Photo Album: Humans of Jaffa
A rare photograph treasure from Palestine: Frank Scholten was a wealthy Amsterdammer who traveled to Palestine between 1921-1923. He mainly stayed in Jaffa and his collection holds over 13.000 photographic prints. This archive is a high resolution and open source. Although it stops in 1923 before Jaffa was at its peak, it is a Palestinian treasure. Here we use a few of his photographs.
Jaffan girl on a swing Scholten 1921-23, NINO
The Tamari family, Jaffans, among the tidepools, c. 1929
A well-known Jaffan Tamari is sociologist Salim Tamari
source private album of Dominique Roch
The Tamari family at home، Jaffa, 1919
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Jaffa around 1885 the Berouti family from Randa Berouti’s private album
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
21 May 1941 (right to left) Yusuf Haykal, mayor of Jaffa; Khalil Baydas, educator and magazine publisher; ʻAdil Jabr, Arabic teacher at Salahiyya School in Jerusalem and newspaper editor; and lawyer Omar Saleh al-Barghouti. (Source: Jerusalem interrupted: modernity and colonial transformation 1917-present / ed. Lena Jayyusi. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press, 2010, p. 113 and “Out of the public eye”, Mona Haffar Halaby, Jerusalem Quarterly, vol. 52, no. 3, 2005)
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Nicola Halaby Family, Jaffa, 1880 Standing L-R:
Alexandra received a scholarship from Russia and studied in St. Petersburg.
Costandi studied medicine at AUB, the American University of Beirut.
Alexander studied medicine at the AUB and continued his studies in Russia.
Issa studied pharmacy at AUB and became a chemist.
Seated L-R: Vera, Sophia, Nicola with Baby Vladimir, Michael (died 6 years old), Efrosenia, Katbeh. Two family members not in the photo: George was studying in St Petersburg in Russia, and Katrina married Nikolas Valsamakis, a Greek engineer, who assisted the Russian engineer in building the Church of Mary Magdalena on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
The dresses of the young girls were made of silk and satin. They are wearing flowers in their hair. Sophia’s dress was velvet bought in France, and she wore a necklace of amber.
Source: Sam Wahbe Family Photo. British Mandate Jerusalemites Photo Library
Is’haq Al-Shihabi with his son Abdul Qadir Al-Shihabi, who later became the famous Arabic calligrapher in Palestine. He also published the first book teaching Arabic calligraphy. Photographer: Dawood Sabunji’s studio, Jaffa, 1893-1894. Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Maggy Khoury married Elias Gellad, here in exile with her grandchildren. Source Maggy Gellad’s private album on Facebook
Boy and puppy,
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Salem Al-Bartaqish family, Jaffa, 1900
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
1905 the Jaffan Grammatiki Tadros Farradj family on a visit to Jerusalem. Grammatiki Tadros Farraj was Palestinian-Greek. She was a modern woman who traveled to Paris and wore extravagant feathered hats and rode in an open horse-drawn carriage. She and her husband, Ibrahim Farradj, candle-maker to the Holy Sepulcher, had 8 children- 7 boys: Issa, Jalil, Bandali, Foteh, Shukri, Sam’an, and Andoni, and one daughter – Almaza. Photographed here with 6 of her sons and a relative of the family and her daughter-in-law, Malakeh Kharouf Farradj, and her grandson, Ibrahim. Photograph taken in Jerusalem in 1905. Many Jaffan families were multilingual and also produced translators.
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Alfred and Olinda Roch with their daughter Ortineh, Jaffa, 1911. Photo by Issa Sawabini
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Two women and a dog, Scholten, Jaffa, 1921-23,
Jaffans celebrating Orthodox Palm Sunday, Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Editor in chief of major newspaper Falastin, Issa El Issa with son Raja at home in Jaffa, Scholten 1923, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
A beggar in Jaffa, Scholten, 1921-23
Mother and her children from the Hazboun family, Jaffa, 1922
Palm Sunday, Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Dr Hamdi Taji with his family in Jaffa Palestine – graduated from the University of Monblea in France, in 1927.
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Jaffa, women collecting donations in the 1930s.
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
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Dog in an alley, Scholten 1921-23, NINO
Opera singer Mariam Tamari: “My great-grandparents Adele and Nicola Debbas of Jaffa, Palestine, circa 1910. A life of endless orange groves, letters from tzars, and the languid azure of the Mediterranean Sea.”
Two girls washing laundry with their dog, Jaffa, Scholten
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Scholten 1921-23, NINO
by Ahmad Mrowat
A gathering in Jaffa, Scholten
Scholten 1921-23, NINO
A wealthy family in Jaffa, 1930
Scholten
Scholten
“Boy holding a reptile”, Scholten
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Spiridon Sarrouf was born in Jaffa, 1855
Scholten
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Scholten 1921-23, NINO
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The Mudallal family, Jaffa, April 1938
Mustafa Irsheed with his wife Kahla al-Taher at Sheikh Mo’ens’ farm in Jaffa, 1938
The Taher children
Muhammad Ramadan Hamou in Jaffa, between 1930-39
Scholten
Scholten
Hassan Arafa and his family
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The Bahbah family Jaffa, 1940
Zaki Abboud, an ambulance driver, Jaffa (pre 1948)
Scholten
Muhiba Khorshid is the Palestinian founder and leader of the armed underground resistance organization Al Uqhuwan. Muhiba was a feminist, member of the ‘Arab Women’s Association’, strategist, and excellent speaker.
Nariman Khorshid in her Aviation Uniform
Nariman was a secretary and a member of Al Uqhuwan underground resistance organisation. She was responsible for the military training.
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School Girls in Jaffa, Scholten, 1921-23
A nurse clearing up food, Scholten
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Jaffan Adele Azar carrying her son Saleem Azar’s photo. Saleem (20 years old) was killed after the attack on “Esleem Printing House” in the Ajami neighborhood in Jaffa where he worked in 1948. Adele turned refugee and lived in Gaza and wore Saleem’s photo on her chest. Adele became blind and died over 100 years old, always carrying Saleem’s photo.
July 2023 Sami Abu Shehade during a virtual tour of Jaffa marking 75 years since the Nakba. This tour was made to reconnect all Jaffans with their lost city. Abu Shehade is a historian and was the Director of the Yaffa Youth Movement and, before that, a member of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Council. He used to be a member of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. He is the leader of the Balad or Tajamou’ party.