Summary
The American Center of Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan, is a non‑profit, 501(c)(3) academic institution dedicated to promoting research and publication in the humanities and social sciences, with a particular focus on issues related to Jordan and the broader region.
The ACOR Library holds a remarkable photographic archive related to its role in preserving and promoting the country’s heritage. The complete collection, estimated to number more than 100,000 images, provides primary visual documentation of Jordan, including the major archaeological and cultural heritage projects that the center has sponsored across the country over the decades.
Given its broad range of content and subject matter, the ACOR Library photographic archive has the potential to be a crucial resource for American, international, and Jordanian scholars involved in cultural and natural heritage preservation and management.
As a first step in making this extensive archival collection available to researchers, the ACOR Library is cataloging, digitizing, and making accessible online ACOR’s major institutional and donated photographic holdings.
Project Funding
The ACOR Library Photographic Archive Project, making 30,000 images freely available online, was made possible under a Fiscal Year 2016 American Overseas Research Centers grant from the U.S. Department of Education. This grant-funded project was carried out over a four-year period (2016–2020).
Following the success of the 2016-2020 project, a 2020-2024 project is now made possible through a Fiscal Year 2020 American Overseas Research Centers grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The project is entitled: The ACOR Digital Archive: Developing a Multimedia Teaching and Learning Resource, and will make over 18,000 images and multimedia resources available online.
Also in 2020, we launched the SCHEP Archive Project. This pilot project focuses on selected images from the first four years of SCHEP, making them available to the public as a collection within the ACOR Photo Archive.
