Tangier American Legation Museum

Chef Erik Hustad’s Visits the Legation

April 17, 2015 Leave a comment by Michael Toler

Chef Erik Hustad’s visit to Tangier was a wonderful way demonstrate the universal language of great food! Here are some YouTube highlights, including his visit to the Legation. (in Arabic)

Books, Cultural Diplomacy, Events, Tangier

TALIM and the 19th Annual Salon International de Tanger des Livres et des Arts

April 14, 2015 Leave a comment by Michael Toler

TALIM is proud to once again support the Salon International de Tanger des Livres et des Arts. “La Femme” is the theme of this year’s Salon, and TALIM will sponsor the participation of American author/historian Alison Baker, and Tangier-based American publisher, Elena Prentice. Please join us from May 6-10 to support this important celebration in … Read more TALIM and the 19th Annual Salon International de Tanger des Livres et des Arts

Events, TALIM

THERE ARE EYES ABOVE : A free musical / dance performance by Josephine Foster Ensemble

April 17, 2015April 3, 2015 Leave a comment by Michael Toler

Saturday, April 4 at 7:30pm in the Legation en français باللغه العربيه Mediating between light and dark, between composition and improvisation, a cycle of Josephine Foster’s original music interspersed with adapted art songs will be played amongst the American Legation Museum. Patterns from the music and location are expanded through dance, becoming structural improvisations and … Read more THERE ARE EYES ABOVE : A free musical / dance performance by Josephine Foster Ensemble

Books, Education, Historic Preservation, TALIM

Treasures to be discovered at the Legation

March 15, 2015 Leave a comment by Michael Toler

By Grecia Álvarez, MLIS, Guest blogger

Grecia, Dunya and Majda inside the rare books cage

When we started sifting through our collection to cull our rare books from the regular shelves and put them into their new home in “the cage” we never imagined we would find books dating from 1572, or even a parchment signed by King Philip II of Spain (Philip I of Portugal). In fact, we started out by pulling books dating from 1920 and earlier and soon found that our cage was overflowing, so that we had to cut back to books printed before 1911. Previously, these books were intermingled with our regular collection, which focuses mainly on Morocco, but it was decided that these books required special protection, and thus the cage, a small room with an iron gate, was born. Our rare books cover a breadth of topics, from early accounts of European exploration of the region, to government treatises, geographical studies, books signed by illustrious figures (including a book belonging to former Prime Minister of Spain Antonio Cánovas del Castillo). We even have copies of an 1889 edition of Washington Irving’s The Life of Mahomet and a first edition of Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad.

Media, TALIM, Tangier

Legation Featured on Inside Africa

March 8, 2015 Leave a comment by Michael Toler

This week CNN’s Inside Africa visits Tangier, Morocco, including TALIM, which appears around the 2:45 mark. See the story online here:

American Studies, Cultural Diplomacy, Events, Film, Music, TALIM, Tangier

March Events at the Legation

March 4, 2015March 4, 2015 Leave a comment by Michael Toler

Below are the events happening this month at the Legation. If you are in the area, we hope to see you there.

Monday, March 9, 7 p.m. Movie Night “The Furies,” starring Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Huston.

Thursday, March 12, 4 p.m. “Languages in the Maghrib,” Lecture by American anthropologist and author Dr. Kenneth Brown. In partnership with the Tangier American Language Center.

Architectural History of the Legation Now Available on Archnet

February 18, 2015 Leave a comment by Michael Toler

Section II, “Architectural and Historical Context and Significance” of the of the Historic Structure Report on the American Legation in Tangier, Morocco is now available on Archnet. You can find it by going to the the page for TALIM and selecting the link above the description labeled “Publication.”

This section of the report explains the historical and architectural significance of the structure, beginning with a general diplomatic history of Tangier. It then provides a functional and architectural history of the Legation building, including the modifications to the building, starting when the United States and Morocco first began negotiations, through the acquisition of Legation in 1821, damage to the property during bombardments of Tangier, expansions by the consul in the 1920s, the role of the Legation during World War II, and finally the conversion into a museum in 1975-1976. Finally it ends with an assessment of the current condition of the property. It is illustrated with historic images and plans.

Events, Literacy and Skills Training

Marche de Noël at the Legation

September 7, 2015December 21, 2014 1 Comment by Michael Toler

On December 13 TALIM hosted a Marche de Noël (Christmas Market), for the benefit of charities operating in Tangier. Scroll down for a gallery of images from the event. The participating organizations were:

Tanger Accueil
FTAM
Les amis de la SPANA
Tanger Accueil Migrants
Saint-Andrew’s Church
Darna
100 % Mamans
Maroc Amitiés
Les sœurs de Calcutta

Marche de Noël

Marche de Noël-a Christmas fundraiser hosted by the Legation to benefit local community service groups

Marche de Noël

Historic Preservation, Morocco, TALIM, Tangier

First Images from TALIM’s Collection of Glass Negatives Made Available on Archnet

December 5, 2014December 5, 2014 1 Comment by Michael Toler

Rue Portugal — One of the negatives depicting rue Portugal

Guest post by Michael A. Toler, Archnet Content Manager, AKDC@MIT

The Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC@MIT) has recently made available via Archnet, a first batch of scans from TALIM’s collection of glass negatives dating back to the first decades of the 20^th century and depicting various locations in the Mediterranean.

The collection of approximately 2,000 images is believed to be the work of photographer Paul Ruedi, a Spanish resident of the city of Tangier between 1900 to 1930. The collection of slides features more images of Tangier than any other city, but there are also numerous photographs of locations throughout Morocco, as well as sites in Algeria, France, Spain and other parts of the Mediterranean. To read more about the collection, click here.

The decision by AKDC@MIT to host the images on Archnet came out of a meeting that took place

Books, Events, TALIM

Morocco Launch of “A Gardener’s Garden” at the Museum

November 30, 2014November 30, 2014 Leave a comment by Michael Toler

TALIM Board Member Elena Prentice looks on as fellow Board Member Madison Cox signs his book — Another Board Member, Elena Prentice, looks on as Madison Cox signs books

TALIM in partnership with Librarie des Colonnes welcomed landscape architect and Tangier resident Madison Cox to the Legation on November 12 for the Morocco launch of A Gardener’s Garden, published by Phaidon.

Madison, who currently serves on the TALIM Board, spoke of how he and his collaborators had made what must have been the difficult decisions on which of the world’s gardens, great and small, to include in this beautiful book.