Craftsmen and archaeology. Tunisian photographs in the missionary photo corpus of the Museum of Ethnography
Craftsmen and archaeology. Tunisian photographs in the missionary photo corpus of the Museum of Ethnography

Summary/Abstract: In 1896, for the request of the parish priest of Kispest, thousands of objects and more than 900 photographs were sent to Hungary by missionaries working in various parts of the world. The aim was to organise a large-scale exhibition, the proceeds of which contributed to the costs of building the local church. This is how the earliest Tunisian photographs of the Museum of Ethnography became part of its collection. Apart from a few exceptions, they focus was on two major themes and locations: artisan workshops overlooking the streets of Tunis, and the results of the archaeological excavations in Carthage. Except from a brief title in the early inventory books, no further information was available about the photographs. In this study, I examine the background and history of all 29 photographs, their authorship details, their photo-historical context, as well as their life within the collection of the museum.

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