A line of barefoot girls in headscarves and long patterned skirts carry large clay water jars on their backs past a brick wall. Newton & Co lantern slide no. 50 from the series "The Persians, Kurds, and Nestorians, their manners and customs", attributed by the Nelson Collection to Ernest Hoeltzer, late 19th century; published in The Living Races of Mankind (1901) as "Armenians water-carrying (Nestorians)" and by D'Allemagne (1911) as "Jeunes filles Nestoriennes faisant le métier de porteuses d'eau" (young Nestorian women working as water carriers).

Nestorian (Assyrian) girls carrying water jars

Two women stand side by side in long patterned robes, headbands and layered necklaces against a dark cloth. A glass lantern slide captioned "Chaldéennes de Mardin", from Fernand Grenard's 1902-1903 mission.

Two Chaldean women of Mardin

Franciscan sisters in white wimples with assistant teachers and girl pupils in local dress and headdresses, posed in rows at the Capuchin mission school in Mardin in 1904. The pupils were likely from Mardin's Syriac, Chaldean and Armenian Christian families.

Franciscan sisters, teachers and pupils of the mission school, Mardin

Two photographs on an album page: two armed men in fur-trimmed coats and turbans, and a woman with two girls in striped dress and coin jewellery. The caption reads "Chaldéens et Syriens de la province de Mardin"; photographed in 1904 by the Capuchin Brother Raphaël.

Chaldean and Syriac men, and a woman with children, of Mardin province

A large group of women and girls in embroidered dresses, headdresses and coin jewellery, posed in rows before a hanging cloth. The album caption reads "Syriennes et Chaldéennes de la province de Mardin"; photographed in 1904 by the Capuchin Brother Raphaël.

Syriac and Chaldean women and girls of Mardin province

Lithographed half-length portrait of Mgr Athanase Abd-El-Messih, captioned "évêque syrien", in a turban and robe with a pectoral cross, holding a book. A note on the sheet reads "Voyage en France en 1839"; the BnF gives his birth year as 1788.

Athanase Abd-El-Messih, Syrian bishop, on his 1839 visit to France

Malik Ismail II sits in a dark robe surrounded by his grandchildren, with four sons standing behind in bandoliers holding rifles; a Russian caption runs along the bottom. The Commons description names the sons as Daniel, Shlimon, Yaqou (later Malik Yaqou) and Dinkha.

Malik Ismail II of Upper Tiyari with his sons and grandchildren, 1912

Eight Assyrian men from Hakkari in turbans, sashes and embroidered jackets pose indoors; two elders standing at the back wear fur-trimmed shoulder pieces. About 1900.

Hakkari Assyrian men, c. 1900

Dawid Mar Shimun, Assyrian military leader and relative of the patriarch, in a fur cap and British-style uniform at Baqubah, 1918–1919 (crop from a group photograph).

Dawid Mar Shimun at Baqubah

Malik Ismail II, chief of the Tiyari tribe, sits in a tall white felt hat, embroidered waistcoat and sash with a dagger at his waist, at Baqubah, 1918–1919 (crop from a group photograph).

Malik Ismail II of Upper Tiyari at Baqubah

Habiba Turkoghlou, described as a Chaldean lady, stands in her dark uniform and white-banded veil as matron of the military hospital. From Joseph Naayem's Shall This Nation Die? (1921).

Habiba Turkoghlou, matron of a military hospital

Ten members of the Assyro-Chaldean delegation to the Paris Peace Conference pose around a table, with a caption in Syriac script below. Published in the periodical Babylon in February 1921; the delegation included Metran Afrem Barsoom and Rev. Joel E. Werda.

Assyro-Chaldean delegation to the Paris Peace Conference

Studio portrait of a Nestorian Christian family in Persia: two men stand behind seated women and girls in floral dresses, embroidered caps and necklaces, before a painted backdrop. Glass-plate photograph by Antoin Sevruguin, likely late 19th or early 20th century.

Nestorian (Assyrian) Christian family, studio portrait by Sevruguin

Half-length portrait of a young Jilu Assyrian soldier in a wrapped turban, embroidered tunic and sash, with a rifle at his side. The print, captioned "Type of Jelu" and "Mesopotamian Campaign", is mounted on a U.S. War Department photo card; it likely dates from 1918.

Jilu Assyrian soldier, Mesopotamian campaign

A young Assyrian man from Jilu in a felt cap, patched clothes and cloth leggings stands with a rifle over his shoulder at Hamadan, August 1918, recruited for the British-formed Urmia Brigade. Photographed by Ariel Varges.

Jilu Assyrian recruit for the Urmia Brigade at Hamadan

A Jilu Assyrian refugee woman in a headscarf and layered clothing carries her child on her back and lifts a cup for it to drink. Photographed by Ariel Varges in 1918.

Jilu Assyrian mother giving her child a drink, 1918

Engraving of a barefoot Syrian (Assyrian) girl in a long dress and headscarf, carrying a load on her back, from Bird's letter on the Ashiret (tribal) Assyrians such as the Tyari.

A Syrian (Assyrian) girl, 1891 engraving

Lithograph portrait of Mar Shimoun, Patriarch of the Nestorians (the Church of the East), in a large turban and holding a staff. Frontispiece of volume 2 of Badger's The Nestorians and Their Rituals.

Mar Shimun, Patriarch of the Nestorians, 1852 lithograph

Hand-coloured lithograph of a man from the Nestorian mountain tribes in a striped coat and trousers and a blue cap, with a walking stick.

A Nestorian (Assyrian) of the mountains, 1843 lithograph

Studio portrait of two young women, Stera and Warina, one standing in a white dress and one seated. Their account appears in Naayem's chapter "Stera and Warena" among depositions about the massacres.

Stera and Warina, survivors of the massacres

Seated portrait of the Rt. Rev. Addai Sheir (Addai Scher), Archbishop of Sairt (Siirt), in a skullcap and cassock with a pectoral cross. Naayem's book includes depositions on the massacre at Sairt.

Archbishop Addai Sheir of Siirt

Portrait of the Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon in a round hat and robes, wearing a sash, decorations and a pectoral cross. The caption does not give his name.

The Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon

Joseph Naayem, author of Shall This Nation Die?, in Bedouin dress beside a horse, the disguise in which, the caption says, he escaped from the Turks. Frontispiece of the 1921 book.

Joseph Naayem in the Bedouin disguise of his escape

A group of maliks, the chiefs of the Nestorian (Assyrian) mountain tribes from Turkey, in embroidered tribal dress, posed in two rows before the tents of the Baqubah refugee camp in 1919.

Maliks of the Assyrian mountain tribes at Baqubah, 1919

Head-and-shoulders profile portrait of Mrs. Shahbaz, wife of the author Yonan H. Shahbaz.

Faces, places & memories of the Assyrian people.