Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Hilden (Joy) Collection - Saudi Arabian Bedouin
Acc.4812; DOC2019.1
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Hilden (Joy) Collection - Saudi Arabian Bedouin
Dates: 1982 - 1994
Collection Number: Acc.4812; DOC2019.1
Creator/Collector:
Joy Hilden
Robert Hilden
Hilden
Totah
Extent: Permanent collection objects from the Bedouin tribe, Saudi Arabia (Acc.4812: catalog numbers: 9-23702 to 9-23840). Archival
field notes and audio visual documentation (DOC2019.1: catalog numbers: 25-24735 to 25-25401, 25-98218 to 25-100048).
Online items available
Repository:
UC Berkeley. Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
Berkeley, California 94720-3712
Abstract: The Joy Hilden Research Archive (DOC2019.1) contains research Hilden conducted from 1982 and 1994 on Bedouin weaving in Saudi
Arabia and is the basis for Hilden's publication "Bedouin Weaving of Saudi Arabia and Its Neighbors", 2010.
Language of Material: English
https://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/request-a-research-visit/
Images and information are © 2023 The Regents of the University of California, all rights reserved. Images and information
may be reproduced or transmitted, but not for commercial use. For commercial use, contact PAHMA-MediaPermissions@berkeley.edu.
With the exception of objects and media for which the Museum does not hold copyright, this work is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Creative Commons License. By downloading any information or images from this site, you agree to the terms of that license.
Users are expected to abide by all copyright laws. Distribution, reproduction, or other use requires the written permission
of any copyright and other rights holders unless the materials are in the public domain or authorized by fair use or other
statutory exemption. It is the user’s obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when publishing
or otherwise distributing materials found in this collection.
[Identification of item]. Hilden (Joy) Collection - Saudi Arabian Bedouin. Collection Number: Acc.4812; DOC2019.1. UC Berkeley.
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
Gift of Joy Totah Hilden and Robert Hilden. For more specific information, request a research visit at PAHMA: https://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/request-a-research-visit/
Biography/Administrative History
Joy Totah Hilden was born in 1935 in Jerusalem, Palestine, and moved to the United States with her family in 1944. In her
early childhood, Joy was exposed to Bedouin culture at her family’s orange grove near Gaza, which they visited several times
a year. In 1982, Joy returned to the Middle East with her husband Robert Hilden, who taught English at King Fahd University
of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran in Saudi Arabia. During Robert Hilden’s twelve year tenure at the university, Joy dedicated
herself to documenting and collecting Bedouin weavings. Joy has published two books: "Bedouin Weaving of Saudi Arabia and
Its Neighbors", 2010, and "A Passion for Learning: The Life Journey of Khalil Totah, a Palestinian Quaker Educator and Activist",
2016, a biography of her father. In 2019, Joy and Robert Hilden donated artifacts and research notes collected between 1982
and 1994, along with still and moving images to the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California,
Berkeley. Joy currently resides in Berkeley, California.
Scope and Content of Collection
The artifact collection (Acc.4812, catalog numbers: 9-23702 to 9-23840) collected from 1982 and 1994 contain a Bedouin objects
woven textiles of various ages, fiber processing equipment, weaving equipment, a camel saddle, and a bowl. Together with the
research archive, the collection records Bedouin weavers, camels, and dwellings.
The research archive collection (DOC2019.1, catalog numbers: 25-24735 to 25-25401, 25-98218 to 25-100048) contains field notes,
research, publications, and audio/visual material from Hilden's field trips to Saudi Arabia to study Bedouin weaving between
1982 and 1994. Hilden used the materials to illustrate her book "Bedouin Weaving of Saudi Arabia and Its Neighbors", which
depicts weaving, woven goods, crafts, scenery, and daily life.
Topics include:
Wasm Camels; Spinning Equipment Finger Weaving; Weft Twining;
Jordan Weaving Bedouin + Non-Bedouin / Syria; Najran Weavers; Oman / Jordan; Baskets; Mat-making Qatif; Beni Khalid – Um ‘Eid
– TV; Shammar, Otaibi, ‘Atawy / Huway Tat / Harb; Al Jouf, Tabarjal; Damtha, Lugma / Ajmi; Yanbu – Umlaj – Jahena; Al Dossary,
‘Awazim; Hail, Rwalla, Kuwait, Hafar al Batin; Murrah, Hajir, Qahtan, Suba’i; Shabaha; Asir, Najran Trip, also Winter 1988,
Abha, Taif, Al-Baha-Hijaz.
Saudi Arabia
textiles
weaver