A version of this article appeared in the Times of Israel on December 26, 2012
Mendenhall John Dennis in the center surrounded by his family in 1885. After 1860
he lived in Ohio, Massachusetts and Washington. Before 1860 he was Mendel
Diness of Jerusalem (With permission of Special Collections, Fine
Arts Library, Harvard University)
In 1988, John Barnier visited a garage sale in St. Paul, Minnesota. There he found and purchased eight boxes of old photographic glass plates. Fortunately, Barnier is an expert in the history of photographic printing.
He had little idea that he had uncovered a historic treasure. Later, he viewed the plates and saw that they included old pictures of Jerusalem. He contacted the Harvard Semitic Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, known for its large collection of old photographs from the Middle East.
On some of the plates they found the initials MJD. Until then the name Mendel Diness was barely known by scholars. It was assumed that with the exception of one or two photos his collection was lost.
Thanks to the research of historians and curators Dror Wahrman, Nitza Rosovsky and Carney Gavin, the Diness collection was saved from obscurity, and an amazing tale was revealed: American Christian preacher Mendenhall John Dennis and Jerusalemite yeshiva student and watchmaker Mendel Diness were one and the same.
The Western Wall, photographed by Diness. Unlike most early
photographers of the Wall, Diness pointed his camera to the south
and not to the north. (With permission of Special Collections,
Fine Arts Library, Harvard University. 1859)
Diness was born in Odessa in 1827 into a religious Jewish family. As a boy he apprenticed as a watchmaker; as a teen he went to study in Heidelberg and was influenced by the anti-religious "enlightenment movement." His concerned father sent him to Palestine in 1848 to a yeshiva to strengthen his Jewish faith.
But in 1849 he met a Christian missionary who started him on his path to Christianity. His conversion caused a major controversy in the Old City of Jerusalem. Diness was excommunicated from the Jewish community, lost his business, and was forced to divorce his wife, Shayndel Reisa, who was from a hassidic Chabad family in Hebron.
Enlargement of Jews at the Wall 
Mishkenot Sha'ananim in Jerusalem under construction, beneath
Moshe Montifiore's windmill. The building project was the first
Jewish neighborhood built outside of the Old City (1860,
Special Collections, Fine Arts Library, Harvard University.)
Diness was taken in by Christian missionaries and families, including the British Consul, James Finn, who baptized the new convert. His wife, Elizabeth Finn, a fan of the new photography art, was close to a Scottish missionary, James Graham, who taught Diness the new field of photography. It was not simply a question of learning to press a button on a camera, but it involved a lengthy and difficult process of preparing emulsions and plates (not film), mastering light, exposures and the science of developing the pictures.
By 1856, Mendel Diness was photographing on his own. By the end of the decade, however, other photographers had flocked to Jerusalem, and Diness found the competition daunting. In 1861, he moved to the United States with his new wife, the daughter of a Jewish doctor who had converted to Christianity. Diness was unsuccessful as a photographer in Cincinnati, Ohio and became a peripatetic preacher, renamed as Mendenhall John Dennis.
A portrait of missionary James
Graham taken by Diness. It is
not a portrait of Diness as
claimed by some collections
(1857)
How did the Dennis/Diness' collection end up in St. Paul? When he died in 1900 his belongings were apparently sent to his daughter in New Jersey. When her daughter died, a grandson cleaned out her attic and took the crates to Minnesota. The family was unaware of Dennis/Diness' Jerusalem photography background.
The Damascus Gate photographed by Diness (Special
Collections, Fine Arts Library, Harvard University, circa 1856)
A footnote: Diness was not the only Jewish photographer in the Holy Land who converted to Christianity. Peter Bergheim, a German Jew who converted in the 1830s in England, arrived in Palestine in 1838. He worked as pharmacist and then opened a bank. In 1859 he became an accomplished photographer, apparently working for the British Ordnance Survey team. (His works appear frequently in these pages.)
Several years later Elijah Meyers, a Bombay, India Jew who converted to Christianity, appeared on the scene. He was the founder and director of the American Colony Photo Department in 1898, but "he had been taking photographs before he became connected to the American Colony," according to a Colony publication. He trained a team in the art of photography and documented the visit of the German Kaiser in 1898 with pictures sold around the world. According to sources at the Library of Congress, Meyers was hired by Theodor Herzl to photograph Jewish settlements prior to the 1899 Zionist Congress in Basel.
Elijah Meyers
(circa 1910)
Click on the picture to enlarge. Click on the caption to view the original.
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For more information on Mendel Diness we recommend:
"The Life and Works of the Photographer Mendel John Diness," Cathedra, (Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi) by
Nitza Rosovsky and Carney Gavin (Hebrew)
"Mendel Diness - The First Professional Jerusalemite Photographer," Cathedra, (Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi) by Professor Dror Wahrman (Hebrew)
"The Unlikely Story of a Convert: Mendel Diness," Disciples History, by Lester McAllister
"The Diness Discovery," by Piney Kesting. The site includes a slide show and an explanation of the 1850 photo developing process (Saudi Aramco World)-
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. Coptic, Greek and Syrian Catholics will celebrate in the Church of the Nativity on January 6, and the Armenian Orthodox on January 19.
