Jamaica
Handsome Album with 17 Large-Format Views of Jamaica, 1890s
Photo album; printing-out-paper prints (58)
8 x 10 inches
Most with manuscript captions to album pages.
Most with manuscript captions to album pages.
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A handsome late 19th-century album with 17 sharp, richly-detailed views of Jamaica. The album begins with an exterior shot of the Myrtle Bank Hotel in Kingston, which was built by...
A handsome late 19th-century album with 17 sharp, richly-detailed views of Jamaica.
The album begins with an exterior shot of the Myrtle Bank Hotel in Kingston, which was built by the United Fruit Company in 1870, then torn down and rebuilt for the Great Exposition of 1891. This is followed by a pair of images showing two bustling markets in Kingston, the Jubilee and the Victoria. Next is an interesting view showing a large parade honoring the 2nd Battalion of Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) who were stationed in Jamaica in 1898. The next photo is also military-related, and shows the British Troops’ Quarters at the top of Blue Mountain in New Castle, followed by two views of Rockford Road in Kingston.
The next group of photos depicts labor and industry on the island. The first image in this section is of workers cutting sugar cane. Then there is a shot of a lush Mango Tree on a mango grove, a view of Rockford Road with a group of laborers and a donkey posed mid-travel, a fascinating uncaptioned scene of women carrying plantains on their heads, another uncaptioned group portrait, and then a large group posed by the water. This image has the caption, “coolies,” the pejorative term given to laborers of Indian descent.
The last Jamaican photographs are views of Falling River, Bog Walk, a driver near Spanish Town, and a studio portrait of a barefooted man captioned “Big William (obeah man!).” Obeah, or Obayi, is a series of African diasporic spell-casting and healing traditions found in the Caribbean, and Obeah men and women refers to those who practice the craft.
This section is followed by approximately 41 photographs of European scenes.
The album begins with an exterior shot of the Myrtle Bank Hotel in Kingston, which was built by the United Fruit Company in 1870, then torn down and rebuilt for the Great Exposition of 1891. This is followed by a pair of images showing two bustling markets in Kingston, the Jubilee and the Victoria. Next is an interesting view showing a large parade honoring the 2nd Battalion of Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) who were stationed in Jamaica in 1898. The next photo is also military-related, and shows the British Troops’ Quarters at the top of Blue Mountain in New Castle, followed by two views of Rockford Road in Kingston.
The next group of photos depicts labor and industry on the island. The first image in this section is of workers cutting sugar cane. Then there is a shot of a lush Mango Tree on a mango grove, a view of Rockford Road with a group of laborers and a donkey posed mid-travel, a fascinating uncaptioned scene of women carrying plantains on their heads, another uncaptioned group portrait, and then a large group posed by the water. This image has the caption, “coolies,” the pejorative term given to laborers of Indian descent.
The last Jamaican photographs are views of Falling River, Bog Walk, a driver near Spanish Town, and a studio portrait of a barefooted man captioned “Big William (obeah man!).” Obeah, or Obayi, is a series of African diasporic spell-casting and healing traditions found in the Caribbean, and Obeah men and women refers to those who practice the craft.
This section is followed by approximately 41 photographs of European scenes.