From Khartoum to Jerusalem

In 2014 a collection of papers was found on eBay: a scrapbook inside which was written 'Testimonial Book of Dragoman Solomon N. Negima'. The letters pasted into the testimonial book bear recommendations of Negima's services as dragoman - a combination of tourist guide and interpreter - in the Holy Land from travellers of different nationalities social classes religions genders and races.<br/><br/>Using these reference letters and the first-hand published and unpublished accounts of the travellers themselves this book tells the stories of several such tourists including the intrepid Victorian female traveller Ellen E. Miller and an African-American minister Rev. Charles T. Walker who had been born into slavery. Between the lines of others' letters Solomon Negima's remarkable life story also emerges: from a German mission school in Jerusalem to the British army in the Sudan to a successful career as a dragoman in Palestine and Syria and finally to comfortable retirement with his son Aziz and daughter Olinda at a Mormon mission in Jerusalem.<br/><br/>The discovery of this unique scrapbook allows us an insight into the lives of individuals whose histories would otherwise be lost to us and a new perspective on the history of travel in the Middle East.