Avuncular American

My Morocco: Living in a museum in Tangier

President Theodore Roosevelt reacting to the kidnapping of American Ion Perdicaris by Moroccan chieftan Raisuli in Tangier in 1904. Illustration by Lawrence Mynott in Lions at the Legation & Other Tales: Two Centuries of American Diplomatic Life in Tangier, by Gerald Loftus

To help raise funds for the Morocco Library Project, I contributed a chapter to Our Morocco: Moroccans and Expats Share Their Lives, Hopes, Dreams, and Adventures.

Though I'd much prefer that people purchase the book and thereby help fund more English language and public libraries in Morocco, I'll provide you with a couple of excerpts from my humble contribution.  Hey, I'm just thrilled to be in the same book with the likes of Tahir Shah and Alice Morrison!  Excerpts:

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When people imagine an expat’s life in Morocco, what do they see? Luxuriating on beaches or strolling through the souks of Marrakesh. Romantic notions of arabesque refurbished riads abound, designer-perfect and easily available through AirBnB.  But what is life like in America’s only National Historic Landmark located abroad, living upstairs from the museum that is the Tangier American Legation? Let me tell you.

Tangier, where Americans first set foot just after the Revolutionary War, and where we looked out over the flat rooftops of the ancient medina to Spain, as the very modern tankers and container ships plied the Strait of Gibraltar.  But other than Night at the Museum, few people can imagine what it is like to live in the place you work, especially when that place is a museum.  Like Ben Stiller’s museum guard, we too had Teddy Roosevelt to keep us company...

So there it is: “my Morocco” is also the Morocco of the 1830s American Consuls who had to deal with successive sultans’ gifts of Atlas lions destined for the President of the United States; of World War II skullduggery in the Rif mountains by secret agents of the pre-CIA Office of Strategic Services (OSS); and of the quasi hippie Peace Corps volunteers in training at the Legation in the seventies, who turned an underground (and dried-up) water reservoir into a disco they named “the Cistern Chapel.”  Living in the present — while imagining life there in the past — was a large part of the pleasure of my years in Tangier.

To really appreciate how unique the Tangier American Legation is, you might start by running that phrase through a search engine. You’ll learn that “legations” have all disappeared, replaced in the 1950s by embassies. All the Morocco tourist guidebooks, from Lonely Planet to the Guide du Routard, sing the praises of the Tangier American Legation museum, but you might need a good map to locate it, hidden as it is just inside the walled, mostly narrow pedestrian streets of the medina of Tangier.

So that’s “our Morocco,” in a nutshell. Like many foreigners, we’re smitten by the warmth and generosity of Moroccans and always feel at home when we return. But we have a few additional friends that no one else can see, and they’re also there to keep us company.

There’s Sidney Paley, the modern-day American pirate, tried at the Legation Consular Court in the early 1950s (he got a reduced sentence and said he’d go back to his original occupation — smuggling).

And then there’s Dean of Dean’s Bar, a wartime man of mystery who’d remind you of “Rick” and his café in Casablanca.  There’s Raisuli, the bandit who kidnapped an American and was played by Sean Connery in The Wind and the Lion.

There’s ... you know I could go on forever. “My Morocco” is in the present, and of the past. A bit of real-time traveling, thanks to living in a museum.

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A Virtual Tour for Ambassador Peck

TALIM logo and lettering at entrance to museum (installed June 2014)

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Pavilion cedar doors, re-sculpted 2013

This is a "guest post" by Ambassador Edward Peck, who returned to Tangier on May 1 on board a cruise ship, and had been hoping to show Mrs. Peck the place where he and several other future US ambassadors had studied Arabic over fifty years ago.

He found our doors closed.  Disappointment all around - we were so looking forward, as the Pecks were, to a trip down memory lane.  Since the visit unfortunately didn't happen, here's a virtual tour of the Legation in photos (featuring some Legation exhibits that have just been opened), along with Ambassador Peck's narrative of his return to Tangier.

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One of the first six students who attended FSI’s Arabic Language School in the old Legation building when it opened in 1961, I was both pleasantly surprised and extremely impressed by the view of Tangier from the sea as our ship arrived on May Day 2014.

