1920s British Mandatory Palestine Vernacular Photo Archive of Arab Communities

Early views of life under British colonial rule in Mandatory Palestine. 1920's photo archive consisting of 12 silver gelatin photographs measuring around 3.5" x 2.5" each. Circa 1920s. An evocative and unusually varied visual archive from 1920s Mandatory Palestine, this collection captures everyday life and social hierarchies during the British occupation of the Levant. Taken during a critical era following the fall of the Ottoman Empire and before the full thrust of Zionist settlement, these images offer rare glimpses of Palestinian Arab communities—including women, clerics, children, merchants, and street workers—across both rural and urban landscapes. (truncated) Several photos appear to depict scenes in and around Jerusalem, including a striking street portrait of an elder man in traditional Arab dress with a keffiyeh and striped abaya, standing beside a fez-capped official or guard in front of a stone façade, possibly in the Old City. Another image shows a procession of clergy and camel handlers near what appears to be a medieval gate or fortress wall—indicative of pilgrimage traffic or religious observance, with camels loaded for transport. A powerful composition captures three women in dark veils and flowing garments speaking beneath a tree, with rural hills and a village in the distance.
Street life and labor are emphasized in one image where a young boy and several veiled women draw water at a stone cistern; one woman balances a large vessel on her head, her face and body almost entirely obscured. A separate print shows a group of women—some in Western dress and hats, others in religious garb—posing together at the edge of a sea or lake, possibly near Tiberias or the Sea of Galilee. . Another photograph depicts a group of men in keffiyehs and Western suits gathered in what may be a town square—possibly Amman or Ramleh—with modern construction visible in the background, illustrating the mixing of colonial infrastructure and traditional society. Photographs of Mandatory Palestine from this transitional decade—between Ottoman defeat and the Arab Revolt —are increasingly rare, especially those depicting ordinary Palestinians rather than military or Zionist institutions. Very good condition overall. (Inventory #: 21804)