Featured Grand Tour Europe and Middle East ca. 1922

Going through misc stuff I’ve accumulated for unknown reasons, came across a photo album of an American touring Europe and the Middle East in march to may, 1922. Includes personal photos of Spain, Turkey, Northern Africa, Portugal, Algeria, Syria, Italy, England, others. Majority taken in Egypt, Palestine and Greece. Pics of both monuments and candid shots; residents, workers, children, even a passing funeral and public hanging. This would have been just months before discovery of Tutankhamens tomb, while England was occupying the Middle East (one of the candid shots is columns of English troops streaming down a dirt path).

Many pictures have hand writing with explanations and dates, guessing written on negatives before printing. I have not seen this before, was this common?

No relation to me. All told, about 250-300 different pictures. If you had this, what would you do with it?

 

The organization is so odd, isn't it? Seville and Istanbul on the same page?

Debora

 

I'd first consider keeping it, but probably wouldn't do so. Then would look for living relatives if the traveler is identified. Another option, if the person is identified, is to see whether a museum local to the traveler's area would take it. Yet another is to see whether any museum that collects photography of this sort would.

This is often seen on real photo postcards (RPPCs) from the early 20th century. Any chance some of the photos in the album are postcards? If there are a lot of postcards, that would the open option that a collector of RPPC's could be interested.

 

There's something wacky about these. The sequence makes no sense. A lot of them are numbered. And I don't see typical tourist shots with a member of the party being photographed. I wonder if they're not a collection of commercial photographs. Could/would you post some other examples?

Debora

 

I know a surprising amount and could probably trace down the family, but this came from an estate cleanout and wasn’t wanted by the family. Traveler from Kansas. Scrapbook kept by son, but when he died in his 90’s in MA, his living relatives probably could not identify anyone or heard story of travel in these pics so apparently not interested. Should people care? I don’t know. Once generations get beyond the people they personally met and knew, it is hard.

I can’t explain organization, though pics seem to have been attached to scrapbook once the traveler got home and arranged them the way he wanted. Maybe a few favorites in front? That said, there is a grouping by country in most of the pics. Surprising they were attached without copying the writing on the back, but he probably knew it since he took the pics.

Most of the pics are glued to scrapbook in four spots. Careful lifting shows most but not all of the pics with writing on the front are indeed RPPC (thank you, a term and history I did not know). Can also see that some have writing on the back identifying place or people. Of the three pics that are loose, this one is an RPPC, other RPPC seem to have same printing on back. Would guess about a third are the same RPPC, based on size and border. Most of the rest are on similar card stock, but not same size and no postcard printing on back. Some are smaller, 3-3/4 square, so I included a couple of those. Seem to be same trip (age of auto) but different camera? Reminder of history, this is only a few years after Lawrence of Arabia was there.

 

Not really wacky. Just not purely chronological. The numbers may have to do with the need to write on the negative? I don’t know how that was done. And there are some “typical” shots, see below, but I think the traveler was more interested in where he was, than he was in getting himself into pics. The writing on the Stonehenge pic I particularly find cleverly self-deprecating: “491 Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England - and a visitor from Kansas - May 9, 1922 (Constructed about 1700 BC)”.

 

I luv the history...

 

A fascinating grouping.

Debora

 

I have at least one travel scrapbook somewhere that seems to be a lot “commercial photography”. At first I was impressed by the travelers skill. Then I realized they probably hadn’t taken the photos. I’m guessing that along with postcards these popular travel destinations during this era must have sold professional photos that folks could take back to show to family/friends and put into their scrapbooks. Scrapbooking and photo albums were so popular it would seem to make sense there would be industry around it. It would be interesting if someone could verify this.

 

Yes, commercial photographs were available to travelers in addition to post cards. Photography was only recently available to the masses.

Debora

 

It was a real mix. My uncle, born in the 1910s, not only took photos but developed them. His family images are a conglomeration of his own photos, some postcards and some commercial photographs. My parents certainly had a camera in the fifties.

 

Introduction of the Kodak camera turn of the 20th century.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kodk/hd_kodk.htm

Debora

 

There are certainly a few commercial shots mixed in the album, though I don’t think I showed pics of any of them. Most notably, there are a couple pics of public hangings which are rather disturbing that are definitely commercial, and some others that may be commercial. But I am quite certain of the uniqueness of the majority of them, with the same handwriting on the negatives of many of them, identifying fellow travelers, the traveler from Kansas (I know the owner of the album was from Kansas), identification of tour guides, etc. in addition to same groupings of print sizes, etc.

That said, I don’t know that unique pictures are more desirable? I haven’t tried nor am interested in selling.

And figtree, I would be happy to give to a museum, do you know of any that might be worth asking?

 

Forgot how to do a callout, will try again: @Figtree3 , any recommendations on museums looking for something like this?

 

Nothing off the top of my head, and I don't have time to do the research today. Possibly tomorrow... I hope.