The string of impressive, white high-rises all along the shoreline of the bay, and marching up the hills, were dramatic indications that there have been some very significant changes since I graduated in 1963.

Legation room: more than two centuries of diplomatic history

Although the newer parts of the city look very much like those in other countries, especially in terms of the modern shops, office buildings and condos that line the wide, clean streets, the old city, the medina/casbah, is very much like it was back then.  Using my rusty but still serviceable Arabic as needed, I was able to make my way through the winding, narrow alleys to what is now TALIM, but found it closed for May Day.

 

"Moroccans in America" exhibit, Pavilion staircase, opened June 2014

Director Jerry Loftus and I had been communicating about the visit, and he had left instructions with the guard to be on the lookout for me, but somehow that did not work and I did not get an opportunity to actually see what the inside looks like now.  Photographs are helpful, and I doubt I could find the rooms in which we studied and played ping-pong to relax, but I know it is quite different.

The dining room exhibit of Marguerite McBey's sketchbooks

It was pretty run down when I did the 22-month, 6 hour days, five days per week, and had been empty since the new Consulate General had been built farther up the hill.  An explorer by nature, in an empty cellar room I found three metal boxes containing about forty 78 rpm records from wartime Germany.  They included some heavily propagandist music: "We’re Sailing on England Tonight" and "Deutschland Uber Alles," played by the Hermann Goering Division band; "The Horst Wessel Song," by the Adolf Hitler SS Division band.  There were also many contemporary, folk song and classical records, all in excellent condition.  I donated them to the Library of Congress, since no one in the CG had any idea how the boxes got there.

Exhibit of glass negative images of Tangier International Zone (opened May 2014)

In 2014, I went looking for the little house we had lived in, and found it in a tiny island of similar houses totally surrounded by multi-storey buildings.  It is a pharmacy now, and I imagine that enclave of small homes will soon be a memory.

Legation courtyard: four orange trees in parterres of crushed seashells

What has not changed is the warm and outgoing population.  Moroccans are justifiably known for their open, welcoming and smiling personalities, especially those in Tangier, and it was a pleasure to be among them again.  The visit was brief, but wrapped in reliving very pleasant memories of a time long ago.

Ambassador Edward Peck; photos Gerald Loftus

The Legation in ICOM News

Dr. Carol Malt, museologist and longtime friend of the Legation, has published the following article in ICOM News, the magazine of the International Council of Museums.  We are thrilled that Carol has brought our modest efforts to the attention of museum professionals worldwide, especially timely on the eve of International Museum Day.

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de Leth (H. and A.), Nieuwe Paskaert vant Naau van de Straat... 1726, hand-colored, 18" x 22", Amsterdam, c. 1740

The Tangier American Legation Museum (TALIM*) represents more than bricks and mortar, beauty and craftsmanship. Its multi-media, multidisciplinary collections focus on the history of the relationship between the United States and Morocco. Its collections visually reinforce the historical relationship between these two nations and reflect the history of Tangier, while its library holds important political, social and historical documents from both countries.

In 1777, Morocco was the first foreign country to recognise the US when it declared independence. The Legation building that houses the museum was a gift from Moroccan Sultan Moulay Suleiman in 1821. Located in the old medina of Tangier, Morocco, it is the first diplomatic mission acquired by the US, the oldest continually occupied American diplomatic property and the only US National Historic Landmark located outside the country.

The building housed US diplomats for 140 years. By 1976, however, the legation had fallen into disrepair and a group of former diplomats, Peace Corps volunteers, US ambassadors to Morocco, historians and academics formed the Tangier American Legation Society to restore it. The Tangier American Museum opened its doors on 4 July, 1976 and now serves as a museum, historic house, research library, art gallery, classroom and conference centre.

The collection of paintings, drawings, graphics, maps, rare books and other artefacts focuses on artists who worked in or depicted Morocco and historical documents of Tangier. Over the years, many artists who lived in Tangier, including James and Marguerite McBey (Scotland and US, respectively), Claudio Bravo (Chile) and Elena Prentice (US) have added to Donald Angus’ (US) initial gift of over 300 maps, paintings, carpets, furniture and Moroccan memorabilia to TALIM’s permanent collection.

