Contest Summary | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
Joseph and Friends: A Svoboda Scavenger Hunt
The Svoboda Diaries Project conducted an online contest from April 19, 2021 to May 14, 2021. Over the course of these four weeks, contest participants had an opportunity to learn about a unique region and time period through the diaries of Joseph Mathia Svoboda, who traveled up and down the Tigris River in his job as a steamship purser. These diaries offer a rich account of economic life, local politics, and environmental change over 40 years of Iraqi history.
During each week of the contest, a new theme and set of questions were posted on our website. By reading the diaries and answering questions, participants learned new information that may have been relevant to course material, their general interests, as well as fun facts!
As participants answered the weekly contest questions, our amazing SDP interns also created visualizations, summaries, and selected a few top answers using your responses. This content, along with the corresponding theme pages can be found below.
Social Network | April 19, 2021
Mapping Out Joseph’s Social Network
Steamship Industry | April 26, 2021
Who (and what) are steamships actually for?
Trade of Antiquities | May 3, 2021
An old friend: the Iraqi-French antiquity dealer Ibrahim Elias Géjou
Epidemics | May 10, 2021
Epidemics: A New Old History
Contest Winners
Congratulations to the winners of a $25 gift card! Thank you to everyone that participated. We hope that you were able to learn more about this period’s history through your participation! Please continue to check out our website for more interesting information about Joseph Matthias Svoboda and Ottoman Iraq.
- Addie Perkins
- Kathleen Muenzen
- Rich Green
- Sam Fields