The “Mizpah” photograph album: a gift for the High Commissioner
On July 1 1920 the first High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Herbert Samuel (1870-1963) arrived in Jaffa. Samuel was a British Jew who had served several times in the government. He had helped to acheive the Balfour Declaration and his appointment was seen as an expression of the government's will to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine. On June 30 1925, Samuel finished his term and returned to Britain. His son Edwin (1898-1978) served in the Mandatory government and was a senior civil servant and university lecturer in Israel after 1948. Edwin Samuel deposited a rich collection of documents and photographs in the ISA about his and his father's activities.
One of the most beautiful items in it is an album called MIZPAH, a Biblical name symbolizing a bond between people who are separated. It contains 51 high-quality photographs and three pages with 78 signatures. Many of these signatures are of members of the American Colony in Jerusalem, founded in 1882 by American Christians. One of their occupations was photographing Palestine, and later descendants deposited the negatives of their photographs in the Library of Congress. Apparently the album was given to Samuel as a parting gift.
Link to the album on the ISA websiteThe “Mizpah” photograph album: a gift for the High Commissioner
1917-1925
The American Colony honours Sir Herbert Samuel
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