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Artist unknown
[Filipina] c.1916
composite photograph, sketch and wash; 19.2 x 15.3 cm
Odey Beyer Collection; from the Pictorial Collection

This photograph is one of hundreds from the Otley Beyer Collection which are now housed in the National Library's Pictorial Collection. The photographs encompass all aspects of life and culture in the Philippines from the early years of this century. Sadly, many of the photographs have deteriorated badly in the intervening years. And most, like the one featured on this month's cover, came to the Library with little or no identification. Nevertheless, in conjunction with Beyer's extensive library and unique ethnographical works, they constitute a rich resource to  which present and future scholars will doubtless turn to enrich their knowledge and understanding of the Philippines.

Henry Otley Beyer (1883-1966) was an American scholar, teacher and collector who spent most of his adult life in the Philippines. He conducted numerous anthropological studies and went on to become the University of the Philippines' first professor of anthropology. During four decades of teaching and research he inspired many young Filipinos with an interest in their cultural heritage. Beyer described his life's work thus: 'to procure and conserve for the People of the Philippines the evidence of their abundant ancient culture'.

 

July 1997 Volume VII Number 10

BEHIND THE SCENES

In the first of this two-part series Barry York ventures into the Library's innermost regions to discover what happens to an ordinary book on its way to becoming part of the nation's collective memory

AN AMERICAN IN MANILA

Andrew Gosling surveys the life and work of American Otley Beyer, dubbed the Philippines' greatest anthropologist, whose extensive library now occupies an important place in the National Library's Asian Collections

COLLECTING CULTURE

This year's Petherick Lecture was the forum for a thought-provoking and wide-ranging dissertation by a former 'professional collector' and 'cup of tea' man, the author and historian Tom Griffiths

PICTURING THE RECORD

The holdings of a well-rounded library comprise more than just books. As John Thompson reports, the development of a pictorial record of Australia has been central to the National Library's collection program since the early 1900s

FRIENDS

A regular news page about the activities of the Friends of the National Library of Australia

NLA PUBLICATIONS

The superbly illustrated A Passion for Dance gives voice and identity to talented Australian dancers and choreographers

Download Cover to Cover (1.78Mb)

 

 

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