Najib Anton Albina was the Palestinian Arab master photographer of the Palestine Archaeological Museum and, in that position, took the first original sets of photographs of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
15 Facts About Najib Albina
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Najib Albina had a significant impact on the techniques of archeological photographers, especially those who took pictures of the Dead Sea Scrolls, through his contributions to the use of infrared photography.
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Najib Albina was one of three brothers and one sister.
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Najib Albina bore them eight children between 1930 and 1950.
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Najib Albina worked as a darkroom technician and photographer for the photographic division of the American Colony directly under Lewis Larsson from the early 1920s through the mid-1930s.
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Najib Albina worked primarily taking and developing film of archaeological sites in the greater Jerusalem area; however, he worked developing motion pictures.
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Najib Albina worked alongside his brother, Jamil Albina, in the photographic division.
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From 20 January 1952 until 1967, Najib Albina served as the master photographer of the Palestine Archaeological Museum.
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Najib Albina assembled over 1750 photographic plates for the museum of the scrolls using large format film.
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Some PAM's negatives taken by Najib Albina have been destroyed due to poor storage and care.
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Najib Albina took five sets, not all complete, of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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Many of the site photographs for the Dead Sea Scrolls were referenced by notations of the film plates that Najib Albina put together for the museum.
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Najib Albina lied, said he did not have the keys, and noted that he himself was Arab.
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Najib Albina was made an offer to return full-time as the master photographer under the new Israeli management of the renamed PAM, now known as the Rockefeller Museum, as the early grants and availability of funds allowed the museum to do so.
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Najib Albina declined both in protest to the change in national management of the museum and because there were significant restrictions on his family's living conditions in Jerusalem.