Travelers in the Middle East Archive

The Travelers in the Middle East Archive is a collection of digital images documenting travels by Westerners to Egypt during the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition to images of photographs and hand-drawn pictures, the collection includes historical and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) maps, museum catalogs, and travel publications.

Although the title of the collection reads “Middle East,” the creators have so far focused on Egypt, as that country was most popular with foreign travelers. The site is run through Rice University and they have digitized materials from their university as well as the Houston Public Library and the University of South Florida Library. The creators chose documents that provide key texts by leading scholars in Egyptology, including rare materials. Where appropriate, they included multiple editions to enable comparative work. They also sought out a wide range of documents, all within the public domain.

The creators wish to provide as much metadata as possible to scholars. They have used the Dublin Core standard throughout because of its versatility. One can browse or search by place name (or on a Google map), title, creator, type, or date. The search tool yields thumbnail views of the search results along with creator and date information and excerpt of their descriptions. After selecting a given document, the page provides in-depth metadata.

According to the website, they scanned the objects using “a Betterlight scanning back with a Rodenstock lens, TTI copy stand, and TTI book cradle to capture the highest quality scans and minimize wear and tear on the original books and artifacts. Images are scanned at 24-bit color, 600 dpi, while text pages are scanned at 400 dpi, 24-bit color.” Text is encoded with TEI-Lite to enable better access by scholars.

Under “Scope and Scholarly Objectives” in the “About” section, the creators identify their target audience. First, they wish to reach scholars from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, as this site provides wide-ranging research material. They are also interested in teachers and students. They include educational modules to facilitate this use. They also welcome museum professionals, contemporary travelers, and digitization professionals interested in collaboration.