Rare & Unusual Photos of Fiji, Tonga, Rarotonga, Tahiti, Samoa & Hawaii in the 1920s

[AMERICANS IN FIJI, TONGA, RAROTONGA, TAHITI, SAMOA & HAWAII]

[Album with 127 Original Gelatin Silver Photos and Real Photo Postcards Taken and Collected During the South Pacific Cruise of U.S.S. “Buford” in Spring 1924, with Unusual Views and Portraits from Suva and Lavuka (Fiji), Neiafu Village (Vavau Island, Tonga), Niue (Island Country), Rarotonga (Cook Islands), Papeete (Tahiti), and Samoa; with Early Photos of the Laie Hawaii LDS Temple (Oahu) and Vivid Tourist Group Portraits at the Edge of the Kilauea Volcano (the Big Island)].

Ca. 1920s. Oblong Quarto album (ca. 18,5x28,5 cm). 36 card stock leaves (9 blank). With 94 mounted gelatin silver photographs, including five large photos ca. 12,5x17,5 cm (5x7 in), and eighty-nine smaller photos from ca. 8x13,5 cm (3 ¼ x 5 ¼ in) to ca. 6x6,5 cm (2 ¼ x 2 ½ in). With thirty-three real photo postcards ca. 8,5x13,5 cm (3 ¼ x 5 ¼ in). Most photos with period white pencil captions on the mounts; some also have period captions on verso. Period brown full sheep album fastened with a string; gilt-lettered title “Photographs” on the front board. One leaf detached from the stub and loosely inserted, a few images very mildly faded, otherwise a very good album of interesting strong photos.

Interesting collection of original photos and real photo postcards of lesser-visited South Pacific Islands, taken and collected during the USS “Buford’s” cruise in spring 1924. During her “cruise de luxe” to the “fascinating islands of the South Seas,” “Buford” visited “Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Taiti, Rarotonga, Niue, and Marquesas” (The Honolulu Advertiser. Wednesday, 6 February 1924, p. 13). While in Niue, the “Buford” took “Professor E.M. Loeb and his wife off the island where they had been marooned for nine months” (Hawall Tribune Herald. Thursday, 20 March 1924, p. 1). [Edwin Meyer Loeb, 1894-1966, a noted anthropologist, with field studies and works on Polynesia, Indonesia and Africa].
The album also includes thirty-three images printed as real photo postcards. Ten of them show the Fijian capital Suva and Lavuka village on the Ovalau Island, as well as scenes and portraits of the locals - “municipal band,” “natives selling curios at ship’s side,” “natives from Bau,” “native dancers at Suva, Fiji” (captioned on verso), etc. Eight photos were taken at the Neiafu village (Vavau Island, Tonga Islands), showing “a distant view of Neiafu,” the village taken from the sea, “Buford at dock, Neiafu,” “Swallow’s Cave,” “out in the country on the island of Vavau,” “natives on the island of Vavau,” “a native hut and boats on the beach at Neiafu,” etc. There are also two images of the “natives and Tamarangs at ship’s side” at the Niue Island, a view of a “grave at Avarua” (Rarotonga, Cook Islands), and ten real photo postcards of Tahiti – mostly, Papeete (general views taken from the sea, the waterfront, WW1 memorial, “women sewing copra sacks,” “coral reef and native fishermen,” “palm covered drive way on the island of Tahiti”). Two photos show Moorea taken from Papeete.
The original gelatin silver photos include a portrait of native “Miss Mary Tia, Neiafu, Vavau,” three photos of native canoes at Neiafu, views of Avarua (Rarotonga) and Papeete taken from the sea, scenes with dancing “Soloman [sic!] natives in Suva, Fiji,” “Tahitian dancers at Papeete,” “natives at Niue,” etc. A group portrait at “Pago Pago, Somoa [sic!], huts, natives, guests” is captioned on verso: “March 2, 1924. Samoan village near Pango Pango [sic!]. Mrs. Judd, Mr. Sweet, Mr. Aman.”
The photos of Hawaii include three views of the Laie Hawaii temple near Honolulu, captioned as “Mormon temple,” “entrance to temple,” and “statue of Brigham Young at Mormon Temple near Honolulu.” Other interesting photos show the towns of Wailuki and Kahului (Maui), “Chinese graves, Wailuki,” ruins of the Kualoa sugar mill and Diamond Head (Oahu), etc. Several group portraits identify the tourists, i.e. “Sitting on edge of Kilauea volcano, Hawaii” (captioned on verso: “Lowe. Miss Turner, Mrs. Raymond, <…?>, Livingston. Feb. 20, 1924. Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii Island. Crowd sitting on edge of fire pit. Pit has circumference of 6 miles”); “Boiling Pots, Hawaii. Mr. C.R. Smead, Mrs. C.M. Syring, Miss Raymond, Mr. A. Aman, Mrs. C.E. Judd, Miss Turner,” etc.
Five large photos include group portraits of ladies, taking part in the cruise (“S.S. Buford 1924, Alameda best. Miss Ada Burrill, Miss Mabel Linderman, Miss Dorothy Tabor, Miss Marian Linderman”), “Buford’s” music band (“Musicians on board the Buford. West Bros. From Hollywood),” a scene with the tourists “Looking into the crater of Kilauea volcano,” a general view of the volcano, and a portrait of “Suva, Queen Fia Fia” (Fiji). Twenty-five photos at the rear illustrate the compiler’s voyages in the Pacific Ocean in 1926. The photos depict the steamers “Wilhelmina” and “Newport” and identify several crew members, including “Newport’s” master Mr. Rustad, “Daves and Rustad fair well [sic!] cake,” “Humfry, first officer,” “Mike,” “Erland, Smith,” “Wilson,” “Houghan,” “McClune,” and others.
Overall an attractive collection of unusual South Pacific photos.

Item #399

Price: $2,500.00 USD