Connecting through art

The permanent collection is used in many ways. Tours are tailored to audiences of tourists, school children, residents, historians and special interest groups. Local women who participate in TALIM’s free literacy classes also benefit from it, as objects from the collection can be integrated into their lesson plans. The reference library, which contains approximately 8,000 volumes of literature, history and statistics about the region, is another major asset to the community.

Every work of art contains an interesting story, but among the hundreds of paintings in the collection, one by Ion Perdicaris reflects dramatic international connections. "Arab Groom and Horse" might be just another massive, competent genre painting were it not for the history of the artist. Perdicaris came to Tangier in 1872, having had some formal artistic training in Paris, when he was kidnapped by the Berber bandit Raisuli in 1904 and held ransom for USD 70,000. American president Theodore Roosevelt sent US battleships and the Marines into the Tangier harbour to secure his release, wrongly assuming that he was still an American citizen. A romantic version of this story was made into the 1975 film The Wind and the Lion. Thus, this 19th century painting, like many others in the collection, engages different audiences including contemporary movie-goers, art connoisseurs and historians.

Describing his efforts to enhance the museum’s programming and collections in a recent correspondence, TALIM Director Jerry Loftus wrote: “I have created crossovers from our collections and stories and images from the research library that feed museum exhibits and blog articles. Those in turn spark interest among researchers to delve further into our archives. We have amazing maps and works of art, so we find themes and bring them together on our walls, providing texts to explain the historical context.”

Through its collections and programmes, TALIM aims to connect with an array of different visitors, helping them gain insight into the historical, political and cultural relationship between the US and Morocco. In a 2013 interview, Associate Director Ytimad Bouziane said of this challenge: “ I want TALIM to be a light, a beacon of knowledge for the entire region. I want it not only for the intellectuals but also for everyone, and it should portray the real American culture, not the superficial one.”

* The museum recently changed its name to the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM) because of its association with the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS). The acronym TALIM also means ‘education’ in Arabic.

Carol Malt

Culturally Significant, Symbolically Strategic

Thanks to the State Department's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations - OBO, our landlord - we bring you this nice link where you can download the PDF of the glossy brochure illustrating the Secretary of State's Register of Culturally Significant Properties.

The Tangier American Legation is the first property on the Register, by virtue of our status as the first American diplomatic property, thanks to the gift of the Sultan of Morocco in 1821.

It's a story that we never tire of telling, for it strikes us as particularly significant - culturally, but also strategically and symbolically - that America's oldest and first diplomatic property is located smack in the middle of an ancient medina.

A medina in an Arab, Muslim, African country - Morocco - whose Sultan in 1777 was the first foreign head of state to recognize "the Americans."  George Washington - at the time hunkering down for the winter with his troops in Valley Forge - was later, as the first American President, to write to his "Great and Magnanimous Friend," the Sultan of Morocco.

In the above page and in the table of contents of the OBO brochure, we're listed as "Tangier Old Legation," a nomenclature that we're trying to edge away from.  "Old American Legation," and its French equivalent "Ancienne Légation Américaine" which we still see on maps published for visitors, connotes "former," "relic," or "moribund."

Wow, moribund We Are Not.  Just come and see.  This place is hopping.  Culturally, academically, and as a force in the community.

As Aretha Franklin said, give us a little respect.  Our "propers" include not just getting financial help from generous donors, but deserving attention for what we symbolize.

Gerald Loftus

Monument Man

Over the past almost four years, one historic building has been an obsession: the Tangier American Legation.  My wife and I live there, and spend our working days and weekends there. Even during trips away from Morocco, like now, I find myself writing about it.

Its story is one that I never tire of telling: America's first diplomatic property, which happens to be on the African continent, at the Western edge of the Arab world, and in a country which practices a tolerant interpretation of Islam.  It's a big story, and it began in 1777.  And it's why the Tangier American Legation is the only US National Historic Landmark located in a foreign country.

Yesterday I received a message in my email inbox from the Washington-based private American heritage group, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, about another endangered edifice:

Last week, we shared the great news that the Astrodome was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The designation speaks volumes about the Dome’s significance — but it does not protect it from demolition.

