Vintage photo: “Bethlehem Church of the Nativity. Dark interior lit by sun rays” Taken c. 1925-1946 by the American Colony of Jerusalem. Photo via the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Tag Archives: vintage photographs
Wordless Wednesday: the lamps
Filed under architecture, art, design, vintage landscape
Wildflowers by the American Colony
While looking through the online catalogue of the Library of Congress for photos of gardens and landscapes, I keep coming across pictures by the American Colony of Jerusalem.
Golden Gate and east wall of Jerusalem seen through group of century plants [agave], c. 1900-1920, by the American Colony, via Library of Congress.
Around 1898, a member of the colony, Elijah Meyers, began photographing places and events around the region and eventually formed a photography service that earned income for the group. He was later joined in the endeavor by Lewis Larsson and G. Eric Matson, among others. When the colony dissolved in the early 1930s, Matson and his wife took over the studio and its archives and renamed it the Matson Photo Service.
Wild flowers of Palestine. Flowers, c. 1898-1946.
Matson moved to California in 1946. He began donating negatives and contact sheets to the Library of Congress in the 1960s.
Among the over 20,000 images in the Matson Collection are about 200 photos of “wild flowers of Palestine.” In 1907, the Colony had published The Plants of the Bible and, in 1912, The Jerusalem Catalogue of Palestine Plants. The group also sold photographs and stereographs from its Jerusalem store and contributed pictures to National Geographic articles.
Wood-mallow (Malva sylvestris L.), c. 1900-1920.
The photos that I’ve chosen are best seen in a larger size, so please click on the first thumbnail below to scroll though them. The plant names come from the images’ original labels.
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![Golden Gate and east wall seen through group of century plants [agave], c. 1900-1920.](http://enclosuretakerefuge.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/19021v.jpg?w=150&h=114)
- Golden Gate and east wall seen through group of century plants [agave], c. 1900-1920.
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- Bethlehem-star (Ornithogalum fimbriatum Wild), c. 1900-1920.
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- Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum L.), c. 1900-1920.
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- Palestine arum (Arum palaestinum Boiss), c. 1900-1920.
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- Palestine arum (Arum palaestinum Boiss), c. 1900-1920.
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- Great carrot (Daucus maximus Desf.), c. 1900-1920.
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- Onopordon (cotton-thistle) (O. heteraconthum), c. 1900-1920.
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- (Taken in their natural setting) “Lily of the field.” (Anemone — Anemone coronaria L.), c. 1898-1946.
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![Flowers [wild garlic -- Allium ampeloprasum L.], c. 1898-1946.](http://enclosuretakerefuge.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/10205v.jpg?w=150&h=108)
- Flowers [wild garlic -- Allium ampeloprasum L.], c. 1898-1946.
![Flowers [wild garlic -- Allium ampeloprasum L.], c. 1898-1946.](http://enclosuretakerefuge.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/10205v.jpg)
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- Flowers [wild pink onion — Allium trichocoleim Bonm.), c. 1898-1946.
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- Flowers, c. 1898-1946.
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![Flowers [cyclamen], c. 1898-1946.](http://enclosuretakerefuge.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/10199v.jpg?w=103&h=150)
- Flowers [cyclamen], c. 1898-1946.
![Flowers [cyclamen], c. 1898-1946.](http://enclosuretakerefuge.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/10199v.jpg)
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![Flowers [cyclamen], c. 1898-1946.](http://enclosuretakerefuge.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/14021v.jpg?w=105&h=150)
- Flowers [cyclamen], c. 1898-1946.
![Flowers [cyclamen], c. 1898-1946.](http://enclosuretakerefuge.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/14021v.jpg)
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- Flowers [Maritime squill — Urginea maritima Baker), September 21, 1915.
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- Agriculture, etc. Various shades of anemones. Colours ranging from snow white to all shades of pink, dark purple and blue, c. 1930-1933.
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- Wild flowers of Palestine. Wood-mallow (Malva sylvestris L.), 1900-1920 by the American Colony, via Library of Congress.
Filed under art, landscape, nature, plants, vintage landscape
Vintage landscape: an earlier March
Sheep grazed on the White House lawn during the Wilson administration (1913-1921) as part of an effort to cut down on groundskeeping costs (and here and here). The photo above was taken by Harris & Ewing. Since there are lambs, I believe this is early spring.
The below photos were taken by the National Photo Company (all images via the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division).
Earlier, from 1910 to 1913, President Taft’s cow, Pauline, had grazed on the lawn. She is shown here in front of the Old Executive Office Building, then the State, War, and Navy Building.
