New Digital Collection Documents 19th Century Egypt

The Rare Books and Special Collections Library is pleased to announce the launch of the Underwood & Underwood Egypt Stereoviews digital collection. The collection includes 101 images of Egypt commissioned by the Underwood & Underwood publishing company in the 1890s.

Sphinx and pyramids at Giza.

 The photographs, originally sold as a boxed sets, document 19th century Egyptian culture and the history of travel in the Middle East. The wide geographic scope of its subjects spanning along the Nile River, the Suez Canal towns and the Egyptian deserts render a thorough introductory visual representation of Egypt as opposed to the contemporaneous amateur and subjectively compiled albums of its time.

Mosque of Muḩammad Alī exterior.

The collection is available in the Rare Books and Special Collections Digital Library. The Underwood & Underwood Egypt Stereoviews digital collection is not possible without the efforts of Ola Seif, Stephen Urgola, and Carolyn Runyon. Technical support for the digital library is provided by University Academic Computing Technologies.