BiblePlaces Newsletter
Vol 8, #6 -
December
8, 2009
I have two favorite CDs in the
American Colony photo collection:
Jerusalem and
Traditional Life and Customs. I think the reason I like
Jerusalem so much is because the modern city is very familiar to me,
and the photos reveal such profound changes that have occurred in such a
short span of time.The
Traditional Life and Customs photos, however, have long defined the
entire collection for me. When someone would ask what I was
working on, I'd smile and tell them about the photos in this set.
If nothing else, the American Colony collection had to see the light of day because
these were photos that I could never take myself, in any shape or form.
With Jerusalem, you can still get a photo of the Kidron Valley, even if
it is covered with buildings. But the only fishermen I see today
on the Sea of Galilee are in motorboats and they are wearing plastic
green coveralls. I have trouble imagining Jesus and the disciples
with this picture.
Shepherds still roam the Judean hills with their flocks, but I
hesitate to include them in any photo because they're wearing a
windbreaker and
Levis. The grain harvest usually includes a
combine, and cooking is over an electric stove. When a locust
plague threatens, the authorities are quick to react to prevent the
insects from devouring the crops. That's good for the farmers, but
bad for the photographers. This new volume has all of this and
much more.
A reader last month commented that he wanted to unsubscribe because
this newsletter is too commercial. My hope is that readers will
enjoy the free information and photos (see below, and the PowerPoint
download)
and feel no obligation, now or ever, to purchase. For a
period of five years (Nov 2004 - Aug 2009), this newsletter featured
only two new collections - one for free (Aerials of Israel 2005) and one
for sale (Views
That Have Vanished). But now that we've finished this huge
project, we're happy to "show it off." That's why we're releasing
one CD a month. That also gives you the opportunity to enjoy one
free set of photos each month.
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy Hanukkah!
Todd Bolen
Editor, BiblePlaces.com
New Release:
Traditional Life and Customs
Volume 6 of
The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection
Before I am accused of being unable to count, let me explain that we
have released volume 6 before volume 5 because we think that volume 6
may be useful for Christmas (both for illustrating the story as well as
being a great gift).
Just what does
Traditional
Life and Customs include?
Agricultural Life: Plowing, Sowing, Water, Vineyards, Locust
Plague, Grain Harvest and Olive Harvest (185 photos total)
Biblical Stories: Christmas, Ruth, and Psalm 23 (75 photos total)
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Psalm 23:2 |
Home Life: Food Preparation, Women at Work, and Weddings (100
photos total)
Religious Life: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Samaritan (110
photos total)
Work Life: Clothes Making, Fishing, Pottery Making, Shepherds,
Trades, and Travel (150 photos total)
Quotations: We have scoured the reports of travelers in the 19th
century for the most interesting and helpful descriptions of these
scenes. Even if you didn't have the photos, your understanding and
appreciation for traditional ways would be greatly increased by these
quotations!
We dare you not to love this collection. (Note: We are not easily
excited.)
You can purchase it
online
for $20, with free shipping in the US.
News from the BiblePlaces Blog...
Weekend Roundup - New and interesting discoveries or resources
from Jerusalem, Gath, Megiddo, and Pompeii. And here are
some items I forgot...
IAA Work on Mary's Gate Makes Jerusalemite Upset - The Israel
Antiquities Authority has opened up a gate under the Temple
Mount Holy Sepulcher, if you believe one Muslim official...
Where Did Goliath's Head Go? - This question apparently causes some people
to stay up at night...
Photos from Israel in 1948 - Three sets of photos taken from the
archives of Life Magazine...
View from Mount Nebo, Then and Now - The Bible says that Moses'
eye was not dimmed at 120 years of age, and combined with clear air, he
could see a far piece...
Bible Mapper Version 4 - This excellent software for creating
custom maps of the biblical lands just got better...
And more...
Featured BiblePlaces Photos:
Grain Harvest
The featured photos of the month show the various stages of the
barley and wheat harvest in Palestine in the early 1900s. From
reaping the grain in the fields, to carrying in the sheaves, to
threshing, winnowing, sifting, and measuring the grain, the entire
process is illustrated by native farmers who knew no other life.
Each photo below is linked to a higher-resolution version, but we
recommend that you download the
Grain Harvest PowerPoint presentation
(7.5 MB), which includes an additional 30 photos (36 total) along with
fascinating quotations from early explorers. You are
welcome to use these images for personal study and teaching.
Commercial use requires separate permission. These photos are included in the new American Colony volume,
Traditional Life and Customs. For more
high-quality, high-resolution photographs and illustrations of biblical
sites, purchase the
Pictorial Library of
Bible Lands or the
Historic Views of
the Holy Land collections.
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