Museum – Tangier American Legation Museum

Diplomatic History, Legation Tales, Museum, TALIM, Tangier, Uncategorized

MAPPING MEMORIES, CREATING HISTORY: THE TANGIER AMERICAN LEGATION, by Emily Albrecht

October 29, 2021October 29, 2021 by Abdelbaar Mounadi Idrissi

Abstract: The Tangier American Legation hosted the U.S. Legation and Consulate for 140 years, and was the formal conduit for diplomatic and consular relations between the United States and Morocco. After the diplomatic move to Rabat after Morocco’s independence in 1956, the building operated as a Foreign Service Institute and, later, as a Peace Corps … Read more MAPPING MEMORIES, CREATING HISTORY: THE TANGIER AMERICAN LEGATION, by Emily Albrecht

Historic Landmark, Literacy and Skills Training, Museum, Research Center, TALIM

Visit our new virtual tour

August 3, 2021February 17, 2021 by Michael Toler

TALIM has launched an updated virtual tour, with support from the US Embassy in Morocco. The new tour was developed by filmmaker Ayoub El Jamal, former TALIM Outreach Coordinator. English narrations were done by Laissa Alexis and Grace Olson, both Wellesley College interns, and TALIM Director John Davison. Arabic narrations are provided by our Curator … Read more Visit our new virtual tour

Uncategorized

James Miller: Moroccan-American Archaeological Project of Ancient Sijilmasa (Podcast)

November 5, 2019November 5, 2019 1 Comment by Abdelbaar Mounadi Idrissi

On Monday, September 30 2019, James Miller spoke with TALIM Director John Davison about the joint Moroccan-American archaeological project at the site of ancient Sijilmasa and the publication of book, “The Last Civilized Place: Sijilmasa and Its Saharan Destiny” (University of Texas Press, 2015). “The Last Civilized Place,” written by Miller and Project Director Ronald Messier, recounts the story of the Project, its archaeological findings, and places Sijilmasa in the context of Moroccan and Islamic history, revealing the 1000-year history of the caravan center as a focus of trans-Saharan trade and focal point of dynastic change.

TALIM

Senator Risch and Family Visit the Legation

June 29, 2015 Leave a comment by Michael Toler

Ambassador Bush with Ambassador and Snator Risch

Sunday mornings at the Legation are usually very quiet, much like the sleepy streets of Tangier. This Sunday, however, we were honored by a special visit from Idaho Senator James E. Risch and his family. Ambassador Dwight Bush came from Rabat to meet the Risch’s and welcome them on their first visit to Morocco. The family decided to visit Tangier while on vacation in southern Spain. Vicky Risch, Senator Risch’s wife, felt drawn to the idea of visiting the Legation: “I read about the museum before coming to Spain and I just knew that I had to see it.”

Cultural Diplomacy, Historic Landmark, Museum, Research Center, TALIM

Circles: Meet the New Director

November 2, 2014July 15, 2014 Leave a comment by Michael Toler

Last Roll - 3 — Former Director Loftus opened the Legation to Zankat America

Thirty-one years ago last month, a group of sixty-plus Peace Corps trainees arrived in Rabat, following a nearly 24-hour trip from Philadelphia via Paris. It was already night as we drove in from the airport, and it was Ramadan. The streets were packed, but our bus eventually made its way to the Bulima Hotel in the center of Rabat. Unable to sleep, I wandered down Blvd Mohammed V to the medina, and entered a new world of sights, sounds and smells. Thus began my own “beautiful friendship” with Morocco.

After spending two years teaching English at Lycée Laymoune in Berkane (and also visiting the American Legation in 1984), I began a diplomatic career that took me from Guinea-Bissau to Singapore, Madagascar to Tunisia, Cairo to New York City, and finally Niger and New Delhi. Working subsequently for the United Nations also allowed me to work in lovely, lyrical Cape Verde. Now I’ve come full circle and will begin a new adventure as Director of the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies.

Can’t Stop Curating

November 2, 2014June 26, 2014 2 Comments by Michael Toler

New “name cloud” exhibit listing literary & artistic friends of Paul Bowles who were drawn to Tangier

Can’t stop curating?

Well, I do have to stop – we’re getting on the ferry to Spain Friday morning! Friends have joked that I’ll still be at it tomorrow morning, mounting yet more exhibits while my wife waits in the car. Not true; I stopped this afternoon.

At the French Consulate’s 14 Juillet reception after we arrived in 2010, a Moroccan friend introduced me as the “nouveau conservateur” in what people in Tangier only knew then as the “Musée de l’Ancienne Légation Américaine.” I joked that I was no conservative… I was a Democrat!

But the point is that conservateur or curator was the way people thought of this position in this city. I thought that was a bit limiting – how about our research library? Our seminars? The Arabic literacy program? Etc. I also didn’t like that ancienne thing – made it sound like we were closed.