Scope and Content of Collection

The collection of 64 albumen photographs taken between 1860 and 1890 depicts ancient, medieval, and natural sites in Asia Minor (encompassing modern-day Turkey and Greece). Ephesus (14 photographs), Sardis (6), Smyrna (12), Rhodes (12), and Lindos (7) are among the cities represented.

Ancient and medieval locations include the Temple of Diana and the theater at Ephesus; an aqueduct in Saint Anne's Valley, Smyrna; Saint Nicolas Fortress, three medieval windmills, and the Knights' Castle on Rhodes; the Temple of Venus in Aphrodisias; the ampitheater and Roman basilica in the ancient city of Pergamon; and the statue of Sesotris. Several photographs represent early Christian sites such as the Gate of the Persecution, Saint Paul's Prison, the Tomb of Saint Luke, the Greek church of Saint George in Smyrna, the Church of Polycarp, and the Church of Saint John at Ephesus, which later became the Mosque of Sultan Selim.

Natural places depicted include Lake Gyges, the hot springs of Sardis, Mount Pagus, Two Brothers Mountain, and the Rock of Niobe. Also present are images of nineteenth-century Turkish life such as cemeteries, barracks, yaykas (summer resorts), and Yuruks (Yörüks, a nomaidic Turkish ethnic subgroup of Oghuz descent).

Of the images in the collection, 16 are by the Rubellin studio, and six images are the work of Alexander Svoboda. The remaining 42 images are unattributed.

The photographs appear to be part of a mock-up for an illustrated book. The mounts are consecutively numbered by hand, from 207 through 276; six numbers are lacking (243-246 and 259-260). For additional photographs bearing numbers preceeding those in this collection see Special Collections accession no. 2004.R.42, Views of Bursa.

Captions in French are hand-written in black ink on the mounts below or to the side of the images, with the exception of the first mount, which bears a letterpress caption below the image. Several mounts have captions or extensive manuscript descriptions pasted on them. All of the prints have a number corresponding, in most cases, to the first number in their caption. This number can be found in a corner of the mount (even numbers are in the upper right corners, while odd numbers are in the lower right corners). Many images have an annotation on the verso visible through the print, which appears to contain similar information as the title.

Arrangement

In original order according to numbers on mounts.