This picture of the two domes of the Hurva and Tiferet Yisrael Synagogues in Jerusalem's Old City has been featured in our postings before after we found them in various collections.
"The Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem with its two synagogues. Palestine."
The Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue (left) and the Hurva Synagogue (1900)
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock,
University of California, Riverside) See also Two domes (Library of Congress)
But we never came across a photo with such clarity, suggesting that the archives at UC-Riverside contains the original photos taken by the Underwood & Underwood Co. in 1900. UC-R's files also allow huge and detailed on-screen enlargements of the photos. We thank the heads of the library for permission to republish their photos, and we abide by their request to limit the photos' sizes on these pages.
The Keystone-Mast collection at UC-R also contains other photos of the exterior and interior of the Tiferet Yisrael and the Hurva Synagogues in the Old City in the middle of the 19th century.
William H. Seward, who served as President Abraham Lincoln's secretary of state, visited Jerusalem in 1859 and 1870. He wrote atravelogue after his second trip, and he described attending Friday night services at the "Wailing Wall" and in one of the two impressive synagogues. Seward's description appears below.
The UC-R photo bears no caption or date on this picture of the
Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California
Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Avraham Shlomo Zalman Hatzoref arrived inEretz Yisrael 200 years ago and was responsible for building the Hurva synagogue. Ashkenazic Jews had been banned from the Old City in the early 19th century after defaulting on a loan. Hatzoref, a student of the Gaon of Vilna and a builder in Jerusalem, arranged for the cancellation of the Ashkenazi community's large debt to local Arabs. In anger, local Arabs killed him in 1851. (Hatzoref is recognized by the State of Israel as the first victim of modern Arab terrorism.)
The two prominent synagogue domes shared the panoramic view of Jerusalem with the domes of the Dome of the Rock and al Aqsa Mosque for almost 80 years. In the course of the 1948 war, the Jordanian army blew up both buildings and destroyed the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.
We present below interior pictures of the two synagogues from the UC-R and Library of Congress collections.
The interior of the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue
(circa 1900) (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum
of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Interior of the Hurva Synagogue (circa
1900) (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of
Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Note the curtains covering the Ark containing the Torah scrolls. When the German Emperor arrived in Jerusalem in 1898, the Jewish community constructed a welcome arch, photographed by the American Colony photographic department. The curtains from the synagogues and the Torah crowns were taken down to decorate the arch.
Interior of the Hurva Synagogue (circa 1898, American Colony Photograph Department, Library of Congress).
Note the curtain, enlarged below
The inscription on the Hurva curtain reads: [In
memory of] "The woman Raiza daughter of sir
Mordechai from Bucharest, [who died in] the
Hebrew year ת"ר [which corresponds to 1839-40]"
The last line cannot be deciphered, and suggestions
are welcome.
The Hurva interior in the 1930s. The curtain is
dedicated in memory of Hanna Feiga Greerman, the
daughter of Mordechai. The bima inscription reads
"Generous gift of Yisrael Aharon son of Nachman
known as Mr. Harry Fischel and his wife Sheina
daughter of Shimon [?] of New York." Fischel
died in January 1948.
Click on photos to enlarge. Click on captions
to view the original pictures.
Secretary of State William Seward's Friday Prayer
Was it in the Hurva or the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue?
Excerpt from Travels around the World
... [After leaving the Wailing Wall] a meek, gentle Jew, in a long, plain brown dress, his light, glossy hair falling inringlets on either side of his face, came to us, and, respectfully accosting Mr. Seward, expressed a desire that hewould visit the new synagogue, where the Sabbath service was about to open at sunset. Mr. Seward assented.
A crowd of "the peculiar people" attended and showed us the way to thenew house of prayer, which we are informed was recently built by a richcountryman of our own whose name we did not learn. It is called theAmerican Synagogue. It is a very lofty edifice, surmounted by a circulardome. Just underneath it a circular gallery is devoted exclusively to thewomen. Aisles run between the rows of columns which support the galleryand dome. On the plain stone pavement, rows of movable, wooden bencheswith backs are free to all who come.
William H. Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State
At the side of the synagogue, opposite the door, is an elevated desk on aplatform accessible only by movable steps, and resembling more a pulpitthan a chancel. It was adorned with red-damask curtains, and behind thema Hebrew inscription. Directly in the centre of the room, between the doorand this platform, is a dais six feet high and ten feet square, surrounded bya brass railing, carpeted; and containing cushioned seats. We assume thatthis dais, high above the heads of the worshippers, and on the sameelevation with the platform appropriated to prayer, is assigned to the rabbis.
