Country: Lebanon
Collection Type: State agency/ Ministry
Collection Size: 10,000-50,000
Period: 1860-1900 1900-1930 1930-1960 1960-1980 Later than 1980
Type of Material & Format: Black and White images Colour images Digital files Film-based negatives
Website: http://www.mot.gov.lb/

The photograph collection of the Ministry of Tourism was established for the promotion of tourism in Lebanon. It mainly dates from the 1940s until the present day, but also includes photographs from the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The collection includes more than 12,000 photographs, and is composed of six collections authored by Lebanese and International photographers. The Library was created in 1967, renovated in 1993 and officially inaugurated in 1997.
In 2003, under Director General Mrs. Nada Sardouk, the collection was restored, documented, digitized, and made available to the public. The collection is accessible upon request.

Contact Details:
Name: Ibtissam Fawaz
Email: [email protected]
Address: Ministry of Tourism – Bank of Lebanon Street – Beirut
Tel: +961 1745412 ; +961 3760439

Country: Iran
Collection Type: Library State agency/ Ministry
Collection Size: > 50,000
Period: 1900-1930 1930-1960 1960-1980
Type of Material & Format: Black and White images Glass plates positives and/or negatives Prints
Website: http://old.nlai.ir/Default.aspx?alias=old.nlai.ir/en

The National Archives and Library of Iran is Iran’s largest research center, housed in a extensive complex in Haqqani and Mirdamad in Tehran, as well as a number of branches around Tehran. The Archives also have satellite branches in provincial cities. The Archives and Library hold a vast number of textual and visual sources, including over 1.7 million books, in addition to over one million dissertations, manuscripts, photographs, and other documents.

The National Archives of Iran is the main official authority responsible for the collection, preservation, processing, and information dissemination of documents of national and historical importance. Its photograph collection consists of over 32,000 photographs ranging from glass plate negatives and positives, positive prints and black and white images.

The collection is available for researchers.

Contact Details:
Address:
National Library: Tehran, Shahid Haghani Highway, after the Haghani Metro Stop.
National Archives: Tehran, Mirdamad Blvd, before Madar Square, at the end of Shahid Behzad Hesari (S. Razan) St.

Country: Jordan
Collection Type: Library
Collection Size: 10,000-50,000
Period: 1860-1900 1900-1930 1930-1960 1960-1980 Later than 1980
Type of Material & Format: Black and White images Colour images Digital files Film-based negatives Slides (positives)
Website: http://www.nl.gov.jo

The National Library of Jordan is attached to the Ministry of Culture and works towards the protection and preservation of Jordan’s cultural heritage, with the aim to serve researchers and scholars interested in the cultural and intellectual aspects of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The National Library was created in 1994 from the merger of the Center for Documents and Documentation and the Department of the National Library, itself having replaced the Department of Libraries and National Documents founded in 1977.
The Documents and Photograph Archiving Section within the National Library holds a collection of around 10,000 photos comprised of 17 private collections from the 1860s to the present day, mostly donations. The collections cover primarily Egypt, Palestine, Syria and mostly Jordan; they include Film-based negatives, digital files, positives, and Black and White and color prints.

Contact Details:
Name: Muntaha Ibrahim Al-Diri, Documents & Photo Archiving Section
Email: [email protected] ; [email protected] ; [email protected]
Address: Arjan, Building Number 9 , Haroun Al-Rasheed St. (Opp Ministry of Interior) P.O.Box: (6070) Amman 11118
Tel: +962 6 5662 791/819/845/854/748/871/758

Country: Lebanon
Collection Type: Museum
Website: http://www.beirutnationalmuseum.com/

The National Museum of Beirut is the main archeological museum in Lebanon. The collection started after World War I, and the museum was officially opened in 1942. The collection includes approximately 100,000 objects, most of which are antiquities and medieval finds from excavations undertaken by the Directorate General of Antiquities. About 1,300 artifacts are exhibited, and date from prehistoric times to the medieval Mamluk period.

During the 1975 Lebanese Civil War, the museum stood on the front line that separated the warring factions and the building and its collection suffered extensive damage, although most of the artifacts were saved through last-minute pre-emptive measures.

Contact Details:
Name: Anne Marie Afeiche, Collection representative
Email: [email protected]
Address: Mathaf Main Street, Mathaf
Tel: +961 1 612260

Country: United Arab Emirates
Collection Type: Private collection
Collection Size: > 50,000
Period: 1930-1960 1960-1980 Later than 1980
Type of Material & Format: Black and White images Colour images Digital files Film-based negatives Slides (positives)

Noor Ali Rashid Archive’s mission is to restore and preserve the collection of the late photographer Noor Ali Rashid work and to promote the art of photography and photojournalism in the region. The collection features the photographic works of Noor Ali Rashid ranging from the late 1940s-early 1950s until 2010. It includes around a million photographs, consisting of film-based negatives, positives, Black & White and colour images, digital files in addition to other photographic media such as Polaroid.