We need your help to keep the iconic stadium standing. So, we’re asking [readers to contact local authorities in Houston].  It’s one click, one minute, one action that can make a world of difference for this striking part of America’s cultural history.

I have nothing against football, and I don't begrudge adding to the National Register of Historic Places a 1965 building that gave the world Astroturf® and other icons of commercial culture.

But in the struggle to keep historic buildings not only standing but thriving, we need perhaps a bit of prioritization.  I have no dog in the fight over the Astrodome.  But I do know this: the Legation, with its door open to showcase more than two centuries of American engagement with Morocco, is a powerful symbol at a time when American diplomacy is increasingly required to wall itself behind security barriers.

The Tangier American Legation deserves preservation, yes.  Public money for a government-owned building, yes, and private philanthropy too.

But it also deserves publicity, getting coverage for a story that begins with an 18th century Sultan reaching out to a new country fighting its Revolution.  And a Sultan who gives the US a building in the twisting streets of Tangier's medina, when American diplomacy was still exclusively in temporary rental quarters everywhere else.

And now, permit me a brief digression into the world of film review.

In Washington for meetings (and my ceaseless lobbying-for-the-Legation), we took a break to see George Clooney's directorial effort, The Monuments Men.  Having read Robert Edsel's excellent book about Allied soldiers and civilians who risked their lives to save and retrieve European art stolen on a massive scale by the Nazis, I looked forward to seeing the film treatment.  Luckily, I hadn't read Philip Kennicott's Washington Post review, or I might have stayed home.  The film does have some redeeming qualities, and the rough outlines of the historical story are there.  Roughly.

Unfortunately, I have to report that the film is to World War II art rescue what The Wind and the Lion is to the 1904 Perdicaris kidnapping in Tangier that triggered Teddy Roosevelt's gunboat diplomacy.  In other words: history, mangled.  Both cases involve Hollywood casting a beautiful blond actress where none existed in the historical incident: Cate Blanchett's "Claire Simone," despite the little wire-rim glasses, is still a glamorous Parisienne.  The real-life Rose Valland, who didn't look much like Cate Blanchett but whose efforts to save the masterpieces led her to join the French army and made her France's most decorated woman, is reduced to trying to vamp the Matt Damon character...

Back to our endangered monument, the Tangier American Legation.  Endangered?  Just check out the structural cracks in the above photo.  We're resting on rickety foundations, and though help appears to be on the way to shore up the structure, we will need resources to restore the Maghrebi artisanry that has suffered from years of exposure to shifting foundations, leaking roofs, and extreme humidity.

Want to help?  Contributions are always welcome (Download TALIM Fundraiser sheet), and our US-based 501(c)(3) charitable foundation will provide an IRS tax-deduction letter.

Speaking of letters, writing to your Congressional representatives or even to the National Trust would be helpful.  We need the recognition in historic preservation circles.

And those of you who are writers and perhaps already know the Legation and its unique place in American history might try your hand at getting our story in the media.  No American visitor to Morocco (or for that matter, to southern Spain) should miss seeing the Legation.

We can all be Monuments Men - and women. 

Gerald Loftus

Magical Realism Transforms Legation

 There was the King of Sweden, and then there was Madison Cox.

Photo by Isabelle Bosquet-Morra

Both men had the same great idea, some years apart, of hosting a private event at the Legation.  We weren't there but we're certain the Swedish dinner party was a royal affair, but we can assure you that Madison Cox, American landscape architect and designer of exquisite gardens around the world, transformed the Legation with a few elegant touches.  Madison Cox was recently profiled by his longtime friend and fellow designer Marian McEvoy in the Wall Street Journal. McEvoy had earlier written about his Tangier home in the New York Times.

 

Photo by Mohammed Jadidi

The Legation's many cracks are all still there, and the moldy walls haven't disappeared.  But for a few hours on Friday night, all that mattered was that guests from the world over were enchanted by this venerable building, one that most of them never knew existed.

