List of Collections

  • Devotional objects (2) This collection consists of digital 3D models of devotional objects produced in Bethlehem. The 3D models have been produced using photogrammetry software. The initial collection focuses on the famous replica models of holy sites carved by Bethlehem artisans between the 16th and 19th centuries, using scale drawings produced by the Franciscan community resident in the town. The artisans carved the models from olive and pistachio wood with inlays of mother-of-pearl, ivory and camel bone. The models were designed to be dismantled with various detachable parts allowing interior features to be viewed. They were commissioned by the Franciscans to be sold or donated to pilgrims, dignitaries and churches all over Europe. We are seeking to expand the collection of 3D models and welcome suggestions for capturing objects of all different kinds.
  • George Harb Photos (58) This collection documents the life and career of George Harb, a renowned educator, politician, speech-maker and community activist in Bethlehem. The collection consists mainly of photographs of George, his family and other prominent figures in Bethlehem from the 1920s up to the present day. As an elected member of the Bethlehem Municipal Council for 18 years and teacher of Arabic at the Frères school (the first in the region to go co-ed), George Harb was first-hand witness to the major political and social upheavals of the latter half of the 20th century in Bethlehem. The photographs also document more intimate, personal scenes such as family portraits, weddings and social gatherings. The collection was donated to the Planet Bethlehem Archive by George Harb who today lives in Bethlehem
  • Library of Congress Collections (251)
    • American Colony Collection (20) This collection is made up of materials relating to the operation of the American Colony in Jerusalem. The American Colony was founded in 1881 by a Christian utopian society in the United States led by Anna and Horatio Spafford. Many of the materials in this collection relate to the American Colony stores in Jerusalem and New York which provided important sources of income for the colony in Jerusalem. The Planet Bethlehem team has produced digitised versions of these materials from the original versions which are held in the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
    • Bethlehem Crafts (9) This collection consists of photographs of various craft industries in Bethlehem. For centuries the town has been famous for its devotional objects, carved mainly from mother-of-pearl and olive wood, and produced for sale to visiting pilgrims and tourists. The industry provided the basis for Bethlehem's emigration explosion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when merchants from the town travelled all over the world selling Bethlehem religious crafts. Today there are Bethlehem-origin communities scattered around the world as a result of those migrations. Bethlehem is also famous for its embroidery (tatriz in Arabic) of bridal dresses and its stone masons. The original photographs, along with the digital versions displayed here, are held in the Matson Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
    • Bethlehem Harvest (59) Bethlehem Harvest
    • Bethlehem People and Places (42) This collection is made up of photographs depicting various people and places in Bethlehem in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of the images were produced by the photographic service of the American Colony in Jerusalem. In this period Bethlehem was intensely photographed by photography companies catering to western ideas of the biblical Bethlehem. The original photographs, along with the digital versions displayed here, are held in the Matson Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
    • Bethlehem Women (33) This collection consists of photographic portraits of women in Bethlehem, compiled by the photographic service of the American Colony in Jerusalem. In different ways, the photos reflect the ways in which male western photographers romanticised and fetishised Bethlehem women. It was a common trope of western travel accounts to emphasise the beauty of women in Bethlehem. Many of the photographs here are re-enactments of biblical scenes, confirming the extent to which Bethlehem women were seen through a western biblical lens. The original photographs, along with the digital versions displayed here, are held in the Matson Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
    • Bonfils Fiches Collection (16) This collection is made up of photographic materials related to Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the surrounding area, produced by the “Maison Bonfils” studio in Beirut in the late 19th century. The versions presented here were digitised by the Planet Bethlehem team from the original microfiche held in the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
    • Library of Congress 1927 Earthquake Collection (12) This collection is made up of photographs depicting the effects of the earthquake that struck Palestine on 11 July, 1927. While some of the materials relate specifically to Bethlehem, images are also included from Nablus and Jericho (the areas worst affected by the earthquake) to give a sense of the wider damage caused by the earthquake. The original photographs, along with the digital versions displayed here, are held in the Matson Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
    • Nativity Church (1) This collection is made up of photos depicting the Nativity Church in Bethlehem. The images were produced by the photographic service of the American Colony photographic service in Jerusalem in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original photographs, along with the digital versions displayed here, are held in the Matson Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
    • Nativity Scenes (7) This collection is made up of photographs that reconstruct various scenes relating to the birth of Christ. The images were produced by the photographic department of the American Colony in Jerusalem in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The photos can be seen within the wider trend of western artists and photographers viewing Bethlehem through a biblical and orientalist lens. The original photographs, along with the digital versions displayed here, are held in the Matson Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
    • Revolt against the British (10) This collection is made up of photographs relating to the Great Arab Revolt of 1936-39 in Palestine and its impact on Bethlehem. The original photographs, along with the digital versions displayed here, are held in the Matson Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
    • Solomon's Pools (27) This collection is made of up photographs of Solomon's Pools - a trio of ancient reservoirs that collected water from the hills around Bethlehem. The pools were part of the Roman-era network of aqueducts that supplied water to the city of Jerusalem. Most of the photographs in the collection show the pools in the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods. The original photographs, along with the digital versions displayed here, are held in the Matson Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
    • Wider Bethlehem (15) This collection is made up of materials relating to the wider area around Bethlehem. Since Ottoman times, Bethlehem has been an important regional hub, serving as a religious and trading centre for dozens of surrounding villages and Bedouin communities. These images capture some of the people and places from that wider area. The original photographs, along with the digitisations displayed here, are held in the Matson Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.
