Visual Materials

Philippines portrait collection

Description: Nineteen gelatin silver photographs featuring frontal and profile views of men and women, possibly of the Manobo, Mandaya, and Bagobo people. The images depict the people's clothing, jewelry, and adornments. Possible locations of the photographs include the Agusan area of Mindanao, Philippines. The majority of the images are set against a white backdrop. Fourteen of the prints are stamped on verso with, "Photograph by the Philippine Bureau of Science, Manila." A previous seller provided descriptions of the subjects' ethic identities and commentary on their clothing; these descriptions were copied and kept alongside the prints for reference, but their accuracy is unknown as they were not added by the subjects themselves or the photographer. The Philippine Bureau of Science in Manila conducted activities based on the American colonial government's efforts to systematize scientific research in the Philippines using Western methodologies and perspectives.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: approximately 1925
Call number: photCL 769
Provenance: Purchased from Michael Maslan Vintage Posters, Photographs, Postcards & Ephemera, May 2022.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.
Rights: The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining permission rests with the researcher.
Find out more: View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab); View in the Online Archive of California(Opens in new tab)

Photographs

Visual Materials

Nineteen gelatin silver photographs featuring frontal and profile views of men and women, possibly of the Manobo, Mandaya, and Bagobo people. The images depict the people's clothing, jewelry, and adornments. Possible locations of the photographs include the Agusan area of Mindanao, Philippines. The majority of the images are set against a white backdrop. Fourteen of the prints are stamped on verso with, "Photograph by the Philippine Bureau of Science, Manila." A previous seller provided descriptions of the subjects' ethic identities and commentary on their clothing; these descriptions were copied and kept alongside the prints for reference, but their accuracy is unknown as they were not added by the subjects themselves or the photographer. The Philippine Bureau of Science in Manila conducted activities based on the American colonial government's efforts to systematize scientific research in the Philippines using Western methodologies and perspectives.

photCL 769

Image not available

Collection of Philippine hemp fiber industry photographs

Visual Materials

After the Philippines became a colony of the United States in 1898, Manila hemp became the nation's most important export item, making up 72% of the nation's total export value. The material was widely used for making rope, twine, paper, bags, shoes, hats, dresses, and other everyday commodities. The collection includes 36 loose photographs. These include images of Filipino workers cultivating, transporting, and processing fibers from hemp plants. Also included are photographs of Filipino and presumably, American workers operating and posing with hemp processing machinery. Other photographs include industrial machines for breaking and spinning fibers, ships for transporting, Henequen plants and Manila trees, Manila hemp fibers hung for drying, Manila hemp seeds, and an image of a native Philippine shelter.

photCL 693

Image not available

Collection of Philippine hemp fiber industry photographs

Visual Materials

photCL 693

Image not available

Album of photographs featuring life, industry, education, and travel in the Philippines

Visual Materials

An album of 70 photographs compiled by an unidentified American man who lived and worked in the Philippines designing and fabricating bridges and buildings. The photographs are accompanied by extensive typed descriptions that document building projects, remains of old Spanish warships, street scenes, churches and houses, crops and vegetation, schools, and many of the native residents. Some images include the Iloilo riverfront with the airing of sugar, a principal industry of that region. The writer/compiler of the album describes living in Iloilo and Cotabato, and refers to work hours spent in the steel shops and at well-drilling sites. He also documents various indigenous peoples and his impressions of their cultures and daily lives. Group photographs of Bagobo men and women near Kidapawan highlight their distinctive clothing and adornment. Other photographs include an American-run Moro boys' school at Kudarangan, an agricultural school, and a snapshot of Dr. Edwin Bingham Copeland, who founded the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture. There is also a photograph of the dedication of the Cotabato Public Hospital in 1916, decorated with American flags and banana palms. Locations include Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Zamboanga, and Cotabato City.

photCL 678

Image not available

Photograph album of individuals and groups in the Philippines

Visual Materials

A photograph album containing 12 photographs. The last page of the album has a handwritten index with descriptions of each photograph. The photographs depict "the artist" (possibly the photographer) and his home in Inga, Enrile, Cagayan, Philippines; scenes of life on Luzon Island in the Philippines including a market, students and their teacher, and women bathing; a prison yard labeled as "Fort Santiago, Manlia"; and the Pasig River in Manila. Content warning: one image depicts skeletal remains.

photCL 753

Image not available

Collection of 19th century photographs of the Philippines, (bulk 1858-1880)

Visual Materials

This collection of 212 photographs (57 of which are in an album) depict the Philippines from 1858 to 1910, largely during Spanish rule, pre-US colonization. The prints are largely albumen with a few gelatin silver photographic postcards, and two salted paper prints. The photographs were taken by European photographers working in the Philippines including Albert Honiss, Francisco van Camp, and Fedor Jagor as well as other unknown photographers. Subjects range from portraiture, the 1863 Manila earthquake, Indigenous Filipino people, architecture, city streets and businesses, countryside landscapes, religious customs, and agriculture. Of note is an image of a group of women reading "La Independencia," the periodical publication of the Philippine Revolution against Spain edited and founded by General Antonio Luna, Supreme Chief of the Army. Please note that this collection contains historical images of nudity and human remains that library users may find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate.

photCL 761

Philippines portrait collection

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

You might also be interested in

Photographs

Collection of Philippine hemp fiber industry photographs

Collection of Philippine hemp fiber industry photographs

Album of photographs featuring life, industry, education, and travel in the Philippines

Photograph album of individuals and groups in the Philippines

Collection of 19th century photographs of the Philippines, (bulk 1858-1880)