We took seats on one of the benches against the wall; presently an elderlyperson, speaking English imperfectly, invited Mr. Seward to change his seat;he hesitated, but, on being informed by [Deputy U.S. Consul General] Mr. Finkelstein that the person who gave theinvitation was the president of the synagogue, Mr. Seward rose, and the whole party, accompanying him, wereconducted up the steps and were comfortably seated on the dais, in the "chief seat in the synagogue." On this daiswas a tall, branching, silver candlestick with seven arms.The congregation now gathered in, the women filling the gallery, and the men, in varied costumes, and wearing hats ofall shapes and colors, sitting or standing as they pleased. The lighting of many silver lamps, judiciously arranged, gavenotice that the sixth day's sun had set, and that the holy day had begun. Instantly, the worshippers, all standing, andas many as could turning to the wall, began the utterance of prayer, bending backward and forward, repeating thewords in a chanting tone, which each read from a book, in a low voice like the reciting of prayers after the clergyman inthe Episcopal service. It seemed to us a service without prescribed form or order. When it had continued some time,thinking that Mr. Seward might be impatient to leave, the chief men requested that he would remain a few moments,until a prayer should be offered for the President of the United States, and another for himself. Now a remarkablerabbi, clad in a long, rich, flowing sacerdotal dress, walked up the aisle; a table was lifted from the floor to the platform,and, by a steep ladder which was held by two assistant priests, the rabbi ascended the platform. A large folio Hebrewmanuscript was laid on the table before him....
Several weeks ago, we received a note from reader Rivka Regev:
Our original caption:"Lepers, presumably in
Jerusalem, (Library of Congress, circa 1900)"
I saw the feature you did on "Lepers" of Jerusalem. It was excellent. I have only 2 small comments:Your first photo is labeled "probably" in Jerusalem. It isabsolutely; it's to the west of the original Hansen compound ("Jesus Hilfe"). The patients are sitting in what we now call the western Moon Grove, and I would be very happy to show you in person where it is. That photo is probably from 1908.Secondly, I am sure you know that the "lepers" were not suffering of what was described in the Bible. Therefore, I find it important to avoid the L word and stick to "Hansen's Disease."We asked Rivka how she had such expertise on the Hansen hospital. When she explained her father was the in-house physician at the hospital for decades, we appealed to her for additional photos and an article to accompany them. We thank her for the following feature and encourage readers to view her Internet site http://ganneimarpeh.brinkster.net/page33.htmlA Riddle Solved at the Historic Hansen Hospital in Jerusalem
By Rivka Regev
Dr. Moshe Goldgraber, the author's father, in front of Hansen
Hospital, 2002 (Photo courtesy of the author and Michel Horton)Dr. Moshe Beer Goldgraber 1913-2007, was born in Zamosc, Poland, studied medicine in Padova, Italy, took his final exam in August 1939, went straight to a shipyard, and got on a freight ship to Palestine. Two weeks later Germany took over Poland. He lost his whole family to the Nazis.
One day at the end of 1964 he went to hear a lecture at Hansen [“Lepers”] Hospital in Jerusalem. Dr. Goldgraber became involved in research and soon became the attending on-call physician (a specialist in internal medicine, among other specialties) at Hansen Hospital from 1965 until the last patients left in 2000.
The hospital's Jesus Hilfe nursery (circa 1907, from the
author's collection)Beyond all that, my father, Dr. Goldgraber was the only one who took care of the Hansen Gardens from 1965-2003.I grew up living in the “small house,” built in 1893, on the hospital grounds.
Beginning in 2003,Since 2005, I wanted to find remnants of a mule-drawn machine that appeared in this photo dated approximately 1912. The scene shows a plant nursery situated below the great rainwater collecting cistern that was built from 1898. I thought the machine might be a mill to grind something. I hoped that by unearthing it, either old seeds or grains would lead to some answers. After groping in the earth that had already become a therapeutic garden of herbs for five years, our volunteers hit the jackpot in November 2010. Seven sides of the hexagon that we sought were perfectly intact and formed a structure that was half a meter deep.