Photo by Gerald Loftus

Photo by Isabelle Bosquet-Morra

A few well-placed lanterns, flowers by Isabelle Bosquet-Morra of "Fleurisa" in New York, and of course Madison Cox's understated but elegant touch in everything from table coverings to lighting were enough to transform our sometimes dowdy US-Government-surplus-look historic building.

 Perhaps I'm too harsh on our look, which - as the photos in this post show - can indeed be magical.  One guest, taking in the eclectic mix of medina-Moroccan walls, 19th century Spanish architectural touches, and Federal period interior volumes, said that he was reminded somehow of the White House.

Now, we have in common two things with the White House: ownership by the USG, and designation as National Historic Landmarks.

Very flattering, though we'd like to have a 100th of the White House budget for furnishings and maintenance.

Photo by Isabelle Bosquet-Morra

Gerald Loftus

Quasi-Monopoly On the Legation Brand

Google the word "legation" and you'll come up with close to a million results.  That crucial first page will include our own legation.org website as well as what you're reading - TALIMblog.

But there is another legation museum - one that also comes up on Page 1 of the Google search - and it's located in the United States: The French Legation Museum in Austin, Texas.

Texas?

With its setting in the heart of Texas, Austin's oldest building is a "historic house museum" in the former French diplomatic representation to the Republic of Texas (1836 - 1846).  The charming building, pictured above, was originally the home of the French chargé d'affaires of the Legation, and today is owned by the state of Texas, and administered by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

I remember "the Texas Embassy" in our neighborhood of Algiers in the early '90s, but that was a temporary phenomenon, basically the work of a proud Texas oilman - his excuse to throw a costume party with the Lone Star flag flying over his villa.  But I digress.

We understand that the Austin French Legation Museum is "covetous" of our website's URL, but hey, we registered "legation.org" first!  Seriously, we encourage readers who might have the opportunity to travel to Austin to visit the French Legation Museum.

The only other legation still in the register of historic US diplomatic properties is a lovely building, the old Legation in Seoul, Korea, now used as a guest house on the property of the US Ambassador's residence.  In Beijing, you can visit the Legation Quarter, the former home of the American Legation, converted by the Chinese into a home for upscale restaurants.

Since the term "legation" is new to most of our visitors to our museum, this is what we provide in answer to the inevitable question, "What is a legation?"

Originally, an embassy was often a temporary mission, a diplomatic delegation under an ambassador on a trip to a foreign country.  Countries would establish legations as permanent diplomatic missions, under the leadership of a minister, a diplomatic rank.  Legations largely disappeared after World War II, with most countries establishing permanent embassies, headed by ambassadors.

And here, a definition from a dictionary published when legations were still in vogue.

I remember reading somewhere that the US and other countries used to prefer legations because they could pay ministers less than ambassadors.  In these days of austerity and the sequester, maybe it is time to bring back this budget way of diplomacy.  May be a way of clawing back posts for professional diplomats.  After all, what political campaign donor would go to the trouble of bundling millions of dollars for the title of "minister" at a "legation?"

Gerald Loftus

Historic Fixer Upper Job Open June 2014

 

Legation Pavilion by Christiane Delongueville

Note: this seems odd - announcing my own job opening - but why not?  What follows below is the official announcement of the job that I will be vacating in June 2014, which will have been four years since starting in summer 2010.  While the text does mention "tending to the maintenance of the building," that understatement is shorthand for spending considerable hours of every day dealing with all of the troubles that an almost two-century old building (or array of buildings) can develop.

A former ambassador and good friend, when she saw the range of activities involved in this job - and using US Embassy terminology - said "Jerry, this is a combination of GSO and PAO" (General Services Officer & Public Affairs Officer).  Translation: you do all the nice cultural events and educational exchange things, along with the coordination of gardeners and maintenance staff.

So in addition to all the good regional experience and language skills, the sense of outreach (and reaching into donors' pockets!), and the multifunctional or interdisciplinary "cultural diplomacy" approach of the ideal candidate, applicants for this job should be ready to welcome the sound of hammers as a sign of progress, and to scale down expectations on the speed of accomplishing even the most urgent projects.  But accomplishments are nevertheless sweet to behold, and this gem of a historic building is too important to let succumb to the elements.

