Tony and Jocelyne Manasseh from Beirut are on a monthlong visit to the Haverford area, primarily to visit their daughter, Joya, a first-year student at Haverford.  After attending Fifth Day Meeting, they stopped by Special Collections and we were very pleased to acquaint them with some primary source materials relating to the Middle East held in our department.  One of the items was the annotated watercolor sketchbook from 1875-76 which we acquired in March of this year (see posting from April 2006) depicting the Friends Training Home in Brummana, Lebanon.  The Manassehs graciously accepted the invitation to view the sketchbook, but the thrill came when they got to the page showing the layout of the land in 1875 and, pointing to a house on a hill, said “That’s our house.”

The culmination of some lengthy negotiations resulted in what might be considered a coup for Special Collections.  It is the acquisition of an exquisitely-rendered watercolor and gouache sketchbook with annotations created in 1875-76 depicting and describing events and people at the Friends Training Home in Brumana, Lebanon.  Among the depictions is one of Eli Jones sitting next to Maalin Malik. Eli and Sybil Jones who were both Ministers and missionaries in the Society of Friends established a mission, including the Friends Training Home, in Brumana. The home had separate schools for local boys and girls. Other depictions are of Theophilus Waldemeier, a teacher and perhaps director of the school, Im Joseph, the “Bible Woman,” native peoples and the school as location of an ancient site. Brumana is a village in the Metn region of Mt. Lebanon which has at various times been part of Lebanon and Syria.