BETWEEN 1890 and 1891, Dean Conant Worcester, an American zoologist who later became a member of the United States Philippine Commission (1899-1901), visited Guimaras Island several times to collect specimens of Philippine fauna. He took the photographs above and below right, two of the many albumen prints he produced during his stay in the country.

The albumen print, also called albumen silver print, was invented in 1850 by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, and was the first commercially exploitable method of producing a photographic print on a paper base from a negative. It used the albumen found in egg whites to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper and became the dominant form of photographic positives from 1855 to the turn of the century, with a peak in the 1860-90 period.

The photographs now form part of the collection of the University of Michigan, where Worcester was a zoology professor. Suffering from ulcer after a trip to Zamboanga, Worcester and his companions chose to take a rest in a cottage in Salag Dako, Guimaras. Salag Dako (literally “big nest”) is now part of Barangay Zaldivar in the town of Buenavista.

In his memoirs, The Philippine Islands, Worcester wrote: “During the month we remained in Salag Dako, we not only regained our health but also gathered much valuable materials. Guimaras is extreme healthful. It is rough and hilly, but without high mountains. The whole island is covered with a cap of limestone.”

Worcester, who served as secretary of the interior for the Philippine Insular Government from 1901 to 1913, died in 1924 at the age of 58.

Leave a Reply