In the Library of Congress

Other Matson Photographs in the Divison's Holdings

LOT 2924

184 snapshots and other photographs treating Biblical themes and the Near East, which were part of the Matson Photo Service inventory. Some are accompanied by booklets. Copyright deposit, 1947.

LOT 6603

100 35 mm color slides in a commercial set. The set is accompanied by a booklet entitled, Pictorial record of thirty-five years of progress in Palestine 1918-1953.
Copyright deposit, 1954.

LOTs 11062-11086 and 11089-11111

5,000 cropped prints in 11 albums. This was the set used for sales purposes in the Matsons’ Jerusalem shop. The images were published in The Middle East in Pictures in cropped versions. (DS 44.5.M37 1980 P&P Ref). The uncropped negatives are online.
Gift of G. Eric Matson, 1966.

LOT 12016

An album of 122 aerial views of Palestine. The air route covered the Sea of Galilee following the Jordan River to the Dead Sea, Jericho Road, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jaffa, Tel-Aviv, Nazareth, and the Plain of Sharon, October, 1931. Gift of the Home for the Aged of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Los Angeles, 1981 [retrieve any items available online]

Microfilm copy of Eric Matson's diaries. The diaries cover the years 1908, 1919, 1921, 1922-23, 1924, 1935, 1942, 1943, and 1946.

Unprocessed Prints (PR 06 CN 139)

Miscellaneous photographic prints and postcards that were housed with the Matson negatives. These will be organized and made available in the next few years.

Related Resources Outside the Library of Congress

NOTE: The Library of Congress does not maintain Internet sites listed below. Users should direct concerns about these links to their respective site administrators or webmasters.

The American Colony and Matson Photo Service widely marketed and distributed their photographs. In Jerusalem, Israel, photographs created by the American Colony are to be found at:

• The Israel State Archive
• The Israel Museum
• The Jewish National University Library, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• private collections.

In the United States, the following archives, libraries, and institutions possess substantial Middle East holdings, including American Colony/Matson Photo Service images:

National Geographic Society
National Geographic Image Collection
URL: http://www.ngsimages.com/

The archives of the National Geographic Society contain original photographs published in volumes 24, 25, 28, 37, 50, 56, 67, 71, 76, and 78 of the magazine between January 1913 and December 1940. There also are approximately 400 unpublished gelatin silver photographs by American Colony photographers during 1926-1928. Special arrangements must be made through their commercial outlet for access to these photographs.

George Eastman House
Photography Collection
URL: http://www.eastmanhouse.org/inc/collections/photography.asp
Online display of American Colony lantern slides: http://www.geh.org/ar/strip65/htmlsrc2/americancol_sum00001.html

This archive holds a large collection of American Colony lantern slides, 296 of which are available online.

Fine Arts Library, Harvard University
Fogg Art Museum
Contact: Jeff Spurr, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
URLs: Fogg Art Museum: http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/fogg/
Harvard Semitic Museum Photographic Archives: http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/finearts/collections/semitic.html

The general architecture collections of the Historical Photographs and Special Visual Collections Department, which feature the Middle East, include 61 American Colony photographic prints and other Matson materials. The Harvard Semitic Museum Photographic Archives contain 89 vintage photographs and 39 lantern slides by the American Colony Photo Department