Archives

Kristen Alff has been working with the Phoenix Center at USEK in Kaslik, Lebanon to digitize and catalogue the papers of Levantine family companies. She has spent the past 6 years reading these company archives. In addition, Alff’s work draws on archives in Palestine/Israel, Turkey, France, and Britain, Her work makes use of bank archives, insurance company records, ship logs, and papers from chambers of commerce. It also draws on oral interviews with living members of the Levantine companies, the physical landscape, and material objects and paintings. Alff’s second book project integrates geological research and historical inquiry.