Students in Introduction to the History of Architecture (ART 102) regularly examine materials from the archaeological and archival collections managed by Visual Resources. In this survey of architectural history from ancient Egypt to contemporary America, students hone a critical approach to architecture through the analysis of context, expressive content, function, structure, style, building technology, and theory; having an opportunity to handle old notebooks, maps, and plans bring these often abstract topics to life.
Professors Carolyn Yerkes and Samuel Holzman have designed a lesson for students in this course around the rich materials donated to Visual Resources by Howard Crosby Butler. The history of archaeology and architectural history at Princeton University formally begins with Butler, who graduated in Princeton's class of 1892, joined the faculty of the Department of Art and Archaeology in 1895, and directed the first archaeological expedition sponsored by the university from 1899-1900. As a Princeton undergraduate, Butler became interested in the explorations of Syria conducted by the Marquis de Vogüé in 1860–1862. Encouraged by his predecessor, Butler embarked on a journey to revisit and restudy the region first explored by the marquis.
Funded by a group of New York businessmen, Butler organized the American Archaeological Expedition to Syria in 1899. Princeton graduates William Kelly Prentice (class of 1892) and Robert Garrett (class of 1897), along with Enno Littmann, an expert in Near Eastern languages and Semitic philology, joined Butler on his journey. Accompanied by a contingent of armed soldiers that was provided for their protection, the team of four men and 80 pack animals set out from Iskenderun (Alexandretta) in October 1899. Guided by de Vogüé’s maps and notebooks, the group traveled from site to site in northern and southern Syria, measuring, drawing, and photographing buildings, inscriptions, and sculpture. The work of the expedition focused on surveys, maps, itineraries, architectural monuments, and inscriptions.
Littmann and Prentice joined Butler again four years later, in 1904, when he organized the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria. Frederick A. Norris (class of 1895) replaced Robert Garrett as architect and surveyor. The aim of this expedition was to study in greater detail the monuments visited a few years earlier by the American Archaeological Expedition to Syria and to explore additional sites in the region. Motivated by the continuing population expansion and the consequent dismantling of ancient monuments, the team was eager to return and document the monuments of ancient Syria. Architectural monuments dating from the first century B.C.E to the beginning of the seventh century C.E. were drawn, studied, and photographed. In addition to these studies, Norris kept a journal in which he vividly portrayed the daily life of the group as they explored the region. Inclement weather and food shortages forced the team to abandon their journey in 1905.
In March 1909, Butler led a third campaign, with the goal of completing the archaeological survey of southern Syria that he had begun in 1904. Reprising his role as overseer and architect, Butler invited several Princeton friends and colleagues to join the expedition. Setting out from Jerusalem on March 15, the group traveled along the Roman road from Amman to various sites where the work of the 1904–1905 expedition had been interrupted by snow. Traveling throughout the spring, the team arrived at their final destination, Damascus, where the caravan disbanded on 30 April 1909.
Butler’s three expeditions met his goals, one of which was to revisit the sites first explored by de Vogüé. Taking more than 1500 photographs, Butler also fulfilled his aim of providing thorough photographic documentation of the region. Extending de Vogüé’s original survey of 18 monuments, Butler and his team eventually documented over 200 buildings. In ART 102, students have the rare opportunity to focus on materials related to Butler's documentation of just one ancient building, Qasr al-Abd, close to the town of Iraq Al-Amir in modern-day Jordan, in order to follow the process of an archaeologist/architect/historian piecing together the story of a site.
