) Library. The selection focuses on the
countries of Asia and the Middle East. The images come from the
collections acquired over many decades by the AGS Library including an
extensive photographic print collection. The digital collection is under
continuing development.
Read more about the collection.
Fotografien von Palästina, aufgenommen 1917/1918 durch die bayerische Fliegerabteilung 304
Eine Zusammenarbeit zwischen den deutschen Armeen und den Streitkräften
des Osmanischen Reiches hatte bereits in den 80er Jahren des 19.
Jahrhunderts eingesetzt. Im Ersten Weltkrieg wurde diese Kooperation
intensiviert. Nicht nur einzelne Offiziere, sondern umfangreiche
deutsche Truppen wurden zur Unterstützung der türkischen Armee in das
Osmanische Reich verlegt, das damals neben der heutigen Türkei auch
Syrien, den Libanon, den Irak, Palästina, Jordanien und beide
Küstenbereiche des heutigen Saudi-Arabien umfasste.
Diese Deutschen kämpften nicht nur an den Dardanellen mit, sondern sie
standen auch in Bagdad den Briten gegenüber und waren im heutigen Syrien
und Palästina eingesetzt. Zur Unterstützung der osmanisch-türkischen
Bodentruppen waren dort deutsche Fliegerabteilungen stationiert. Zuerst
kam eine preußische Fliegerabteilung. Bis zum 1. November 1917 wurde
auch die bayerische Fliegerabteilung 304b [= bayerisch] dorthin
verlagert, die bis September 1918 an den Kämpfen beteiligt war.
Abteilungsführer war bis Kriegsende Hauptmann Walz...
The RAS Collections hold only two reels of film. These have been digitised and are available to view.
We are grateful to Amara Thornton and Michael McCluskey from the UCL, Filming Antiquity project for their insights into this film.
The footage dates from the late 1920s/early 1930s and shows
excavations in Iraq at the mound of Kouyunjik, scenes in the village of
Nebi Yunus, across the Khosr river from Kouyunjik within the ancient
city boundaries of Nineveh, and scenes in the city of Mosul, across the
river Tigris from Nineveh. The footage (at present) has been attributed
to Nineveh excavator Reginald Campbell Thompson (1876-1941), a British Assyriologist, epigrapher and archaeologist.
Campbell Thompson directed four seasons at Nineveh – the initial
1927/28 season was followed by three in succession – 1929/30, 1930/31
and 1931/32. He focused on the mound of Kouyunjik, the location of
Ashurnasirpal’s palace, and also sought evidence of a temple of the
Assyrian goddess Ishtar, which was eventually discovered during the
1930/31 season. Campbell Thompson’s wife, Barbara, joined him on site
for all four seasons, credited in the official publications with her
work on the “domestic” arrangements. A varied cast of team members
included two friends of Barbara’s – Miss Isabel Shaw (1929/30) and Miss
M. Hallett (1930/31) – as well as Richard Hutchinson (1929/30) and
Robert W. Hamilton (1930/31) and Max Mallowan and Agatha Christie
(1931/32). Of the Iraqi members of the excavation, Campbell Thompson
specifically credited his overseers Yakub and Abd-el-Ahad, as well as
Mejid Shaiya, whom Campbell Thompson referred to as “my old henchman”.
The film has impromptu title cards (no more formal than paper pinned
up for the camera) which lead viewers through a sequence of scenes.
Reginald Campbell Thompson was intensely interested in the customs,
culture and biographies of the people who worked with him and for him on
site. Campbell Thompson’s footage, if indeed he was behind the camera,
offers scenes similar to other excavation films from this period and
other, striking images unique to his own sense of the city of Mosul and
its dynamism. Through the camera lens we see the work of the dig in the
context of the local culture and geography. We see craft work, leisure
activities, and what one intertitle describes as a fête complete with
makeshift Ferris wheel.
Other shots are more pedagogical and seemingly geared toward
students: a scene shows the ‘squeeze’ process of transferring stone
inscriptions onto paper and washing delicate pottery fragments. One
interesting sequence shows off the different modes of transportation
that intersect each day; crossing the screen we see a donkey drawing a
carriage, a bicycle, and a motor car. This interest in different modes
of transportation extends to the delicate process of ‘sending home’
items unearthed on the dig as we see workers ‘packing antiquities’ to be
sent presumably to Britain.
It is unknown when the reels of film came into the RAS Collections,
though it was noted in the Minutes for 13 November 1941 to thanks Mrs
Campbell-Thompson for Assyrological slides. It is possible that the
films were donated at the same time or were left after a Lecture.
Campbell Thompson gave “Excavations at Nineveh 1929-1930” (jointly with
R. W. Hutchinson) at the Royal Asiatic Society at 4.30 pm on 25
September 1930; and another lecture on 1 October 1931 (for the 1930-31
season).
The CFEETK (MoA/CNRS USR 3172) is proud to announce that more than
30.000 full definition photographs from the scientific archives of the
Centre are now available online.
Upload photographs. Search the library. Take pride in your My Page
profile. Create a private group of invited users. Join a public,
interest group. Share your thoughts through Comments and private
messaging. Enjoy!
I’m happy for these images to be used privately, for teaching or
research purposes. I’m also happy for them to be published on-line or in
print so long as I’m notified and receive acknowledgment with a credit that includes my name (Nigel Pollard) and a reference to Swansea University
The AWOL Index: The bibliographic data presented herein has been programmatically extracted from the content of AWOL - The Ancient World Online (ISSN 2156-2253) and formatted in accordance with a structured data model.
AWOL is a project of Charles E. Jones, Tombros Librarian for Classics and Humanities at the Pattee Library, Penn State University
AWOL began with a series of entries under the heading AWOL on the Ancient World Bloggers Group Blog. I moved it to its own space here beginning in 2009.
The primary focus of the project is notice and comment on open access material relating to the ancient world, but I will also include other kinds of networked information as it comes available.
The ancient world is conceived here as it is at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, my academic home at the time AWOL was launched. That is, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pacific, from the beginnings of human habitation to the late antique / early Islamic period.
AWOL is the successor to Abzu, a guide to networked open access data relevant to the study and public presentation of the Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean world, founded at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago in 1994. Together they represent the longest sustained effort to map the development of open digital scholarship in any discipline.
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