Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Bruce album of views of the Holy Land, Lebanon, Damascus, and
Turkey
2021.R.2
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: John Bruce of Sumburgh and Mary Daziel Scott Bruce album of views of the Holy Land,
Lebanon, Damascus, and Turkey
Date (inclusive): photographed 1870-1902,
compiled 1902
Number: 2021.R.2
Creator/Collector:
Bruce, John, 1837-1907
Physical Description:
1.5 Linear Feet
(57 photographs in 1 album)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The album compiled by the Bruces of
Sumburgh contains 57 views of the Holy Land, Lebanon, Damascus, and Turkey collected on
their 1902 trip to the region. Photographers represented include Félix Bonfils, Sulaymân
Al-Hakîm, and Mihran Iranian.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials
described in this inventory through the
catalog
record
for this collection. Click here for the
access
policy
.
Language: Collection material is in
English , French .
John Bruce 11th of Sumburgh and Symbister (1837-1907) was in partnership with Grierson of
Quendale, Shetland as a fish merchant. He was elected as the Dunrossness South member of the
Zetland County Council in 1890, and became the first Convener of the county. He served on
the Dunrossness School Board, the Parish Council, and the Broonies Taing Trustees. In 1897,
Bruce and his brother-in-law, Mr. E. M. Nelson began excavating an Iron Age broch under
Jarlshof, the historic Bruce manor house, after a storm uncovered some of its buildings. He
wrote an account of their endeavors,
The Excavation of a Broch at
Jarlshof, Sumburgh, Shetland
, in 1907. He and Mary Daziel Scott (1845-1927) were
married in 1871.
Contact
Library Reproductions
and Permissions
.
John Bruce of Sumburgh and Mary Daziel Scott Bruce album of views of the Holy Land,
Lebanon, Damascus, and Turkey, photographed 1870-1902, compiled 1902, The Getty Research
Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2021.R.2.
http:hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2021r2
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 2021.
The finding aid was written by Beth Ann Guynn in 2021.
Scope and Content of Collection
The album, compiled by John Bruce of Sumburgh and his wife, Mary Daziel Scott Bruce,
contains 57 photographs acquired during their travels in the Holy Land, Lebanon, Damascus,
and Turkey in 1902.
The album opens with a view captioned "Our Party at the Mosque of Omar, Jerusalem" likely
taken by a street or studio photographer working with tour groups. The couple standing at
the front of the group is likely the Bruces. Following this photograph, which situates the
Bruces on their tour, the remainder of the photographs in the album are images made by
established local photography studios that would have been readily available for purchase.
Twenty-nine photographs are by Bonfils, the firm which covered the widest geographical range
of the studios represented in the collection. Six photographs are signed by Sulaymân
Al-Hakîm (S. Hakim in negative), who operated a studio in Damascus in the 1890s, and eight
photographs are signed by or attributed to Mihran Iranian (M. Iranian in the negative), an
Armenian who operated in Istanbul in the 1890s.
Nine photographs by an unidentified studio photographer depicting Dr. Conrad Schick's
wooden models of the Tabernacle or Tent of the Congregation and the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem follow the first photograph in the album. Conrad Schick (1822–1901) was a German
architect, archaeologist, and Protestant missionary who settled in Jerusalem in 1846. In
addition to his architectural and proselytizing work, Schick also engaged in archaeological
activities in Jerusalem and surrounding areas over a fifty-year period. He worked for the
Palestine Exploration Fund and published his findings and theories in its journal. In 1872,
Schick was permitted to investigate the Temple Mount, making him one of the few non-Muslims
allowed access to the site. His two wooden models of the Temple Mount, the first of several
site models that he built, were subsequently exhibited the following year in the Turkish
pavilion at the Vienna World Exposition. Accompanying the photographs of Schick's models are
two printed texts found inserted in the album: "Explanation of Baurath Dr. Schick's Models"
(four pages) and "The Hechel or the Solomonic Temple: Proper, without the Courts and Other
Buildings" (one page).
The models are followed by views of places apparently visited by the Bruces with a focus on
Biblical, Islamic, and other ancient sites and include city gates, mosques, temples, and
tombs. These include Jerusalem and other West Bank sites such as Siloam, the Valley of
Jehoshaphat, Bethany, the Mount of Olives, Mount Tabor, Hebron, Jericho, and Bethlehem, all
taken by Bonfils. Views of Damascus are by both Bonfils and Al-Hakîm. Of particular note
among the Al-Hakîm photographs is one image captioned "An Arab Sheikh" depicting an
otherwise unnamed man riding a camel. This image focusing on an individual is unique within
the album of views. Views of Beirut, its famed cedars, Tripoli, and the temple complex at
BaἸabakk are by Bonfils. Views of Constantinople (Istanbul) by Mihran Iranian include one
contemporary moment, that of the Sélamik ceremony, the Sultan's procession to the mosque.
Other sites in Turkey include views of Smyrna (Ízmir) by Bonfils. The album closes with a
view of San Remo, Italy by Stengel & Co. and an unsigned tinted photograph captioned
"The Blue Grotto."
The album is bound in black half morocco with black pebbled boards and gilt-tooled borders
on the spine and corners; all edges are gilt. An ink inscription on the front free endpaper
reads: Mr. & Mrs. Bruce / Sumburgh / 1902. English captions are written on the mounts
below 51 of the photographs.
Titles of individual photographs are either from the titles in their negatives or the
captions written on the mounts, as noted. Photographs are albumen prints unless otherwise
noted. Other processes present in the album include collotype, collodion POP, and gelatin
silver prints.
The collection is arranged in a single series:
Series I. John Bruce
of Sumburgh and Mary Daziel Scott Bruce album of views of the Holy Land, Lebanon,
Damascus, and Turkey, photographed 1870-1902, compiled 1902.
Bonfils, Félix,
1831-1885
Iranian, M.
Al-Hakîm, Sulaymân
Schick, Conrad, 1822-1901
Stengel & Co.
Mosques
Temples -- Jerusalem
Temples -- Lebanon BaἹabakk
Tombs
Ba'labakk (Lebanon) -- Description and travel
Beirut (Lebanon) -- Description and travel
Damascus (Syria) -- Description and
travel
Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel
İzmir (Turkey) -- Description and travel
Palestine -- Description and travel
Temple Mount (Jerusalem) -- Designs and plans
Tripoli (Lebanon) -- Description and
travel
West Bank -- Description and travel
Albumen prints -- 19th century
Collodion prints -- 19th century
Collotypes -- 19th century
Gelatin silver prints -- 20th century
Photograph albums -- Scotland -- 20th century
Photographs, Original.
Bruce, John, 1837-1907
Bruce, Mary Daziel Scott, 1845-1927