The Romano family's photo archive is now accessible at Salt Research

The photo archive of the Romano family, which reveals the multi-layered life story of a Levantine family from İzmir, is now accessible online at Salt Research.

Salt, founded by Garanti BBVA, has made the photo archive of the Romano family, a Levantine family from İzmir, accessible via the address archives.saltresearch.org.

Fernando Romano (1923–2011), who was born in 1923 in Karşıyaka, İzmir, as the son of Fernande and Jozef Romano, went to France for higher education after completing his studies at the İzmir Saint Joseph High School.

After completing his university education, he returned to İzmir and worked as a teacher at the school from which he graduated.

After a while, he began working at his father's shipping company, and subsequently took a position at the İzmir branch of the company owned by Alex Dabcovitch. Between 1957 and 1964, he served as the Secretary General of the İzmir Shipping Agents Association.

In 1964, he moved to Istanbul with his wife Rita (1922–2017) and their sons Alain (1949–1999) and Jojo (1956–1976) and began working at Dabcovitch's shipping agency located at the Galata Wharf.

The family first began living in Şişli, then moved to Yeşilköy. In 1982, he returned to İzmir with his family to take over the management of Deniz Kontuarı Ltd., which was established in partnership with Besi, Dabcovitch, and Makzume.

The archive consists of photographs belonging to Fernando Romano's life in İzmir and Istanbul, as well as his travels to France, Switzerland, and Greece.

These visual records, spanning from the 1950s to the 1980s, provide clues about the life of a Levantine family while also shedding light on the shipping agency activities of the period.

SALT RESEARCH CITY, SOCIETY, AND ECONOMY ARCHIVE

The archive collections at Salt Research contain more than 2 million digitized original sources under three main headings: "Art," "Architecture and Design," and "City, Society, and Economy."

Visual materials in the City, Society, and Economy Archive include printed photographs, glass negatives and positives, slides, film negatives, postcards, and photo cards. These materials offer significant information regarding education, social life, and the built environment from the 19th century to the present day.