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Middle Eastern pressed flowers album

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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

This pressed flower album was created by "the girls in the Sidon School under Miss Harriet Eddy." Miss Harriet Edy was a Presbyterian missionary in Syria from around 1875 until her death in 1929. After she earned her education in the United States, Eddy began her work in 1876 at the Sidon Seminary where "scores of pupils [were] taught lessons in neatness, in order and precision, in domestic economy, as well as in literary branches ... [with] prayer and Bible study [as] the pillars that support[ed] the well arranged structures of seminary education." (Herald and Presbyter). Initially, "only Protestant students were received, but as of 1878, the school consisted of a boarding secondary department of forty-six students – all Protestants – with a day school of sixty to eighty pupils, representing 'all sects,' but primarily Muslims," (Fleischmann, page 40). By 1880, a school for Muslim girls had been established by the Ottoman government. In 1888, Eddy married Reverend Franklin Evans Hoskins, and left the Sidon Seminary. According to a letter from the donor, the album was bound at the Beirut Press with a cover made of olive wood.

The British Library states that there was a tradition of making olive-wood covered flower albums which were marketed for pilgrims coming to the Holy Land. While many of those were printed, this is a handmade volume, with the flowers affixed to the pages either by sewing or adhesive.

It is unclear how the donor, Herman B. Allyn, obtained this volume of pressed flowers. Allyn (1860-1939) was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, earning degrees in art in 1882 and medicine in 1885. After earning his medical degree, he worked in various positions at the Philadelphia Hospital, Girard College, St. Joseph's Hospital, and the Women's Medical College.

Works consulted:

British Museum. Curator's comments on 2013,6047.1 (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_2013-6047-1)

Fleischmann, Ellen L., "Lost in Translation: Home Economics and the Sidon Girls' School of Lebanon, c. 1924-1932," Social Sciences and Missions 23 (2010) 32–62

Herald and Presbyter, Vol. LXXX, No. 29, p. 17, July 21, 1909.

This volume contains pressed flowers from cities across the Middle East region including Antioch, Bethlehem, Damascus, Jerusalem, Mount Carmel, Mount Lebanon, Nazareth, Sidon, and Tyre. On each page, there is an arrangement of dried flowers (sometimes in a shape, such as a cross, a star and crescent or an anchor), and text in English and Arabic. In English, the text generally identifies a location or the type of the flower and a Bible reference.

Identified flowers/plants include almond, "bitter herb," cedar needles, daisies, ferns, fig leaves, grasses, henna, immortelles (curry), Kharub (carob), lentiles, mustard, olive leaves, pulse, reeds, rose of sharon, saffron, and thorns. On occasion, when a page is titled, "flowers of ...", there is a mix of unidentified flowers arranged together. This is the case for Bethlehem, the Antioch, Tyre, and Jerusalem.

The volume has olive wood covers and is lacking a spine.

Gift of Herman B. Allyn, 1933.

Publisher
University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Finding Aid Author
Holly Mengel
Finding Aid Date
2024 June 5
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This collection is open for research use.

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Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

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"Pressed Flowers from Palestine", between 1876 and 1888.
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