Home movies of Joseph El-Khouri

Joseph Maroun El-Khouri was an immigrant to the United States in 1949. He was born in Kour, Batroun, Lebanon in 1924 to Rev. Maroun El-Khouri and Mariam Yazbek El-Khouri, one of seven children. Joseph was asked to come to the United States to help settle the estate of an uncle in Minneapolis, MN.  He had no idea how long it would take and had no intention of staying in the country.  No long after his arrival, Joseph went to Pennsylvania to meet and visit with other relatives. While there, he met Rose Isaac.  They married in Wilkes-Barre, PA and moved to Minneapolis, MN to run a Grocery Store.  Later, Joseph moved his family to the very small town of Andrews NC, in Cherokee Co. There they raised seven children. Joseph took over the management, and then ownership of a Family Department Store, Khouri’s that was first purchased by the family of John Jabaley, of Copperhill TN. Here’s Joseph behind the register in 1980.

Included in Joseph’s personal collection were  number of super 8 film reels the titles of which were written in Arabic. When his daughter, Marsha Shiver found them, she worked with the Project to transfer them. These short silent films from the mid-1950s depict another era of Lebanon. We are so grateful to the El-Khouri/Shiver family for their generosity in sharing these films with us. You can view 6 of them on our YouTube Channel and you can view the items donated by the family in the El-Khouri Collection on our website.