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Finding Aid for Views of Algeria, circa 1860
93.R.122
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Title: Views of Algeria
Date (inclusive): circa 1860
Number: 93.R.122
Physical Description:
8.0 photographic prints
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Collection of views showing native and colonial structures and habitation in provincial Algeria.
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Language: Collection material is in
French
Alary & Geiser was a photographic firm of long standing in Algiers. The business was possibly begun by Lucien-Jacob Geiser
(1810-1852), an ébeniste by trade, who immigrated to Algeria from Switzerland with his wife Julie and three sons in 1850.
Jean-Baptiste Antoine Alary (1810-c. 1867), an early daguerreotypist, probably became involved with the business after the
death of Geiser père. Eventually the youngest Geiser son, Jean-Théophile (1848-1923) became involved with the business, running
it into the 1920s.
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Views of Algeria, circa 1860, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 93.R.122
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa93r122
Acquired in 1993.
Processed and cataloged by Beth Guynn; finding aid encoded by Holly Larson with grant funding from the Council on Library
and Information Resources (CLIR).
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection of mounted and captioned black and white albumen photographs features exterior views of French colonial Algeria.
Two views show the oasis town of Laghouat, featuring mud brick walls, houses, mosques in the town and palm trees in the oasis;
one image depicts a group of Arabs meeting at the oasis. A view of an Arab camp near Boughari shows tents beneath a huge rock
formation. The effects of colonialism on the landscape and on cities is visible in several images: one shows a French house
along a stream in the Gorge de la Chiffa, a popular tourist destination; a panoramic view of Tlemcen depicts the countryside
and the city, including both French buildings and the minaret of the Great Mosque; another panoramic view illustrates the
small colonial settlement scattered around the hills at Miliana.
Five mounts have the blindstamp: Alary & Geiser, Alger. The collection includes one print captioned "Tlemcen" and "Bois de
Boulogne" in different hands; the photographer and actual site are unknown. The captions are transcribed from the original
mounts.
No discernible original order; arranged by cataloger.
Architecture, Colonial--Algeria
Vernacular architecture--Algeria
Algeria--Description and travel
Photographic prints
Photographs, Original--19th century
Alary & Geiser