Showing posts with label Church of Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church of Ireland. Show all posts

Friday, December 13, 2013

The Church of Ireland's Library Uncovered a Photographic Treasure 115 Years Old - Part 1 of 2

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)


Posted: 10 Dec 2013 01:12 AM PST
What a treasure looks like. Boxes of lantern slides -- the precursor to 
photographic slides and slide projectors


In 2011, Rev. Stephen White brought to Dublin several old cardboard boxes found in the old Church of Ireland Killaloe deanery in Limerick.  He brought them to Dr. Susan Hood, the archivist for the Church of Ireland's Representative Church Body Library.

Dr. Hood understood she had 
    Coming ashore at Jaffa Port (Credit: RCB Library, 1897). Note the
    Turkish flag flying

just received a photographic treasure: hundreds of century-old "lantern slides" of  sites in Ireland, India, and the Holy Land.


Dr. Hood deserves credit for preserving the images, digitizing them last year and posting them on the RCB's homepage.  

We thank her for granting us permission to publish the RCB photographs.

Last year, Dr. Hood and BBC undertook an investigation into discovering the name of hitherto anonymous photographer.  They were able to identify him as David Brown, a soap manufacturer from Donaghmore who was also an amateur photographer.  In 1897 he joined a pilgrimage led by his brother in law, a Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland.

We present here Part 1 of the RCB Library Collection.  

Click on pictures to enlarge.  Click on the caption to view the original.


Damascus Gate (Credit: RCB Library, 1897) 
View inside Damascus Gate HERE


View Herod's Gate HERE
View Lions Gate HERE

Jews praying at the Western "Wailing" Wall.  The day is a Sabbath or Jewish Festival since the men are wearing their Sabbath finery, including fur hats. The photograph is very unusual since in virtually all of the other 19th century pictures at the Wall men are not wearing their customary prayer shawls (talitot) perhaps because of a Jewish prohibition of carrying objects on the Sabbath, or because of the harassment of Muslim authorities.
 (Credit: RCB Library, 1897)


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).  A Turkish soldier was also on guard
in Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus). See below.


Joseph's Tomb (Credit: RCB Library, 1897). Certain 
pictures, such as this one, were almost obligatory to
all visiting photographers assembling a travelogue.

Turkish guard inside Joseph's Tomb (Library
 of Congress 1900)















 

 

A "hides market," according to the RCB's Library caption, but no location is given. Actually, the photo is taken
in Jerusalem at the entrance of the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Looming over the complex on the hill is the Tifferet Yisrael Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter  (Credit: RCB Library, 1897). The synagogue was destroyed along with the Jewish Quarter in 1948.


Wednesday, December 11, 2013

The Church of Ireland Library's 115-Year-Old Photographic Treasure - photos of Jerusalem

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)


Posted: 11 Dec 2013 
Carriage parking lot outside of Jerusalem's Old City's Jaffa Gate and beneath David's Citadel. The photo pre-dates the opening made adjacent to Jaffa Gate to enable entrance of the German Emperor's carriage in 1898.  View inside Jaffa Gate HERE  Credit: RCB Library, 1897). 

We present here Part 2 from the Church of Ireland Library's photographic collection of pictures taken by David Brown in 1897.  View Part 1 HERE

The Church of Ireland's Representative Church Body Library's full collection can be viewed HERE.

The photos here are presented with the permission of the RCB Library.

Click on pictures to enlarge; click on the captions to view the original photo. Subscribe to receive www.israeldailypicture.com in your email by entering your address in the right sidebar.


On the road to the Jerusalem train station with Jaffa Gate and David's Citadel in the background. Other 19th
Century photographers also used this same perspective for a landscape picture of Jerusalem. 
(Credit: RCB Library, 1897)


Rachel's tomb between Jerusalem and Bethlehem (Credit: RCB Library, 1897)  View a previous feature on

Rachel's tomb HERE

Money changer in Jerusalem (apparently Jewish). A picture of money changers was also a standard photo taken by photographers visiting the Holy Land, perhaps because of the New Testament story of Jesus and the money changers.  View an earlier posting on money changers and their unique tables HERE.  (Credit: RCB Library, 1897)

"Plowing with an ox and ass" -- the original caption. This is another standard picture by 19th century photographers,apparently because of the Biblical prohibition "Thou shall not plow with an ox and an ass together" (Deuteronomy XX). View a previous posting on photographing Biblical prohibitions HERE. (Credit: RCB Library, 1897)

The Golden Gate of the Old City. The sealed gates, the closest to the location of the Jewish Temples, face the
Mt. of Olives.  View a previous posting on the Golden Gate, also known as Sha'ar Harachamim, HERE.
(Credit: RCB Library, 1897)


Responsible Archivists Preserve Their Photographic Treasures