Mule drawn pump at the Hospital (1912, from the
author's collection)
The volunteers and their discovery (courtesy of
the author and Michael Horton )More digging began from the other side of the terrace wall at an outlet of the cistern itself. There, the hand carved pavement stones created a very large rectangular opening (looking like a great planter) which had filled with soil and deep rooted plants over the years.For more information, see the author's website http://ganneimarpeh.brinkster.net/page33.htmlWhen the two tunnels finally connected the riddle was solved. This was not a mill to grind olives or oats (they grew plentifully in the historic gardens). This was a pump that drew out water and forced it into metal pipes that lead first up to the small water tank visible in the old photo just above the right corner of the cistern. Then, using mule power, the water was pushed up about five more meters and about 40 meters away into the hospital's kitchen!This was the way to supply rainwater to a vibrant and active hospital in a pre-electric and pre-water faucet era!
We welcome scanned 100-year-old pictures of Eretz Yisrael from your private collections or your great-grandparents' albums.0Add a comment
- JAN5
Funny, It Doesn't Look Like a Mountain or Hell -- Vintage Photos from Jerusalem's Hinnom Valley
The archives at the University of California - Riverside contains thispicture, but clearly the caption "Mount Tabor" was wrong.
Original caption: "Mount Tabor, Palestine, Scene of Barake Caeup [sic]." In
fact, it is the pool and cattle market in Jerusalem's Hinom Valley.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock,
University of California, Riverside)
This is a picture of "Gei Hinnom" (the Hinnom Valley) in Jerusalem, beneath the walls of the Old City.
Today, few residents or tourists know about the history of the area called "Breichat HaSultan (the Sultan's Pool), except for the occasional concert in the amphitheater.
As we researched the picture, however, we discovered that the pool and cattle market were the frequent focus of photographers a century ago.
The Hinom Valley - Breichat HaSultan amphitheater today
(Go Jerusalem)
The Valley of Ben-Hinnom is mentioned repeatedly in the Bible, serving as a border between tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
From biblical times it had an infamous reputation as the site of human sacrifices to Molech. The evil perpetrated there made the name "Gei Hinnom," or Gehenna, synonymous with Hell.
A dam was built across the valley, possibly at the time of the Second Temple, with a road on top that passed between Mt. Zion and the opposite hill (eventually Mishkenot HaSha'ananim). The reservoir created by the dam measured 169 meters by 67meters, with a depth of 12 meters. The road became one of the principle routes to Jerusalem from the south. Suleiman the Magnificent built a sabil fountain on the dam, and it still exists today.
Photo of the Hinom Valley cattle market taken from the dam
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of
Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Suleiman's fountain on the dam (Library of
Congress, circa 1937)
Road to Jerusalem station showing the Hinnom Valley, the Sultan's Pool, and the sabil. (circa 1895)
(Library of Congress collection)
A sheep market was located on the opposite side of Jerusalem's Old City at Herod's Gate, which can be viewed here.
After the 1948 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the valley was a desolate no-man's zone between Jordan and Israel.
Cattle market (1900, Library of Congress, also in
University of Toronto Thomas Fisher Rare Book
Library and the Arizona Historical Society
Library, Tempe)
Sultan's pool. Note the buildings built on the right and
behind the bridge/dam (Wikipedia Commons)
Click on pictures to enlarge, click on captions to view the original picture. 0Add a comment
- JAN1
Remarkable Vintage Pictures of Jewish Communities, Part 2 -- More Treasures from the University of California-Riverside Collection
Constantinople's Jewish Quarter, 1898
We were certain we recognized this photo from a feature on the Library of Congress archives we posted two years ago. We thought it was a quaint picture of a man and dog in the Jewish Quarter of Constantinople (Istanbul today).
Street scene, Jewish Quarter of Constantinople, 1898 (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California
Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
But when we enlarged the photo, using the Keystone-Mast Collection's excellent "zoom" tools, we realized that there was much more than what met the eye. The University of California photo, we discovered, was not identical to theLibrary of Congress picture. The two were taken seconds apart, and there are differences. Moreover, upon examining the photos, we saw that almost a dozen residents of the street were watching what may have been a confrontation between the man and dog. (Rabies vaccinations in Constantinople began only in 1900.)
Look at the bottom left corner of the picture above, and you will see the back of a head and women standing in a doorway. In the LoC photo you see that the head has turned; it's a young boy's face. From many other windows women are watching the street scene below.
