New in LC Prints & Photographs Online Catalog--Middle East photos and more

[Laura Gottesman]

The Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division is pleased
to announce that between April and June 2004, it added more than 10,000 
catalog records and images to the Library's Prints and Photographs
Online Catalog (PPOC) <http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html>. 

Among the newly added materials is the first release of the G. Eric and
Edith Matson Negatives, a rich source of historical images of the Middle
East--notably Palestine, present day Israel, and the West Bank--from
1898 to 1946.  The American Colony Photo Department and its successor
firm, the Matson Photo Service, produced the photographs, initially for
the tourist trade,  eventually distributing them to a variety of
publishing enterprises, as well. The collection includes scenes of daily
life, architecture, archaeological sites, and historic events.  More
than 7,500 of the 20,000 negatives in the collection are now available
through online catalog records and digital images. The remainder of the
collection, which consists primarily of film negatives generally from a
later period, will become available over the next several years.

To view or search the collection, go to the Prints and Photographs
Online Catalog <http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html>, select the
blue button labeled: "Search the Catalog," and then scroll down the
alphabetical list of collections to "Matson (G. Eric and Edith)
Negatives."  

Further information about the collection may be found by selecting the
links labeled  "More Information" and "About this
Collection"<http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/matpchtml/matpcabt.html>.

The Library of .Congress's Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
(PPOC) contains catalog records and digital images representing a rich
cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs
Division and other units of the Library of Congress.
  
 * The catalog provides access through group or item records to about
60 percent of the Division's holdings.

  * About 90 percent of the records are accompanied by one or more
digital images. In some collections, only thumbnail images display to
those searching outside the Library of Congress because of potential
rights considerations.
                                                                       
                                                      
For information on other new collections and  recent and upcoming
activities in the Prints and Photographs Division, see the division's
"What's New" page <http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/whatsnew.html>. 

For questions about the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog [PPOC] or
the holdings and services of the Prints and Photographs Division,
consult its Ask a Librarian service:
<http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-print.html>.