> 50,000 – MEPPI

Country: Egypt
Collection Type: Library Public/ National Archive
Collection Size: > 50,000
Period: 1900-1930 1930-1960
Type of Material & Format: Black and White images Colour images Digital files Film-based negatives Prints
Website: http://www.bibalex.org/Home/Default_EN.aspx

Photograph collections at Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BibAlex) are spread among a number of independent departments, the main ones being the Memory of Modern Egypt section and the Restoration Laboratory.

BibAlex/ Memory of Modern Egypt’s collection is primarily digital repository documenting the last 200 years of Egypt’s modern history through tens of thousands of varying items, categorized into 14 different material types, including documents, pictures, audios, videos, maps, articles, stamps, and coins. The Memory of Modern Egypt unit also holds 100 photographic albums dating from the 1920s-1970s, under the section “Special Projects”, that were donated in 2011 by the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of media, and the Council on Archeological Affairs in Egypt. The photographic collection amounts to over 60,000 photographs, many of them reprints or digital copies, depicting famous figures and important events in Egyptian history, and dating from the 1900s-1960s. More specifically, it documents the Royal Family, such as King Farouk’s official visits, as well as Sadat. The collection consists of film-based negatives, positives, B&W and colour images, and digital files. It is still expanding and accessible to researchers. A growing number of images, mainly from the photographic albums, are scanned and available online in the frame of Bibalex’s project “History of Modern Egypt”.

The Restoration Laboratory undertakes the restoration of manuscripts, rare books and maps. The unit is also expanding its efforts to photograph and microfilm preservation and restoration, having more recently acquired around 500 items including photogravures, photographs and postcards, ranging from the 1920s-1950s.

Contact Details: Ahmed Moussa, Head of Conservation Laboratory
[email protected]

Heba El Menshawy, Head of Restoration Training Unit, Restoration Section, Manuscript Museum
[email protected]

Mahmoud Ezzat, Head of Cultural Relations and Information, Memory of Modern Egypt
[email protected]

Sherine Nabil, Restoration Specialist for Rare Books & Manuscripts
[email protected]

Country: Egypt
Collection Type: LibraryUniversity
Collection Size: > 50,000
Period: 1860-19001900-19301930-19601960-1980
Type of Material & Format: Black and White imagesColour imagesDigital filesFilm-based negativesGlass plates positives and/or negativesPrintsSlides (positives)
Website: http://library.aucegypt.edu/rbscl/index.html

The Rare Books and Special Collections Library (RBSCL) at the American University in Cairo specializes in Egyptology and Middle Eastern Studies including Coptic and Islamic art and architecture as well as contemporary Egyptian art books and archives. It also houses and curates a sizeable collection of historic photographs that amounts to approximately 250,000 prints, negatives and slides.

The RBSCL was established in the nineties based upon the earlier Creswell Library which dated back to the sixties and encompassed his Islamic art and architecture books and his large collection of photographs from Egypt, North Africa, the Middle East and Andalusia. As a result of the RBSCL’s expansion many new collections were added. Among the most important is Hassan Fathy’s photographic collection focusing on his vernacular experiments and the highlights of his architectural career. The RBSCL has also acquired the archives and the bulk of the photographic collection of the Armenian photographer Van Leo as well as photographic collections of modern artists such as Salah Taher and Margo Veillon.

The vintage nineteenth century photographs constitute a pivotal component of AUC’s photographic collections. It includes loose photos and albums of pioneer photographers such as Francis Frith, Abdullah Frères, Arnoux, Beato, Bonfils, Béchard, Fiorillo, Lekegian, Sebah, Zangaki and a set of Underwood and Underwood stereoviews. The RBSCL houses also collections pertaining to other topics such as Nubia’s architecture and ethnographic life, the Egyptian Cinema and other aspects related to Egypt’s contemporary life.

The photographic collection at the RBSCL is currently a visual resource, a teaching and research tool available to the faculty and students of AUC and to worldwide independent scholars. In the last few years, the RBSCL photographs have become an important ingredient in many MA and PhD thesis as well as various publications and documentary movies. The RBSCL organizes annual exhibitions of selected themes based on its extensive collections within and beyond the scope of AUC campus.

Contact Details:
Email: [email protected]
Address: American University in Cairo, Road 90 – New Cairo

Other:
Further online access to collections:
http://digitalcollections.aucegypt.edu/

Country: Lebanon
Collection Type: Foundation or Association
Collection Size: > 50,000
Period: 1860-19001900-19301930-19601960-1980Later than 1980
Type of Material & Format: Black and White imagesColour imagesDigital filesFilm-based negativesGlass plates positives and/or negativesPrintsSlides (positives)
Website: http://www.fai.org.lb/home.aspx

Finding Aid: local database/ catalogue
The Arab Image Foundation (AIF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the collection, preservation, and study of photography and other related visual material from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Arab Diaspora. Established in Beirut in 1997, it holds over 600,000 photographs from the mid-19th century to the present day.