A head and three women (UCR) 
The boy's
face (LoC)
Woman in a window 
Women looking from
window
A girl in the doorway, a woman at the window 
Two figures watching from a distant window
A woman, possibly with children, appears to be
scurrying across the street (LoC)
Constantinople: The name of the Turkish city was changed from Constantinople to Istanbul in the 1920s, which explains the location in the caption on this 1898 photo.The Jewish community in Turkey dates back millennia. Tens of thousands of Jews from Spain found refuge in Turkey in 1492. The Ottoman Empire which ruled the Middle East for 400 years usually provided a safe haven for its Jewish residents, with occasional outbreaks of anti-Semitic episodes.Today, the Jewish community in Turkey numbers approximately 20,000, mostly in Istanbul. The new Islamic policies of the current Turkish government may result in Jewish emigration, according to some observers.0Add a comment
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An ancient Jerusalem synagogue, destroyed in 1948 Enter your email address in the right sidebar
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"Native ploughing with his wife and donkey, Palestine" (original caption)
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of
Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)Virtually every vintage collection that we've analyzed contains a picture of an Arab farmer in Palestine plowing with a rudimentary plow pulled by an ox and an ass.
"Thou shall not plow with an ox and an ass together."
לא תַחֲרֹשׁ בְּשׁוֹר וּבַחֲמֹר יַחְדָּו
Deuteronomy 20 (Library of Congress, circa 1890)
Why?
"Thou shall not muzzle an ox in its threshing"
לֹא תַחְסֹם שׁוֹר בְּדִישׁוֹ
Deuteronomy 25 (circa 1900)
We suggest that the photographers, many of whom were well-versed in the Old Testament,focused on agricultural prohibitions found in the Bible. The photographs, slides, and postcards were usually sold to a Bible-reading public.
"Plowing with an ox and an ass" (April, 1929, Torrance
Collection, University of Dundee)
The photographers illustrated the prohibition "Thou shall not plow with an ox and an ass together" (Deuteronomy20) and provided pictures of the prohibition "Thou shall not muzzle an ox in its threshing"(Deuteronomy 25).
The photograph above in the UCR collection went one step further, showing an Arab farmer using his ass and wife to pull the plow.
Plowing with a cow and and an ass (circa
1900) See also here (Library of Congress)
Peasant plowing (circa 1900)
(New York Public Library)
"Plowing with an ox and ass" -- the original caption. (Credit: RCB Library, 1897)
1View comments
- DEC27
Remarkable Pictures of Jewish Communities in the Middle East More Treasures from the University of California-Riverside Collection
The Jews of Iraq
Jewish scribes at the “Tomb of Ezekiel” near Babylon, Kefil,
Mesopotamia (Iraq) (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of
Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
The vast Keystone-Mast Collection at the California Museum of Photography contains many photographs of Jewish communities -- now extinct -- from across the Muslim world.
We believe most of the undated pictures in the University of California - Riverside Archives were taken between 1898 and 1930
"Jewish Cobblers Repairing Shoes for
Arabs, near Mosul, Mesopotamia"
Using pictures we found in the Library of Congress archives two years ago, Israel Daily Picture has already explored many of the Jewish communities in Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, and Turkey. Click on the country to view earlier postings.
Today, we present the UCR's vintage pictures of the Jews of Iraq. Suffering from pogroms, persecution, and confiscation of property, most of the Jews of Iraq left the country by 1951. The "Jews of Iraq" is Part 1 of a series that will include vintage pictures of Jews of Egypt, Syria and Turkey.
Click on the pictures to enlarge. Click on the captions to view the original pictures.
Jews of Mosul (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection,
California Museum of Photography at UCR)
Inside Ezekiel's Tomb (circa 1931, Library
of Congress). Also view Israel Daily Picture
feature on Ezekiel's Tomb
Persian ceiling of ancient synagogue at
Ezekiel's Tomb (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection,
California Museum of Photography at UCR)
"Principal Street, Baghdad, Where the Jews and
Moslems Throng, Mesopotamia." Prior to World
War II, 80,000 Jews lived in Baghdad.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum
of Photography at UCR)
"Tomb of Ezra, Mesopotamia. Near Koma, on the
Shatt-el-Arab, (lower Euphrates. and Tigris). East over
lower Tigris to Shrine dear to Jews."
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum
of Photography at UCR)
"Picturesque homes of wealthy Jews along the
Tigris River in North Baghdad, Mesopotamia."
Note the woman in the window and the boat, a
"kufas" row boat on the Tigris. (Credit: Keystone-Mast
Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR)
"Jewish families of the well-to-do at the wharf,
Baghdad, Mesopotamia." (Credit: Keystone-Mast
Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR)
Building a "kufas" boat. Click here to see
how many people fit in a kufas.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum
of Photography at UCR)
For more information on the Jews of Iraq and the Tomb of Ezra visit Point of No Return, Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries.