  • Saint Nicholas Church Icons Collections (46) These collections document the unique series of icons held in the Church of Saint Nicholas in Beit Jala (near Bethlehem). The church is built over the far older Chapel of Saint George which stands as the only remaining section of a monastery built around a network of caves where Saint Nicholas is said to have lived in the 3rd century CE. Numerous legends and miracles are attributed to Saint Nicholas in Beit Jala today. Many of the icons depict these miraculous events. There are over 150 icons in the church, including the iconostasis and portable icons, mostly dating from the 1870s to the 1920s, with a small handful that could be considered an earlier primitive style from the Chapel of St George. The collections also contain a handful of contemporary icons. The majority of the icons in the collection are in the indigenous Jerusalem School style, an indigenous Palestinian movement from the 19th and early 20th century. This style is almost completely neglected in global museum collections, which tend to focus on Byzantine, Russian or – more rarely – Balkan styles. The Church of Saint Nicholas was built and funded in 1925 by the local community of Beit-Jala, not the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It has a unique legal status that sits outside of Waqf endowments, making the icons an interesting case study for the articulation of Arab identity within transnational Orthodox politics. The collections are divided into five sub-collections according to their location within the church. Funding for this collection was generously provided by the Council For British Research in the Levant (CBRL). The research and photography was carried out by Faten Nastas Mitwasi, Jabra Mitwasi and Sary Zananiri.
    • Church Altar Icons (32) This collection consists of digital images of icons found inside the altar of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Beit Jala (near Bethlehem). The majority of the icons are in the Jerusalem School style, an indigenous Palestinian movement from the 19th and early 20th century. The Church of Saint Nicholas was built and funded in 1925 by the local community of Beit-Jala, not the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It has a unique legal status that sits outside of Waqf endowments, making the collection of icons an interesting case study for the articulation of Arab identity within transnational Orthodox politics. Many of the icons predate the founding of the church, due in part to the presence of the far older Chapel of Saint George beneath the current church. This chapel is all that remains of an ancient monastery built around a network of caves where Saint Nicholas is held to have lived during the 3rd century CE.
    • Iconostasis (0) This collection consists of digital images of icons contained within the main iconostasis of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Beit Jala (near Bethlehem). The majority of the icons are in the Jerusalem School style, an indigenous Palestinian movement from the 19th and early 20th century. The Church of Saint Nicholas was built and funded in 1925 by the local community of Beit-Jala, not the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It has a unique legal status that sits outside of Waqf endowments, making the collection of icons an interesting case study for the articulation of Arab identity within transnational Orthodox politics. Many of the icons predate the founding of the church, due in part to the presence of the far older Chapel of Saint George beneath the current church. This chapel is all that remains of an ancient monastery built around a network of caves where Saint Nicholas is held to have lived during the 3rd century CE.
    • Miscellaneous Icons (0) This collection consists of digital images of icons scattered around various parts of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Beit Jala (near Bethlehem). The majority of the icons are in the Jerusalem School style, an indigenous Palestinian movement from the 19th and early 20th century. This collection also contains far older icons, the oldest of which date to the 16th century. The Church of Saint Nicholas was built and funded in 1925 by the local community of Beit-Jala, not the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It has a unique legal status that sits outside of Waqf endowments, making the collection of icons an interesting case study for the articulation of Arab identity within transnational Orthodox politics. Many of the icons predate the founding of the church, due in part to the presence of the far older Chapel of Saint George beneath the current church. This chapel is all that remains of an ancient monastery built around a network of caves where Saint Nicholas is held to have lived during the 3rd century CE.
