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Category Archives: Archnet News

Virtual Exhibition: Tangier Then and Now

The exhibition Tangier Then and Now is now available on Archnet.  The collection, an expanded version of the exhibit International Tangier on display in Rotch Library through December 27th, contains selected, edited photographs from the collection of glass negatives of the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies, paired with photographs from 1976-1977, and labels with contemporary images.

International Tangier: Exhibit in Rotch Library

Images from the early 20th and 21st century on display For centuries European powers battled one another and Moroccan forces for control of the city of Tangier, strategically positioned on the Straits of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. In 1924 an agreement made the city a demilitarized “International Zone,” administered by European representatives, yet still nominally under Moroccan sovereignty. With the exception of a period of five year occupation by the Spanish during World War II, some variation of this arrangement remained in place until the city was returned to Moroccan sovereignty in 1956. An exhibition […]

Hisham Munir Archive: Selections on Archnet

Selections from the archive of Iraqi architect Hisham Munir, are now available on Archnet.  Munir was a founder of Department of Architecture at the University of Baghdad. In 1957 his firm partnered with The Architects Collaborative (TAC) to build parts of the massive campus of University City in Baghdad, the first of many collaborations between Munir and Associates and TAC. His best known work includes the University of Mosul (1956), the Agricultural Complex (1975), the Iraqi Reinsurance Company in Baghdad (1976), Sheraton Hotels in Baghdad and Basra (1981), the Al-Sabah Complex in Kuwait (1976), and the Unknown Soldier Monument (1982).

City records and other Archnet enhancements

Archnet has recently implemented city authorities to help users find resources related to specific cities, even if they search using variant spellings, alternate or vernacular names, abbreviations, or even names that are no longer used. For example, users will be able to find records associated with Cairo even if they search on an Arabic transliteration of the name;  records associated with Mumbai even if they search on the former name of Bombay; and records relating to Fez even if they search using the Francophone spelling of Fès. Names in Arabic or other non-Latinate scripts are also included and will display to the user, though it is not yet possible to search using […]

AKDC collaboration brings 1959 recordings of Moroccan music to Archnet

Between 1959 and 1962 the American author and composer, Paul Bowles, traveled Morocco to collect samples of the Moroccan soundscape. Half a century later, the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT is working with the Library of Congress and the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM) to make all of those recordings and the accompanying notes publicly available on Archnet. At the time he was recording, Bowles felt it was most urgent to capture the music of Morocco’s Amazigh (Berber) communities, which he saw as in danger of disappearing, but he also recorded classical and popular Arabic songs […]