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.
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, possibly under British rule
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.
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 of the Nativity beneath the
Church (circa 1900)
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 40 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)
Turkish soldiers drilling in the square outside of the Church of
the Nativity in Bethlehem (circa 1900)
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original Library of Congress photo.
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Rabbi Mordechai Schornstein served as a rabbi in Copenhagen, Denmark, and moved to Palestine in 1935. On his way to the Holy Land he stopped in Italy and purchased birds and small mammals to start a pet store in Tel Aviv.
Tel Aviv zoo's crocodiles and turtles (circa 1939) 
Griffon vulture
His collection grew, and in 1938 he opened a zoo in a residential area of Tel Aviv. With the arrivals of lions, tigers and elephants the zoo was forced to moved and re-housed at a location not far from Tel Aviv's City Hall.
Urban growth, however, meant that Tel Avivians did not want a zoo in their midst. Public awareness of animal care and zoo overcrowding forced another move in 1980, this time to a large Ramat Gan park nearby. The 250-acre "Ramat Gan Safari" now contains some 1,600 animals.
Hyena played with zookeeper
Lion in the Tel Aviv zoo
The Library of Congress-American Colony Photographic Department captions lists the pictures as taken between 1936 and 1939. The zoo's timeline, however, suggests that 1939 was a more likely date.
Monkey, held by a keeper 
"Ibex, the wild goat of the Bible" 0Add a comment
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- DEC20
The Caption Read "Jewish Colonies and Settlements" -- And That's How the "Israel Daily Picture" Got Started
The Congressional Research Service is a top-notch research organization providing policy analyses to Members of Congress and congressional committees. It is housed in the Library of Congress, and many of their reports are available to the public.
"Jewish colonies. Balfouria orange groves" and a synagogue
in the middle (1934). Named in honor of the British author of the
Balfour Declaration
Eighteen months ago, Lenny Ben-David, a policy and public affairs consultant and former Israeli diplomat in Washington, searched online for a report on U.S. policy on Israeli settlements. Up popped on his screen a title, "Jewish Colonies and Settlements," a very curious title. Colonies?
Colony of Rishon LeZion (c 1920)
Threshing with a board at "Jewish
Colonies and Settlements" (c 1920)
As Ben-David delved into the Library's files he came across the recently digitalized American Colony-Matson collection of some 22,000 photographs, dating from the 1890s until 1946. Some were captioned, "Jewish Colonies and Settlements." After the American Colony Photographic Department closed in the 1940s, the pictures and negatives were shipped back to the United States. In the 1970s an old age home in California donated them to the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress collection also included other pictures by pioneer photographers dating back to the 1850s.
Upon viewing the vast collection and understanding its historical significance, Ben-David launched the www.israeldailypicture.com site.
"Jewish colonies. Commencing a
Jewish settlement. Men and
women working" (1920)Israel Daily Picture has featured essays on the founders of the American Colony who arrived in Palestine in 1881 and saw the return of Jews to the Land of Israel as fulfillment of a Biblical prophecy. Hundreds of pictures depict Jewish life in the Holy Land in the 19th and early 20th centuries, decades before Israel's founding in 1948.
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on caption to view the original picture.
Already in 1898, a photographer from the American Colony, reportedly hired by Zionist leader Theodor Herzl, traveled throughout Palestine photographing Jewish settlements for an album presented at the 1899 Zionist Congress in Basel.
"Commencing a settlement. Jewish
settlers arriving" (1920)
We present here a collection of photos taken at the newYishuv's communities.
"Colonies:" Tel-Hai Farm 
Mishmar HaYarden
Yesod HaMa'aleh (many of
its farmers were "Subbotnik"
Russians who converted to
Judaism.) See here
Migdol
Degania 
Children picking almonds
at Rishon LeTzion0Add a comment
Horatio and Anne Spafford, the American Colony founders, arrived in Jerusalem in 1881. Millennialists and Utopian Christians, they established a commune-like way of life with followers from the United States and Sweden who worked on a farm, dairy, carpentry shop, and bakery. The American Colony was well-known for its philanthropic works in Jerusalem among civilians of all faiths, especially during the severe hardships of World War I in Palestine.
Anne and Horatio Spafford,
founders of the American Colony
American Colony store inside the
Jaffa Gate (circa 1905)
The American Colony also established a store inside the Jaffa Gate in the Old City to cater to tourists and pilgrims to the Holy Land. Their photographs and post cards were in high-demand among the visitors.
Man dancing with swords outside of
the American Colony store, displaying
its photos and postcards (circa 1914)
The American Colony Photographic Department was established in 1898 by a Colony member, Elijah Meyers, a Bombay Jew who converted to Christianity. He trained young photographers at the American Colony, some of whom continued working in the Department until 1946.
