Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm2006085342
Collection material in English and Swedish
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of G. Eric Matson and Edith Matson, photographers, were transferred from the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library to the Manuscript Division in 2006.
The papers of G. Eric Matson and Edith Matson were arranged and described by Melinda K. Friend in 2010. The finding aid was updated in 2023 by Maria Farmer as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group.
Related collections in the Manuscript Division include the American Colony in Jerusalem Collection and the John D. Whiting Papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of G. Eric Matson and Edith Matson in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.
The Matson Papers are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
A microfilm edition of part of these papers is available on one reel for use in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. This microfilm is not available for interlibrary loan.
Digitized images from the G. Eric Matson and Edith Matson Collection in the Prints and Photographs Division are available on the Library of Congress Web site at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/matpc/colony.html. See also selected visual materials from the John D. Whiting Papers in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library, which are available through the Prints and Photographs Division online catalog at http://www.loc.gov/pictures.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, G. Eric Matson and Edith Matson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of G. Eric Matson (1888-1977) and Edith Matson (1889-1966) span the years 1908-1977, with the bulk of the material dating from 1963 to 1977. The papers are in English and Swedish and are organized into the following series: Diaries, Correspondence, Miscellany, and Oversize.
The Diaries mostly encompass Eric Matson’s operation of the Matson Photo Service in California after leaving Jerusalem in 1946. Only a few sporadic volumes represent the years he lived in the American Colony of Jerusalem and worked as a photographer in the American Colony Photo Department. Early diary entries record photographic work and include the date of the shoot, the number assigned to the photograph, its subject and location, expenses incurred, and maps. The 1908 and 1919 diaries are in the same volume, with the 1923 entries recorded in a volume labeled 1922. In 1934, Matson was given control of the American Colony Photo Department and its assets, but the 1935 diary kept by Matson on a trip to Cappadocia with American Colony member John D. Whiting is the only item representative of that decade. The diaries are continuous from 1942 to 1977 covering the years after 1940 when the name of the business was changed to the Matson Photo Service. All volumes include entries about social events, travel, people encountered, and contemporary historical events.
The Correspondence series largely relates to the Matson Photo Service and its clients, with letters to and from publishers and individuals wishing to purchase copies of Matson’s photographs of the Holy Land comprising the bulk of the correspondence. Letters are interleaved with annotated invoices, check stubs, notes, and printed matter.
The Correspondence also contains letters with former employees, family members, friends, acquaintances, and organizations. Correspondents such as Louis George Deeb, Gabriel Said Diek, Joseph H. Giries, Lars E. Lind, Hanna Safieh, and Michel S. Stephan were former employees and colleagues of Matson who worked for the American Colony Photo Department and Matson Photo Service. Their correspondence discusses the upheaval in Palestine, safeguarding and storing photographic equipment, restarting Matson Photo Service after the restoration of peace, and Palestine in general. Related to this correspondence are letters filed under Jerusalem Young Men’s Christian Association pertaining to the storage of images from Matson Photo Service in the basement and their later retrieval. Other correspondence includes letters to and from the Matsons' children David, Anne, and Margaret, the Axel Matsson and Olaf Matsson families, and Clarence W. Sorensen, many containing photographs.
The Miscellany series contains financial records of the American Colony Photo Department and Matson Photo Service, brochures and catalogs of their filmstrips and slide sets, price lists, and the text for a slide lecture. Other items include biographical material, a photograph of the Matson family, a 1924 letter from Edith Edna Yantiss to Matson before their marriage, speeches and writings, and maps.
This collection is arranged in four series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm2006085342
Daily and travel diaries kept by Matson.
Arranged chronologically.
Correspondence, interleaved with invoices, photographs, and printed matter, between the Matsons and clients, friends, acquaintances, organizations, and family relating to personal and professional activities.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization.
Advertisement, booklets, brochures, maps, photographs, financial records, personal material, speeches and writings, price lists, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Sketch, maps, and a certificate of merit.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.