Noor Ali Rashed arrived from India in 1960 in Dubai, at the time of the oil boom and worked as free-lance photographer. As the country grew wealthier under the reign of Sheikh Zayed, he was appointed as one of the official photographers of the Emir.

His collection of portraits of the ruling family became national heritage even before the death of the Emir. After Noor Ali Rashid passed away, his daughter Shamsa Ali Rashed took over the collection and initiated a foundation to conserve and promote her father’s work.

His photos are published in several books such as The UAE formative years (1965-1975), and 40 years life of the UAE (1971-2011). The collection isn’t available to the general public.

Contact Details:
Name: Shamsa Ali Rashed / Safdar Rashid
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Other: http://www.thenational.ae/uae/heritage/uae-history-through-the-lens-of-royal-photographer-noor-ali-rashid

Country: Palestine
Collection Type: Museum
Collection Size: 1,000-10,000
Period: 1860-1900 1900-1930 1930-1960 1960-1980
Type of Material & Format: Digital files
Website: http://www.palmuseum.org/language/english

Under the slogan ‘Your pictures, Your Memories, Our History’, The Family Album Project initiated by the Palestinian Museum in November 2014 intends to document important aspects of Palestinian history, life, culture and society, including key incidents and well-know personalities before and after the Nakba.
The project aims to trace Palestinian history by collecting and digitizing photographs that have for years lain forgotten in cupboards and drawers. Taken from private albums, the old photographs show family scenes, Palestinian freedom fighters, schools, sports teams and ordinary people from different time periods. Interviews are held with the owners to contextualize the images before they are digitized and stored in an archive. This archive will eventually act as a collective, visual representation of this intimate side of life, history, culture and society in Palestine.
The project team has documented around 4,000 family photographs and conducted over 100 interviews in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Bethlehem, Jenin, Hebron, Nablus, Gaza, Acre, Haifa, Nazareth and Upper Galilee. Among the collected photos, the oldest one reportedly dates back to the late 1880s.
The project, which targets Palestinian families both in Palestine and in the diaspora, will soon be available through an open portal accessible from all over the globe. Each photograph to be displayed will be accompanied with the respective family name to which it belongs and with the family’s account of the people or events shown in the picture.
The Palestinian Museum building, which is currently being constructed in Birzeit – 25km north of Jerusalem – and will be open to the public in May 2016 is specifically designed to house archives. The Museum is also engaged in training its employees in this field, equipping them to deal with this kind of archival work. The Museum’s network of partnerships, digital archives and electronic platforms will also help to make this information accessible both to the local and global publics.

Contact Details:
Name: Lena Sobeh, Rana Anani
Email: [email protected] ; [email protected]
Address: 5 Al Sahel Street, P.O Box 101, Ramallah, Palestine
Tel: +972 2 2974797 / +970 0599357573

Other:
Blog: https://palmuseum.wordpress.com

Country: Qatar
Collection Type: Museum
Collection Size: < 1,000 Period: 1860-1900 Later than 1980 Type of Material & Format: Black and White images Colour images Website: http://www.mathaf.org.qa/en/ Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, founded in 2010 is part of Qatar Museums, led by H.E. Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Mathaf Collection, co-owned by Qatar Museums and Qatar Foundation, is now holding over 9,000 works, making it the world’s largest specialized collection of its kind. Mathaf organises major exhibitions, both historical and experimental, and large-scale education programs performing an important role as a center for dialogue, research, and a resource for fostering creativity. Mathaf hosts solo and group exhibitions by artists from the region, and events that explore and celebrate modern and contemporary art. The photograph collection includes around 1000 photographs, some dating back to the 1860s and others later than 1980s. It also includes old cameras and related paraphernalia If on view in an exhibition, the collection is open to the general public. A request has to be made in order to view objects in storage and permission is usually only granted to researchers, artists and visitors from other institutions.

Country: United Arab Emirates
Collection Type: Private collection
Collection Size: > 50,000
Period: 1960-1980 Later than 1980
Type of Material & Format: Black and White images Colour images Digital files Film-based negatives Prints
Website: https://www.fsrg.com/historical/

Ramesh Shukla was an Indian photographer who arrived in Dubai in 1959. He was one of the official photographers for the royal family thus having close ties to the rulers and the court of Dubai and Abu Dhabi since the 1960s.

His collection covers 40 years of life in the UAE mainly, in Oman and the region. His images depict themes of everyday life in the emirates from official life of the sheikh’s family, landscapes and portraits to the development of modern infrastructure in the fast expanding cities. His photographs of the Rulers of the UAE adorn palaces and private collections, and his work appears on UAE postage stamps, currency notes, in the Municipality and Union house in Dubai and is reproduced in Dubai metro stations.

His work is featured in two best sellers, The UAE- Formative Year 1965-76 and 40 years life of the UAE 1965-2010. The UAE- Formative Year 1965-76 is a selection of 130 black and white photographs spanning what are arguably the most important years in the history of the UAE -those immediately preceding and following nationhood.

Contact Details:
Name: Four Seasons Gallery, Ramesh Shukla
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Address: Al Zomorrodah Building, Zabeel Road, Karama Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 433 4909 / ext: 111