Land of Zenj photograph collection
Scope and Contents
The collection, assembled by the rare book dealers Jenny Allsworth and Humphrey Winterton, brings together photographs, photograph albums, glass lantern slides, and a lantern projector, which document the Sultanate of Zanzibar and European colonial expansion in East and Central Africa from 1870 to 1914. Also documented are early Arab and Portuguese coastal settlements at Kilwa, Mafia, Pemba, Sofala, and Zanzibar. The collection also represents the work of certain photographers who operated in different parts of the region, including C. Vicente of Dar es Salaam, Coutinho Brothers of Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, P. De Lord Brothers of Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, Walther Dobbertin, and A. C. Gomes & Co. of Zanzibar, among others.
Dates
- 1869 - 2006
- Majority of material found within 1869 - 1937
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Land of Zenj Photograph Collection is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Allsworth Rare Books on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2007.
Arrangement
The collection has been intellectually organized into eight series: I. Allsworth Rare Books Catalog, 2006; II. Individual Albums and Custom-Boxed Sets, 1880-1927; III. Panoramas and Photographers' Portfolios, 1880-1910; IV. Thematic Collections, 1875-1925; V. People, 1890-1900; VI. Ports and Other Places, 1885-1920; VII. Magic Lantern Slides, 1895-1910; and VIII. The Voyage Out (and Back) Through the Suez Canal, 1869-1937.
This series arrangement reflects the way in which the material is logically organized in the dealer catalog.
Oversize material from all series has been physically organized together in Boxes 16-26. Oversize material is described below in the series of which it forms part intellectually with a note about its physical location, as well as in the listing of oversize boxes.
Extent
18.85 Linear Feet (26 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
The collection, assembled by the rare book dealers Jenny Allsworth and Humphrey Winterton, brings together photographs, photograph albums, glass lantern slides, and a lantern projector, which document the Sultanate of Zanzibar and European colonial expansion in East and Central Africa from 1870 to 1914. Also documented are early Arab and Portuguese coastal settlements at Kilwa, Mafia, Pemba, Sofala, and Zanzibar. The collection also represents the work of certain photographers who operated in different parts of the region, including C. Vicente of Dar es Salaam, Coutinho Brothers of Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, P. De Lord Brothers of Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, Walther Dobbertin, and A. C. Gomes & Co. of Zanzibar, among others.
The Land of Zenj
The Land of Zenj refers to the Arab-controlled region of East Africa, in particular the coastal area, once known as the Zenj Empire. This region flourished for five hundred years from its inception in the 10th century until its demise at the hands of the Portuguese in the early 16th century. The Omani Arabs assumed control of the region from the Portuguese in the 18th century. In 1832, the Iman of Oman, Seyyid Said bin Sultan, made Zanzibar the capital of his East African empire. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 led to renewed European interest in the region, and by the early 1890s, Germany, Great Britain, and Portugal were competing for control over different areas within the region. The former Land of Zenj eventually came to comprise the British Protectorates of East Africa, Uganda and Zanzibar (the latter including Mombasa and the rest of the Coastal Strip), British Central Africa, German East Africa, and most of Portuguese East Africa.
Processing Information
This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and minimal organization, in 2008. Descriptive information presented in the narrative and contents list of this finding aid was drawn from the two-volume dealer catalog entitled "The Land of Zenj. The Sultanate of Zanzibar and European Colonial Expansion into East and Central Africa, 1870-1914. An Historical Photographic Record compiled and catalogued, with commentary and annotations, by Jenny Allsworth and Humphrey Winterton." This information has not been verified and is supplied here in order to provide provisional access to the collection and its contents.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- A. C. Gomes & Co
- Africa -- Pictorial works
- Blacks -- Africa -- Pictorial works
- C. Vincente (Firm)
- Coutinho Bros
- Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) -- Pictorial works
- German East Africa -- Pictorial works
- Lantern slides
- Pereira de Lord Brothers
- Photograph albums
- Photographic prints
- Projectors
- Walther Dobbertin (Firm)
- Whites -- Africa -- Pictorial works
- Zanzibar -- Pictorial works
- Title
- Guide to the Land of Zenj Photograph Collection
- Author
- by Jennifer Meehan and Tina Evans
- Date
- 2008
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.