Here are some lovely photos of Kuwait in the 1950s from this flickr album

These photographs come from LIFE magazine’s photo archives on google

Jehan Rajab, author of Voice of the Oud (among other works) was a British woman who married a Kuwaiti man named Tareq Rajab in 1958. In addition to publishing several works, she co-founded the Tareq Rajab Museum and the New English School with her husband. The Voice of the Oud is a great read. I think one of the most interesting components is the mention of specific years marked by a catastrophe that happened in Kuwait during that year. It is a bleak, but compelling way to remember a year.

1831 – Failaka was stricken possibly with plague, which severely depleted the population

1871 – this was a disastrous year for pearl diving, Old Kuwaitis used to say “so and so” was born in Senat al Tuba’a, the year of sinking

1900 – this year is mentioned in the records as a particular bad year for shark attacks, one of the dangers for pearl divers

1931 – locusts invaded the town of Kuwait and destroyed everything in their path (which apparently is also happening now)

1934 – torrential rains fell, and many houses fell apart

1961 – one particularly bad sandstorm roared over the whole of Kuwait in a rose red cloud

There are also a lot of great old photographs of Kuwait included in the book.

From a 1959 article entitled “Development in Kuwait”