Peering into a your hometown's long gone past is a mystifying experience. It's alien territory because the landscape you see is entirely different; and then a familiar landmark hits you, transposed to a different time and place. Case in point: Dumaguete's iconic bell tower, ca. 1907.I got this picture from the Dumaguete chapter of a book entitled A Woman's Journey through the Philippines by Florence Kimball Russel, published in 1907. The link came by way of email from Danah Fortunato.
Yet another picture, this time the beach that is now the Dumaguete Boulevard.
Almost hard to recognize without the boulevard or the buildings, but look just behind it and you'll see a familiar mountain behind it.
What will someone a hundred years from now think of Dumaguete today?
your blog has been added to 2kbloggers.com check it out!
ReplyDeleteThanks much!
ReplyDeleteDom, the book's text points to December 25 or 26, 1900 as the possible date for the photos. No incipient Silliman Hall yet on the protoboulevard :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Danah, both for the original post and the additional commentary.
ReplyDeleteYou know, we should probably dig up other older pictures of Dumaguete and digitize them. Interesting project it would be.
Love the B&W photos. As I look out on the busy streets now, it's hard to imagine the city could look so different.
ReplyDeleteHey, RTS! Are you in Dumaguete right now? Shame I'm stuck here in Davao. How long will you be staying?
ReplyDeleteHi Dominique, great to see those pictures re-appearing here. The original source is the The United States and its territories, and I converted the page images posted their to text and html for Project Gutenberg. As initiator of the Project Gutenberg of the Philippines, I would be much interested in any old pictures of and books on the Philippines...
ReplyDeletei think they're paintings, not photos.
ReplyDelete