In the late 1850s and early 1860s, the pioneering British photographer Walter Woodbury captured images of Java, and especially its capital city Batavia (modern day Jakarta). Working in partnership with James Page, the two established a photographic firm that continued to produce and sell images long after Woodbury's return to England in 1863.
Consisting of 42 albumen prints, the Woodbury Collection includes numerous images of the landscape and colonial buildings in Batavia, Buitenzorg (Bogor), and Surabaya. A few photographs capture images of the European community in Java, and local Javanese residents.
Walter Bentley Woodbury was born in Manchester, England, in 1834 and was raised by his maternal grandfather. In 1857, still in his early twenties, Woodbury traveled to Java where he founded a busy photographic firm with James Page, and between them, they took the majority of the known photographs of Batavia (present day Jakarta) from the latter part of the 19th century. The two men, accompanied by Walter's brother, Henry James Woodbury, traveled extensively through Central and Eastern Java in 1860, relatively soon after which the photographers went their separate ways. Woodbury remained in Batavia.
In 1863, Woodbury and Page offered a list of sixteen topographical photographs of the city for sale in albumen format. These images are considered the first of their sort from Batavia, which was originally established in 1619 as a colonial supply station for the VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie), or the Dutch East Indies Trading Company. Prospering during the 17th and 18th centuries as part of the spice trade, Batavia was a regional center for commerce and colonial administration, but particularly after a wall was erected around the city for security, it gained a reputation as "the Graveyard of Europeans," due to the poor sanitation and the stagnation of the canal system.
Although Woodbury worked initially with the wet-plate collodion negatives and albumen positive prints, he was an avid experimenter in photography, trying his hand at photoceramics, stereoscopic photography, stereoscopic projection, balloon photography, and electromagnetic shutters. He is perhaps most widely known for the photomechanical process he developed in 1866, the Woodburytype. Woodbury died in England in 1885.
Scope of collection
The Woodbury Collection consists of 42 medium-format albumen topographical photographs of Java produced by the firm of Woodbury and Page during the 1860s. The majority of photographs were taken in Batavia (modern day Jakarta), with a few from Surabaya and Buitenzorg (modern day Bogor). While Woodbury focused primarily on landscape, several photographs -- particularly those from Batavia -- depict members of the European community, their homes, clubs, and meeting places. Among the sites represented in the collection are the Harmonie Club House, Monlenvliet canal, Michiels Monument, Welsevreden Palace, Willems Church, the residence of Martinus Petrus Pels, and the Governor's palace at Buitzenborg. Photographs of the Tanah Abang house are annotated as "our" house by a person with the initials S.H.W., and who also locates the house in relation to other landmarks and homes in the area.
The photographs are arranged in alphabetical order by title, as supplied by S.H.W. or (perhaps) the photographer.
View of European cemetery located in Tanah Abang from inside cemetery fence. Fresh graves in fore. The cemetery was established in 1795 to provide a burial ground for Christians.
Tile roof house with adornment along roof peaks. Exterior of front porch adorned with hanging prints, statues, and sculptural elements. Four people sitting on porch. Believed to have belonged to the Khouw family who were local Chinese landowners. Possibly home of Khouw Kim An chairman of Batavian Chinese Council.
This image is believed to have been commissioned by Mr. Pels. It appears in a Woodbury & Page album along with nine other photographs but is not recorded as an available print for sale in the Woodbury & Page inventory.
View of residence from front. House is heavily adorned with statues, urns, and stained glass windows. Manicured lawn and developing gardens visible in foreground. This structure was originally built in 1852.
View of house from across the road. Four figures stand looking at camera in front of gate. Martinus Petrus Pels served as the honorary vice-counsel for the United States in Batavia. He likely made his living working for a trading firm and in 1866 served as a member of the Batavian Chamber of Commerce.
Annotation on image: "The two white pillars at the left represent entrance to house where Mr. Fay [Jay] lived in Batavia, S.H.W." on verso "View at Tanah Abang, Batavia N.B. Our House is just at the right after bridge in the background."
View of the military square at sunrise. The Waterloo monument is visible in front of Daendal's palace. The monument was originally erected in 1828 to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo.
The Du Bois Library holds a copy of John Thomson's The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China (Call no. DS507 .T49 1875a) inscribed to a Frank L. Wilson "with love from S.H.C." The handwriting in this volume seems to match that on the images, although the initials change to S.H.W., perhaps as the result of a marriage.
This collection was originally housed with the John Thomson Photograph Collection (PH 2) and the Felice Beato Photograph Collection (PH 4), which may indicate that the prints were all acquired together by S.H.W. and family while living in Indonesia.
Processing Information
Collection was processed by Meghan Fahey, May 2007.
![Chinaman's House at Batavia, Java [on Molenvliet], linking to the digital object](http://credo.library.umass.edu/images/resize/300/muph003-b001-i004-001.png)
![Hamlet's Ghost, Sourabaya [Surabaya], Java [Boat with Passengers and Crew], linking to the digital object](http://credo.library.umass.edu/images/resize/300/muph003-b001-i008-001.png)
![Kedirie [Kediri] River, Java, linking to the digital object](http://credo.library.umass.edu/images/resize/300/muph003-b001-i017-001.png)
![Padang [Port from water], linking to the digital object](http://credo.library.umass.edu/images/resize/300/muph003-b001-i021-001.png)
![Private House at Sourabaya [Surabaya], Java, linking to the digital object](http://credo.library.umass.edu/images/resize/300/muph003-b001-i025-001.png)
![River Scene in Sourabaya [Surabaya], Java, linking to the digital object](http://credo.library.umass.edu/images/resize/300/muph003-b001-i028-001.png)
![Stadhuis [Town Hall] Batavia, Java, linking to the digital object](http://credo.library.umass.edu/images/resize/300/muph003-b001-i032-001.png)
![Stream with Bamboo Banks at Sourabaya [Surabaya], Java, linking to the digital object](http://credo.library.umass.edu/images/resize/300/muph003-b001-i033-001.png)
![Temple of Tego Wangie at Kedirie [Kediri], linking to the digital object](http://credo.library.umass.edu/images/resize/300/muph003-b001-i035-001.png)