    • Saint George's Chapel Iconostasis (0) This collection consists of digital images of icons found in the iconostasis of the Chapel of Saint George which lies beneath the Church of Saint Nicholas in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem. The Chapel of Saint George is all that remains of an ancient monastery built around a network of caves where Saint Nicholas is held to have lived during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the 3rd century CE. The majority of the icons in this collection date from the early to mid 19th century.
    • Wall Paintings (14) This collection consists of digital images of wall paintings in the Church of Saint Nicholas in Beit Jala (near Bethlehem). The majority of the paintings are icons in the Jerusalem School style, an indigenous Palestinian movement from the 19th and early 20th century. The Church of Saint Nicholas was built and funded in 1925 by the local community of Beit-Jala, not the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It has a unique legal status that sits outside of Waqf endowments, making the collection of icons an interesting case study for the articulation of Arab identity within transnational Orthodox politics.
  • The Bethlehem University Oral History Collections (69) The collections consists of digitised versions of tapes and CDs recorded by undergraduate students at Bethlehem University during the period 1992-2008. The original project was led by Dr Adnan Musallam, Chair of the Department of Humanities at Bethlehem University. Dr Musallam encouraged students to interview elderly individuals in Bethlehem and across the West Bank about their recollections of major events in Palestinian. The resulting interviews include recollections of the late Ottoman period, World War I, the Nakba of 1948, the 1967 War and the First Intifada. The interviews were conducted in Arabic and were usually supplemented by a transcript and/or written description (also in Arabic) of the interview. The Planet Bethlehem Archive team has selected for digitisation all of the interviews that cover the late Ottoman and early British Mandate periods, focusing only on those interviewees who lived in the Bethlehem area during that time. The complete collection of original tapes and CDs is housed at Bethlehem University.
    • Great Snow and 1927 Earthquake (5) This collection consists of interviews (and accompanying transcripts) with elderly people in Bethlehem relating to the Great Snow of 1920 and the earthquake of 1927. All interviews in the collection have been digitised from the original cassette tapes and CDs held at Bethlehem University.
    • The Ottoman Empire and World War I (64) This collection consists of interviews (and accompanying transcripts) with elderly people in Bethlehem relating to the late Ottoman period and World War I. All interviews in the collection have been digitised from the original cassette tapes and CDs held at Bethlehem University.
  • The Katrina Sa’ade collections (246) The Katrina Sa’ade Collections Description The collections document the life of Katrina Sa'ade (1900-1989). Katrina was born in Bethlehem but went on to live in various locations around the world, including Kiev (Russian Empire), Saltillo (Mexico), Long Beach (US), Hermosillo (Mexico), and Ramallah (Palestine). The project was donated to the Planet Bethlehem Archive by Katrina's granddaughter, Kathy Sa'ade Kenny. It consists of a mixture of photographs, recorded interviews (audio) and letters. Many of the materials relate to the turbulent period Katrina spent in Palestine during 1933-34 where she became involved in a bitter dispute with the family of her second husband, Suleiman Farhat.
    • Afana Family (20) This collection is made up of materials relating to the Bethlehemite Afana family and is part of the wider Katrina Sa'ade Collections.
    • Farhat Family (5) This collection is made up of materials relating to the Farhat family and is part of the wider Katrina Sa'ade Collections.
    • Kabande Family (27) This collection consists of photographs of the Bethlehemite Kabande family and is part of the wider Katrina Sa'ade Collections, donated to the Planet Bethlehem Archive by Kathy Sa'ade Kenny. At the age of 13, Katrina Sa'ade was sent from Bethlehem to Mexico to marry Emelio Demetrio Kabande. She lived with the Kabande family in Mexico until her husband died in a train accident in 1916.
    • Katrina Sa'ade and Her Children (22) This collection consists of photographs of Katrina Sa'ade and her children, donated to the Planet Bethlehem Archive by Katrina's granddaughter, Kathy Sa'ade Kenny. The photographs show Katrina Sa'ade and her children in various periods of their lives in Palestine, Mexico and the United States. The earliest portraits go back to Katrina's life in Mexico in the 1910s and the most recent are from the 1960s in the United States.