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TALIM Resident Director position available June 2014

The Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM), located in the only US National Historic Landmark outside the United States and the site of the American Overseas Research Center of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS) in Tangier, Morocco, invites applications for the position of Resident Director.  TALIM is housed in a spacious historic building in the Tangier medina, given as a gift to the US in 1821. It functions as a museum, research library, conference facility, and community center, and hosts a language program.  TALIM’s director serves as liaison between American and Moroccan scholars and administers AIMS grants and programs in Morocco, and also cooperates with other AIMS centers in North Africa.  The Director needs to act in a representational capacity in Morocco and abroad, to conserve and operate a historic building, to activate and direct community outreach programs, to fund raise, and to interact effectively with the international academic community.

The Resident Director shall have a sufficient understanding of US embassy operations to interact with the US Embassy on matters of visitor and representational programs, grant opportunities, maintenance, and other issues. TALIM is supported by private contributions and by AIMS; maintenance of the building is funded by the US Embassy in Morocco and tended by the Director. The Director supervises a staff of an associate director and librarian, curator, admin assistant, Arabic literacy teacher, and 3 maintenance men, and is responsible to a Board of Directors and an Executive Committee centered in Washington. The successful applicant should have academic and management skills related to the Maghrib and be fluent in English and French. Arabic is highly desirable.

Salary is low and the applicant should have a comfortable retirement package already in hand as the position does not provide pension or medical benefits. Housing is provided without cost in the Legation. Travel to Board meetings in Washington D.C. is paid twice a year. Please send a statement of interest and qualifications and a current CV to [email protected], TALIM secretary. The position is open as of June 2014.  Review begins on 9 October, 2013. Applications should be submitted by 30 September 2013, but will continue to be accepted until the position is filled.   TALIM is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and has a strong commitment to diversity.

Gerald Loftus

Remembering the Legation

Note: Since we enjoy being mentioned by Secretaries of State - our landlords, so to speak - here is today's statement by John Kerry on Morocco's Feast of the Throne.  Thanks to a Moroccan journalist friend for bringing this to our attention.

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On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I offer warm wishes to King Mohammed VI and the Moroccan people as you celebrate your national day this July 30. 

When Morocco granted American merchant ships safe passage after the outbreak of the American Revolution, it signaled the beginning of a strong and enduring friendship. We are also proud that the Moroccan city of Tangier is home to our oldest diplomatic property in the world. 

After more than 225 years of friendship and peace, we continue to work together to expand trade, promote stability in the region, and enhance mutual understanding between our nations.  

During this time of profound change in the region, the United States supports Morocco’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the rule of law, human rights, and good governance. We look forward to building on our long history of relations as we work together to advance common goals. 

As you gather with family and friends on this special day, the United States wishes you a future of peace and prosperity. Ramadan Mubarak.

Historic Houses of American Diplomacy

Today's outreach event was on familiar territory: DACOR Bacon House, the headquarters of an association of American diplomatic and consular officers in Foggy Bottom, the quaintly-named neighborhood of Washington now home to institutions like the OAS, the IMF and World Bank, George Washington University, and, of course, the US State Department.

Bacon House, about the same age (early 19th century) as the Tangier American Legation, is one of the few vestiges of that red brick, cobblestoned era when Washington was a sparsely populated upstart compared to stately Georgetown or Alexandria, Virginia.  It's where I stay when back in Washington, literally a home away from home.

The audience composed of retired and active ambassadors and diplomats and USAID officers was receptive to the combination of "Legation tales" and progress reports on current cultural diplomatic efforts that has become a staple of presentations on TALIM.

DACOR Bacon House is the only place in the United States, to my knowledge, that shelters a "piece of the Legation" - a massive cedar gate that was discarded and saved during an Eighties renovation project.  I wrote about it a couple of years ago.

We sold a few copies of Enchantment today, and among many friends present, I reconnected with the former President of the Middle East Institute, a previous boss on my second Foreign Service posting.  All in all, a pleasant time was had, and TALIM now has a number of new friends, converts to the cause of "Save the Pavilion," our rallying cry for 2013.

Gerald Loftus