Historic Pictures Taken in Batangas during the American Colonial Era

Buhay Batangas

2 Mar, 2018

The American colonial era in the Philippines began with the cessation by Spain of the latter to the United States in 1898 and ended with the granting of full independence to the Philippines by the United States on 4 July 1946. The early years of American colonial rule were marked with strife as the Filipino revolutionaries refused to accept being ruled by another foreign power so soon after disposing of the former.

That said, when political conditions began to stabilize and the normalcy resumed, the Americans went about the business of improving infrastructures like roads, bridges and public buildings which the Spaniards had heretofore neglected and also made public school education available to the masses in the country.

This article documents some rare photographs of taken from that period in Philippine history.

Image credit: Harry S. Truman Library & Museum.

The picture above wa at the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum’s Digital Collection. It was taken circa 1945 so this was about the time of the liberation of the country from the yoke of Japanese occupation. Here is how the image was captioned: “A street in an unidentified city in Batangas Province, Luzon, Philippines. Old cars can be seen parked along the sides of the street. All people are unidentified. Donor: John Paxton.”

The next four pictures are from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. The original pictures were dark and scanned at a low 72 dots per inch, so there was some loss in quality when I enlarged them. Given that photography was still an emerging technology in the late nineteenth century, there is only so much that graphic software can do to improve quality. These are still an improvement over the originals. These photographs have been optimized for faster downloads. The originals may be obtained fromt he University of Wisconsin web site.

Image credit: U.S. National Archives; University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.

The picture above was taken in 1898 and captioned “General prisoners, Batangas.” The Battle of Manila between Commodore George Dewey’s troops and those of the Spanish colonial forces did not commence until August 1898; while the Fil-American War did not break out until February 1899. Chances are that the prisoners above were Filipino revolutionary fighters freed upon Spain’s surrender to the Americans. For all we know, of course, these were just common criminals. Either this or the date given was erroneous.

Image credit: U.S. National Archives; University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.

The above photograph was taken in 1899 and captioned “Female prisoners, Batangas.” The presence of children in the image, however, makes me wonder if the picture was mislabeled. Note the attire which although typical of the late nineteenth century Spanish era was also so inappropriate given the heat and humidity. Then again, there is every possibility that this picture was, indeed, taken during the Fil-American War and, as with the previous picture, mislabeled in terms of date.

Image credit: U.S. National Archives; University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.

Above, a picture taken between 1905 and 1915 in the small town of Calaca, Batangas. The picture was captioned “Women ginning, carding, spinning and weaving cotton, Calaca, Batangas, 1905-1915.” This may come as a bit of a surprise because the town in the present day is, perhaps, more known for its sugarcane production. But yes, cotton used to be planted not just in Calaca but elsewhere in the province; and the Philippines were, during the Spanish era, an exporter of cotton¹.

Image credit: U.S. National Archives; University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.

The picture above was taken in 1927 and captioned “Harvesting coffee, Batangas.” Although the coffee industry in Batangas had declined from its lofty perch back in the nineteenth century, chances still are that the photograph above was taken in the then-town of Lipa.

* * * * *

The next photographs were taken by the Minnesota-born botanist Robert Larimore Pendleton. He was in the Philippines from 1923-1935². The pictures are part of albums available at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee web site. These pictures are of higher quality than the preceding ones.