In 2003, a U.S. Defense Department analyst, Harold Rhode, uncovered a vast cache of ancient Jewish documents in the flooded basement of the Iraqi Intelligence Headquarters. He led an effort to save the historical documents and bring them to the United States for restoration. The restoration has been completed, but Iraqi Jews around the world are protesting the U.S. Government's plan to return the documents to the Iraq government.0Add a comment
- DEC25
Exploring the Keystone Photo Collection at the University of California - Riverside -- The Anatomy of a Photograph
David Street, inside the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem's Old City. The picture appears to have been taken prior to 1898
when the moat on the right was filled in and the road widened to allow entry of the German emperor.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Welcome to David Street just inside the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem's Old City. Like today, it was a center for tourism over 100 years ago which explains the hotels, the signs in English, the sale of photographs, and a tourist office.
Traffic jam on the expanded David Street in 1898
(Credit: Library of Congress)
No date is provided for the picture in the UCR files, but looking at another picture probably taken during the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm in 1898, this scene predates the visit.
We found one of the photographs on sale of particular interest. (See the bottom left of the photo at the top.) We've seen that picture before -- in the Library of Congress collection.
Photographs for sale in the 1890s. 
Jew of Jerusalem The Library of Congress dates the
picture as being taken between 1900 and 1910. It was
almost certainly taken in the 19th century, however.
A sign on the street advertises "Bonfils," one of the leading photographers in the Near East at the end of the 19th century. Many of his pictures appear in Israel Daily Picture.
Photographs for sale to tourists 
The Keystone collection photo from UCR also shows a prominent sign for the Cook's World Ticket Office, the leading travel agency for tourists and pilgrims to Palestine and Syria in the 19th century. The bottom sign offers guides and camp equipment.
For more information on Cook's role in investment and development of tourism in Jerusalem and Jaffa, read Ruth Kark's From Pilgrimage to Budding Tourism: The role of Thomas Cook in the rediscovery of the Holy Land in the 19th Century.
Strangely, Cook's signs cannot be seen in the photograph of the German emperor's arrival. Cook had supplied dozens of large tents for the emperor's entourage, but the signs were covered over.
The name "Assad C. Kayat" appears on a sign in the UCR photo. Ruth Kark's book on Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Jerusalem shows a 1903 check from the Jewish banker, Jacob Valero, to Kayat, but we have not discovered his profession or why he hung a sign in the Old City.1View comments
- DEC23
Re-posting - A Special Feature for Our Christian Readers -- Christmas in the Holy Land 100+ Years Ago
Entry of pilgims into Bethlehem at Christmas time (circa 1875) by photographer Félix Bonfils (Library of Congress)
The town of Bethlehem plays a major role in the Christian faith. There, Christians believe, Jesus was born some 2,000 years ago, and they celebrate his birth on Christmas.
Christmas procession in Bethlehem (circa 1900)
But when is Christmas?
Bethlehem hosts Christmas services for Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations on December 25. This year, Coptic, Greek and Syrian Orthodox Catholics will celebrate in the Church of the Nativity on January 7, and the Armenian Orthodox on January 6.
Most of the photographs on this page were taken by the American Colony Photographic Department before and after World War I when the British captured Palestine after 400 years of Ottoman rule. Other pictures are from collections at Chatham University and the Irish Catholic Church.
The name "Bethlehem" is derived from the Hebrew "Beit Lechem -- House of Bread," and its fields of grain are mentioned in the Book of Ruth as where Ruth gleaned her wheat for her mother-in-law Naomi and where she met her eventual husband, Boaz. According to the Bible, Ruth's great-grandson David was born in Bethlehem where he was anointed as king.
Church of the Nativity and Manger Square (circa 1898). Note
the unfenced cemetery on the left. View here the square and
cemetery approximately 20 years later, under British rule
The Church of the Nativity was built in 339 CE by King Constantine and his mother, Helena, over the grotto believed to have been the site of Jesus' birth.
Throughout history the Church was destroyed and/or rebuilt by various conquering armies -- the Samaritans, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans and British.
The Grotto beneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The man on the right is believed to be the
photographer, David Brown. Note the Turkish soldier on duty inside the Church (Credit: RCB Library, 1897).
In 1948, Bethlehem was conquered again, this time by the Jordanian Legion. Jordan ruled Bethlehem and the West Bank until 1967 when the territory was captured by Israel. In 1995, under the terms of the Oslo Accords, Israel transferred Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority.