The collection includes various photographic mediums such as film-based negatives, glass-plates, and prints. It reflects both the general preservation mission of the foundation and the specific interests of its members, who have initiated research projects in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Mexico, Argentina and Senegal. Authored by professionals, amateurs and anonymous photographers, the images encompass a range of genres and styles – including studio portraiture, family albums, documentary, reportage, industrial photography, fashion photography, architecture, advertising, fine art, landscape and still life. The collection includes extensive collections entrusted by photographers such as Hashem el Madani (Lebanon), Van Leo (Egypt), Antranig Bakerdjian (Palestine), and Kamil and Rifaat Chadirji (Iraq) among others.

Images from the collection can be viewed online through the AIF website and through the in-house online image database. The AIF’s research facilities include over 1,300 books, monographs, catalogues, journals, theses and DVDs dedicated to the study of photography, preservation, art, theory, and regional history.

The AIF has produced fifteen exhibitions and eight publications in partnership with international museums, galleries and cultural institutions, and the collection has been used for artists’ projects, curatorial initiatives and academic research.

Contact Details:
Email: [email protected]
Address: Zoghbi Building, 4th floor, 337, Gouraud Street, Gemmayzeh, Beirut
Tel: +961 1 569 373

Country: Lebanon
Collection Type: Foundation or Association
Collection Size: > 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 Glass plates positives and/or negatives Prints Slides (positives)
Website: http://www.fai.org.lb/home.aspx

Finding Aid: local database/ catalogue
The Arab Image Foundation (AIF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the collection, preservation, and study of photography and other related visual material from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Arab Diaspora. Established in Beirut in 1997, it holds over 600,000 photographs from the mid-19th century to the present day.

The collection includes various photographic mediums such as film-based negatives, glass-plates, and prints. It reflects both the general preservation mission of the foundation and the specific interests of its members, who have initiated research projects in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Mexico, Argentina and Senegal. Authored by professionals, amateurs and anonymous photographers, the images encompass a range of genres and styles – including studio portraiture, family albums, documentary, reportage, industrial photography, fashion photography, architecture, advertising, fine art, landscape and still life. The collection includes extensive collections entrusted by photographers such as Hashem el Madani (Lebanon), Van Leo (Egypt), Antranig Bakerdjian (Palestine), and Kamil and Rifaat Chadirji (Iraq) among others.

Images from the collection can be viewed online through the AIF website and through the in-house online image database. The AIF’s research facilities include over 1,300 books, monographs, catalogues, journals, theses and DVDs dedicated to the study of photography, preservation, art, theory, and regional history.

The AIF has produced fifteen exhibitions and eight publications in partnership with international museums, galleries and cultural institutions, and the collection has been used for artists’ projects, curatorial initiatives and academic research.

Contact Details:
Email: [email protected]
Address: Zoghbi Building, 4th floor, 337, Gouraud Street, Gemmayzeh, Beirut
Tel: +961 1 569 373

Country: Bahrain
Collection Type: Private collection
Collection Size: > 50,000
Period: 1960-1980Later than 1980
Type of Material & Format: Black and White imagesColour imagesDigital filesFilm-based negatives
Website: http://www.bahrainhouse.com/

The photo archive of Bahrain House of Photography, a business owned by photographer Abdulla Mohammed Al Khan, comprises three archives: The archive of his father, photographer Mohammed Al Khan (that includes photographs dating back to 1939), part of the archive of the Bahrain Petroleum Company BAPCO (founded in 1929) and his personal archive since 1950.

Abdulla Mohammed Al Khan father, “Mohammed Al Khan” studied photography in India. After his return from India in 1938 he set up a photography studio at his home in Muharraq, from which he managed his business in developing photo negatives and making prints of them. Abdulla Al Khan joined Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) as a trainee photographer. Because of his noticeable skills and performance, BAPCO sent him on a scholarship to “Ealing Technical College’, London to study photography. His specialty was the photography of installations, structures and buildings. He returned to Bahrain and continued to work for BAPCO to become head of the photography department at the company and the officer-in-charge of its photo archive. He left BAPCO in 1971 to establish his “Falcon Cinefoto” business which has become the biggest photography firm in the Gulf. In 2006, Abdulla Al Khan founded the “Bahrain House of Photography” through which he continued his career in photography and converted for the first time to using to digital photography rather the traditional films and negatives.

In 2007, Al Khan produced his first documentary book under the title “Muharraq, The Sea Rose” which contained photographs of this city that he personally shot from 1945 to 2007. In 2009, he produced his second documentary book “Democracy 73 – Experience of the People” and in 2011, he published “The Book of Pearls”. In 2013, Abdulla Al Khan published the book “Lexicon of the Eye” and in 2015 his book “Dates and Sea”. The texts of all these books were researched and authored by the writer and photographer Hussain Al Mahroos.

Abdulla Al Khan has documented numerous scenes of political, economic, social and religious life in Bahrain, the Gulf, the Arab world and India. His archive now contains more than two million printed photographs, negatives and slides.

The collection is available to researchers.

Contact Details:
Name: Hussain Mahroos
Email: [email protected]
Address: (Near Isa Town Health Center) Villa 1539, Road 1637 Area 816
Tel: +973 17623071