Mother-of-pearl workers c.1900-1920

Title: Mother-of-pearl workers c.1900-1920
Description: This is a digital reproduction of an image held in the Library of Congress. The image depicts three mother-of-pearl workers in a Bethlehem workshop, chiselling and filing the pearl oyster shells. Mother-of-pearl carving has been a major industry in Bethlehem since at least the 17th century. It formed the basis for the emigration explosion out of the town in the 19th and early 20th centuries when Bethlehem merchants began to sell mother-of-pearl devotional objects around the world. The image is almost identical to a double-image photograph also in this collection (see "Relation" field).
Identifier: pb_lc_bcr_7235669
Subject: Bethlehem; Palestine; Palestinian Diaspora; Bethlehem Crafts collection; Bethlehem mother-of-pearl
License: CC BY 4.0
Contributor: G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection
Type: Digital scan of image: 1 negative : glass, dry plate ; 10 x 12 in.
Source: Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA, Prints & Photographs Division, reproduction number: LC-DIG-matpc-06815 (digital file from original photo)
Spatial Coverage: 31.7053996/ 35.1936877
Rights Holder: Library of Congress. No known restrictions on publication.
Date (approximate): c.1900-1920