Elijah Meyers
Jews harvesting (circa 1898) It is believed that Meyers was photographing in Jerusalem prior to 1898 as well. His photographs of 1898 visit of the German emperor to Jerusalem were sold by the American Colony around the world.
Students in Mikveh Yisrael school The Library of Congress narrative that accompanies the American Colony collection reports that in 1898, the “American Colony Photo Department photographers headed by Elijah Meyers were hired by Zionist [leader] Theodor Herzl to document Jewish settlements.”Meyers accompanied his friend and fellow photographer Yesha'yahu Raffalovich on a tour of the Galilee to prepare photographs for the 1899 Zionist Congress in Basel. These pictures from the Library of Congress - American Colony collection are not dated or captioned, but it is likely they are from the Meyers-Raffalovich expedition.0Add a comment
This picture from the Library of Congress -- American Colony Photographic Department collection was taken from the newly constructed YMCA tower in Jerusalem in 1933. The photographer was looking east toward the Old City and the Mount of Olives beyond.
Looking east from the YMCA tower in Jerusalem in 1933. What is in the picture? The photo also shows four domes in close proximity to the Temple Mount -- the Dome of the Rock and then three domes in a row to the right, the Hurva Synagogue, followed by the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue, and then the Al Aqsa Mosque.
Prominent in the foreground is the King David Hotel. In the background are the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus.
The two large synagogues were blown up in 1948 after the Old City and Jewish Quarter fell to the Jordanian Legion.Enlargement of the three domes: Hurva, Tiferet
Yisrael and al Aqsa
The two synagogues with the Hurva on the right
(Library of Congress collection, 1900)
The two synagogues were prominently featured in the other pictures taken around 1900.
The two synagogues, with Tiferet Yisrael on
the left.
In 1949, the city of Jerusalem was riven by an armistice lines with barbed wires, walls, and border crossings. It remained split until 1967 when the city was reunited in the "Six-Day War."
Click on the photos to enlarge.
Click on the captions to see the originals.
The same view today
The Hurva was rebuilt in 2010. Plans to rebuild the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue were announced by the Jerusalem Municipality in November 2012.
Google Earth view today of the area in the 1933 American Colony picture
Subscribe online by visitingwww.israeldailypicture.com and enter your email in the box in the right sidebar.0Add a comment
- The answer next week in www.israeldailypicture.com and in The Jerusalem Post Magazine.
Does anyone know who the Rabbis are?
Picture taken in 1859 or 1860. This picture was part of a collection found in a garage sale 20 years ago.
Who was the photographer?
Enlargement. Who are the rabbis? 2View comments
Some Jerusalemites will recognize the houses and street in this American Colony photo taken about 1930. The caption reads, "Newer Jerusalem suburbs, Talbieh, a Christian Arab community." The street back then was called Emir Abdullah Road.
A view of Talbieh (circa 1930, Credit: Library of Congress)
The neighborhood is adjacent to the Jewish neighborhood of Rehavia. After World War I, the land was sold by the Greek Patriarch to Arab Christians who built homes. British Mandate maps from the 1940s show approximately 90 homes, some residences for foreign consuls. In the 1930s several Jewish families also moved into the neighborhood.
After the 1947 UN Partition vote, Arab and Jewish tensions grew. Residents in the Arab and Jewish enclaves in each other's areas left, many expecting to eventually return. When the British departed Palestine in May 1948, even some of the Talbieh Arabs who wanted to stay were under pressure and threats by both Arab and Jewish militias to leave. One wealthy Arab Christian "received threats from people in the Old City that his family would be murdered because he had decided to stay in Talbieh, because his presence there showed that it was possible to live together with the Jews," one Jewish old-time Jerusalemite related.
[The Arab Christian businessman rented his home to the Belgian consul. The diplomat's secretary, who was also a friend of the businessman, helped arrange the rental and kept inventory of the Arab's possessions left in the house, according to a Ha'aretz account. When it was apparent that the man would not be returning, she rolled up his rugs, packed his belongings and silver and shipped it to the him in Beirut via Belgian observers from the UN. The secretary, Esther Milikovsky, was Benjamin Netanyahu's aunt.]
Jabotinsky Street today, once Emir Abdullah Street. (Credit:
Google Maps, Street View) The first house on the left had three
stories added. Note the double porch on the second building.
Note the double porch in the circle
Jews who were expelled from their neighborhoods during the fighting were often resettled in the former Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
So where is this block of houses in Talbieh? Emir Abdullah Street is now called Jabotinsky Street. The first house in the 80-year-old picture is across the street from the Inbal Hotel. The one story structure had an additional three floors added to it. If there are any doubts about the location of the buildings and street, note the double porch on the adjacent building.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Click on the caption to view the original.0Add a comment
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Who Was the 19th Century American Preacher Mendenhall John Dennis? Actually, He Was a Jerusalem Watchmaker Named Mendel Deniss, Jerusalem's First Photographer - picture a day
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