For a rare, black-and-white view of the Middle East’s recent past, check out this repository of photographs offered by an enterprising Lebanese group.

The nonprofit Arab Image Foundation collects old photos Arab families have stashed in shoeboxes under their beds or tucked away in heirloom albums. The intrepid staff of the AIF also has uncovered gems amid the dusty remains of the once-legendary portrait studios of Cairo, Beirut and other capitals now past their prime.

The goal, according to the group’s home page, is “to promote photography in the Middle East and North Africa by locating, collecting and preserving the region’s photographic heritage.” The photos show the Middle East as it’s rarely depicted in the news: innovative, sensuous, sophisticated and fun.

I first learned of the foundation several years ago when an Arab-American literary group in Minneapolis invited one of the AIF’s founders for a talk in the Twin Cities. I don’t remember the visitor’s name, but I recall his passion for the project, which he described as an antidote to the prevailing Western stereotype of the Middle East as a hopelessly backward region populated by menacing men and subservient women.

This collection is a provocative visual history of colonialism, occupations, revolutions, wars and industrialism – all recorded by diligent lensmen, both amateurs and professionals, who are long dead.

While many of the photos capture life as it was for the Arab world’s upper crust (gender-bending garden parties, saucy sailor outfits, elaborate weddings, fancy new cars), there are also pictures of Bedouin warriors, a group of Druze women in traditional dress and European tourists decked out in Arab garb. There are ethereal photos shot in Morocco from 1900 to 1960 and a series comprised of Lebanese families’ vacation snapshots.

And long before the advent of PhotoShop, photographers such as the legendary Van Leo were playing around with optical illusions and splicing film to create some truly avant-garde images.

Palestinian history gets a special focus: you can see Russian Orthodox pilgrims visiting the holy land in 1890, a Jewish settler from as early as 1932, and Red Crescent workers treating wounded Arabs in the fateful year of 1948. Among the most recent photos is a haunting collection called, “Les Martyrs de Cana.”

The foundation’s new site is under construction (and has been for quite some time), but you can still see the existing collections by clicking on “current site.” You have the option of an English, French or Arabic online tour. On the left side of the page, browse “exhibitions.”

My favorite photo is the one shown above, taken by Salim Abu Izzedin in Egypt in 1902. The subject is identified only as Lutfiyah Abu Izzedin, and there are no details about her age or relationship to the photographer. Like a Mona Lisa for the Arab world, it’s her hint of a smile that gives me pause. There’s just no telling what was on her mind.