    • Katrina Sa'ade interviews (18) This collection is made up of oral history recordings related to Katrina Sa'ade. The materials have been digitised and exist within the Katrina Sa'ade project. The interviews were originally recorded on cassette tape and CD, and were carried out over a period of time ranging from the 1970s to the 2000s. Six of the interviews are with Katrina Sa'ade while the others are with various members of her extended family. All the interviewees reflect on their lives lived across multiple locations, particularly in the early 20th century. These locations include Bethlehem itself, as well as the Russian Empire, Mexico, El Salvador and the United States. The audio files are accompanied by transcriptions of the interviews, but a number of the interviews contain general conversation not recorded in the transcription. The interviewees also tend to switch between various languages, especially Arabic and English. In most cases, the transcriptions give only rough English summaries of the Arabic passages.
    • Katrina Sa'ade Portraits (14) This collection consists of photographic portraits of Katrina Sa'ade and is part of the wider Katrina Sa'ade Collections, donated to the Planet Bethlehem Archive by Katrina's granddaughter, Kathy Sa'ade Kenny. The photos show Katrina in various periods of life lived in Palestine, Mexico and the United States. The earliest portraits go back to her childhood in Bethlehem and the most recent are from the 1960s in the United States.
    • Katrina Sa’ade letters (118)
    • Sa'ade Family (22) This collection consists of photographs of the Bethlehemite Sa'ade family and is part of the wider Katrina Sa'ade Collections, donated to the Planet Bethlehem Archive by Kathy Sa'ade Kenny. The images show the Sa'ade family in various periods of their lives in Palestine, the Russian Empire, Mexico and the United States. The earliest photos are from Kiev in the 1910s and the most recent are from the 2000s in the United States.
  • The Leila Sansour Collections (4) These collections consist of materials collected by Bethlehem filmmaker Leila Sansour during over 10 years of documentary film making in Bethlehem. The materials include historic prints, postcards, magic lantern slides, old newspaper clippings and news footage, as well as Leila's own photographic and video work.
  • The William Victor Kattan Collections (355) The William Victor Kattan Collections document the lives of various members of the Kattan family, following their movements out of Bethlehem to various countries around the world. The collections are focused on the ten children of Giries Hanna Kattan and Hanne Salame Kattan. They are: Khalil (b.1886), Josephine (b.1889), Habib (b.1893), Maria (b.1896), Regina (b.1898), Hanna (b.1903), Nakhleh (b.1906), Victoria (b.1908), Victor (b.1910), and Marguerite (b.1914). During the first decade of the 20th century, the two eldest brothers, Khalil and Habib, established a new branch of the family business in Sudan along with their father Giries. Many of the siblings subsequently lived in Sudan at various points in the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Most of the materials in the collections relate to their lives in Sudan and how the family used its base there to expand into other areas of the world, including Germany, the UK, Egypt, India, Japan, Chile and Honduras. The materials in the collections were kindly donated to the Planet Bethlehem Archive by William Victor Kattan. They have been divided into 3 collections: 1. Kattan Family Photos 2. Kattan Letters 3. Kattan Documents
    • Kattan Documents Collection (79) The documents date from as early as 1908 up to the 1950s. They tell the story of the establishment and growth of the Kattan family business in Sudan by the five sons of Giries Hanna Kattan and Hanne Salame Kattan. These were namely Khalil, Habib, Hanna, Nakhle and Victor. The documents include property deeds, business letters, partnership agreements, logo designs, copyright applications and company logbooks. Where documents are in hand-written Arabic, the Planet Bethlehem Archive has produced typed Arabic transcriptions which are included alongside the original item.
    • Kattan Family Photos Collection (214) This collection consists of digitised photographs donated to the Planet Bethlehem Archive by William Victor Kattan. The images show members of the Kattan family from the late 19th century up to the 21st century in multiple locations around the world, including Palestine, Sudan, Egypt, Italy, the UK, India and Japan.
    • Kattan Letters Collection (62) This collection consists of letters and postcards donated to the Planet Bethlehem Archive by William Victor Kattan. The letters were written in Arabic between 1913 and 1928 by the daughters and sons of Hanne Salame Kattan and Giries Hanna Kattan. Many of the letters were exchanged between the eldest three of these siblings, Khalil, Josephine and Habib, detailing the family's business and social lives in Sudan, Germany and Egypt in that period. There are also a number of letters exchanged with the siblings' father, Giries, who was still operating the family business in Bethlehem in the 1920s. Transcribed versions of the Arabic letters are included, alongside scans of the original versions.