various speakers
Leiden University Library, Vossius room
On Thursday 30 March, NINO and Leiden University Libraries (UBL) will organize a mini-symposium on the Frank Scholten photographic collection.
In the course of the afternoon, experts from various disciplines will deliver short lectures on the importance of Scholten's work on the basis of a single photo chosen by them. In addition, plans for forthcoming work on the improvement of digital access to the collection will be presented. This next step in the cataloguing process will start in April 2023. Participants are cordially invited to work with original vintage photos from the collection in the upcoming series of metadata workshops. At the end of the afternoon, participants can get acquainted with original material from the Scholten collection in a pop-up exhibition.
14:00-14:15 - Opening
14:15-15:45 - Speakers
15:45-16:00 - Intermission
16:00-16:30 - Speakers
16:30-17:00 - View original photographic material
17:00-17:30 - End of the symposium & drinks
Please join us! Registration (no costs) via the event page on the UBL website open until 27 March.
Would you like to work hands-on with vintage photography? And do you think it is important to contribute to the visibility of the visual history of Palestine? The Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO) and Leiden University Libraries (UBL) are working on improving the digital accessibility of the Frank Scholten photo collection, a rich and unique photo collection about Palestine in the 1920s. To be able to take the last steps in opening up this important heritage, we are looking for enthusiastic volunteers! Register for one (or more) of the 10 workshops, held between April and June 2023.
From 1921-1923, Frank Scholten photographed what was then Palestine in an almost encyclopaedic manner. From systematic documentation to portraits, from Biblical landscapes to a loose form of street photography: Scholten captured it in more than 20,000 photos. His photo collection is now regarded as one of the most important visual resources on Palestine. What makes his work completely unique is the so-called ‘queer lense’ through which Scholten, himself a homosexual, viewed the world.
Read more about the Frank Scholten legacy on the NINO website or
view the already digitised Frank Scholten Photographs in Leiden University Library’s Digital Collections.