This is a digital reproduction of an image held in the Library of Congress.
The image is a double photograph that depicts three mother-of-pearl workers in a Bethlehem workshop,
chiselling and filing the pearl oyster shells. Mother-of-pearl carving
has been a major industry in Bethlehem since at least the 17th century.
It formed the basis for the emigration explosion out of the town in the
19th and early 20th centuries when Bethlehem merchants began to sell
mother-of-pearl devotional objects around the world. The image is almost identical to a single image also in this collection (see "Relation" field).
This image exists as part of the Bethlehem Crafts collection in the Planet Bethlehem Archive.
Contributors
G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph CollectionDate
c.1900-1920Type
Digital scan of image: 1 negative : glass, dry plate ; 10 x 12 in.Source
Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA, Prints & Photographs Division, reproduction number: LC-DIG-matpc-06815 (digital file from original photo)Relation
pb_lc_bcr_c19000000-0008aa.tiffSpatial
31.7053996,35.1936877Spatial Relation
BethlehemIdentifier
pb_lc_bcr_c19000000-0007aa.tiffRights
Library of Congress. No known restrictions on publication.