Bethlehem was traditionally a Christian town, built around the basilica, and tourism was the most important industry. In recent years, however, the proportion of Christians in Bethlehem has dropped from 85 percent in 1948 to 54 percent in 1967, and now to about 30 percent. Some analysts point to tensions between resurgent and aggressive Islamists and the Christian community, a phenomenon pressuring other Christian communities across the Middle East, with the exception of Israel.
British and French soldiers guarding the Church of the
Nativity (circa 1918)
Seasons Greetings!
Turkish soldiers drilling in the square outside of the Church of
the Nativity in Bethlehem (circa 1900)
Interior of the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher (hand-painted, Chatham
University Library, circa 1895)
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
(hand-painted, Chatham University Library, circa 1895).
Note the ladder in the window, known as the "Immovable
Ladder" since Christian denominations have an
understanding that "no cleric of the six ecumenical
Christian orders may move, rearrange, or alter any property
without the consent of all six orders." (Wikipedia)
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original photo.
To subscribe, enter your email address in the box in the right sidebar.0Add a comment
- DEC21
Introducing a Major Collection of Vintage Photographs: If the Library of Congress Archives Was Our "Mother Lode," the University of California Museum of Photography Is the "Father Lode"
With the realization that responsible librarians and archivists are using new technologies to digitize their vintage photographic treasures,Israel Daily Picture continues its search for major collections of 100+ year-old pictures of Palestine, and especially of the Jewish community in Eretz Yisrael.
Original caption: "Jew at Wailing Place,"
circa 1900. The UCR collection contains
at least 20 photos of Jews at the Western Wall.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California
Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock,
University of California, Riverside)
Recently, we found historical treasures in unexpected places -- ChathamUniversity, the Church of Ireland, the library of Oregon State University, Emory University, and the archives of the University of Dundee, Scotland, Medical School, to name a few.
Today, we introduce you to the incredible collection of glass plates and film negatives in the University of California - Riverside Museum of Photography where many of their 250,000 stereoscopic plates and 100,000 negatives are now online. This posting is Part 1 of several future features.
Since the Library of Congress' American Colony collection served as our "mother lode" of photos, we refer to the UCR's immense collection as the "father lode." Indeed, many of the photographs found in other collections are but copies, often in poor condition, of the vintage pictures at UCR.
Israel Daily Picture has just begun reviewing the UCR's collection. We found that many of the pictures are not captioned, dated, or analyzed. The Jews of Palestine -- as well as Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia were often the subjects of the photographers' work.
According to the UCR Museum, its -
Original caption: "Wayside Railroad station," 1933.
Enlarging the photo (see below) shows the station is at
Zichron Yaakov, a Jewish settlement formed in 1882.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
"Keystone-Mast Collection is the archive of the Keystone View Company of Meadville, PA (active from 1892-1963). As a collection, it is the world's largest body of original stereoscopic negatives and prints providing an encyclopedic view of global cultural history.""The Keystone View Company was founded by amateur photographer, B. L. Singley of Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1892. ... Stereography's popularity was the novelty of experiencing explicit three-dimensional detail in a stereo card and the potential for card owners to frequently revisit views of world events in private or during social gatherings. Stereographs were to 19th century generations, what television and the Internet are to contemporary culture, and enabled armchair observers to have vicarious experiences in faraway places.
... The collection is a composite of several stereographic publishing companies. By 1920,the Keystone View Company cornered the market by acquiring the negative collections of all major stereograph publishers such as B. W. Kilburn, H. C. White, Underwood and Underwood, and C. H. Graves."
The sign over the railroad station at Zichron Yaakov 
Jews of Mosul, Mesopotamia (Iraq) circa 1900
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California
Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock,
University of California, Riverside)
Original caption: "Cavern beneath the Sacred Rock Mosque
of Omar, Jerusalem" (circa 1900). The "sacred rock" is the
foundation stone on which the Jewish Temples were built.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Original caption: "A Jewish synagogue, Jerusalem"
(circa 1900). The synagogue is the Churva
synagogue, completed in 1864, and destroyed by
the Jordanian army in 1948. It was rebuilt in 2010.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California
Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock,
University of California, Riverside)
We wish to express our thanks to the librarians and archivists at the California Museum of Photography at the UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside, who granted us permission to present their collection. In accordance with their request, we do not reproduce the photographs at the highest resolution. We encourage readers to view the original pictures in high resolution at the links provided under each picture.1View comments
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
The Ancient Synagogues of Jerusalem, Destroyed in 1948 The pictures from the University of California - Riverside Archives - picture a day
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