How Taal, Batangas Looked Like in 1911 as seen from Pictures of the Luther Parker Collection

The nostalgic images in this page are from the Luther Parker Collection publicly available as part of the National Library of the Philippines’ Digital Collection. The images were fortuitously scanned at 600 dpi (dots per inch), and this has allowed me to enlarge each without resulting pixelation. I have enhanced each picture using graphic software to improve clarity but have also retained the sepia tone as old pictures rather tend to have. The captions are as Parker himself had written in his albums.

About Luther Parker, he was an American who first arrived in the Philippines in 1901 and served in different capacities at the Bureau of Education. He retired in 1931 and continued to live in the Philippines. He was apparently well-travelled around the country as numerous pictures attest. The pictures of Taal were all taken in 1911, also the year of the destructive eruption of Taal Volcano, are but a small part of his over-all collection.

Church at Taal, Batangas. Philippine Islands.

Front of the Taal Church.

Interior view of Taal Church.

The dome of Taal Church taken from the top of the facade.

The partly wrecked bell tower of the Taal Church taken from the top of the church facade.

Side view of Taal Church showing the size and the bell tower`s base.

Casaysay, Taal, Church. (Caysasay)

Casaysay Church convent near Taal. Partly ruined by earthquake of 1- 29-11 in town of Taal. (Caysasay)

Side view of Church at Casaysay, Taal, Batangas. (Caysasay)

Casaysay Church where the sacred Virgin so venerated by the Chinese was kept until after the earthquakes of Jan. 1911. (Caysasay)

Stone Steps, about 200, leading up from Casaysay church to Taal. (Caysasay)

Wall about Casaysay Church cracked by the earthquakes of Jan. 1911 at time of Taal eruption. (Caysasay)

The town of Taal taken from the top of the Taal church.

View of Taal, Batangas taken from the top of Taal Church.

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