"Marconi Control Table" at a radio station in British Mandate Palestine circa 1939. View full size. | Alternate view. Glass negative from the archives of the Matson Photo Service, which documented the American Colony in Jerusalem.

A radio mast in Ramallah, British-Mandate Palestine, sometime around 1939. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, Matson Photo Service. Alternate view.

Members of the American Mission in Beirut & Tripoli ski in the Cedars, Lebanon. From the Matson Photo Service, 1946. View full size.

Radio masts in Ramallah, British Mandate Palestine, circa 1939. 5x7 dry plate glass negative from the Matson Photo Service collection. View full size.

Oud player at the Palestine Broadcasting Service studios in Jerusalem circa 1940 during the British Mandate. View full size. 5x7 acetate, Matson Photo Service.

A radio studio control room in British Mandate Palestine between 1936 and 1939. View full size. 5x7 dry plate glass negative, Matson Photo Service.

Travelers board an aircraft in an unknown region of Africa. From the Matson Photo Service, 1936. View full size.

The wedding of Miss Speed to Major Prendergast. Photograph by Matson Photo Service, 1940-1946. View full size.

Graf Zeppelin over the Tower of David, Jerusalem. April 11, 1931. View full size. American Colony Photo Dept. Visit the Shorpy Zeppelin Hangar.

Dissection room, American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Circa 1936. View full size. American Colony of Jerusalem Photo Dept.

Medical classroom, American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Circa 1930s. View full size. (Warning - Not for the squeamish: See what's inside.)

Infant cages and babies sunbathing on nursery lawn in the Israeli settlement of Gat. February 12, 1946. View full size. Matson Photo Service.

Telephone company switchboard, probably 1920s. Exact location unknown, but somewhere in British Mandate Palestine. Matson Photo Service. View full size.

Early 20th-century telephone switchboard in British-Mandate Palestine. View full size. American Colony Photo Department. Location not specified although sign in background lists police and ambulance numbers "in Jerusalem."

Switchboard operators in 1930s or 1940s British-Mandate Palestine, a few years after the other photo (the chairs look a little less like torture devices). Matson Photo Service. View full size.