Quarto album (ca. 26,5x19,5 cm or 10 ¼ x 7 ½ in). 51 card stock leaves. With 216 mounted original gelatin silver photos, including four large studio images ca. 12x17 cm (4 ½ x 6 ½ in) or slightly smaller; over 120 amateur images from ca. 8,5x14 cm (3 ½ x 5 ½ in) to ca. 6,5x8,5 cm (2 ½ x 3 ¼ in); and over eighty small amateur photos ca. 5x7,5 cm (2x3 in). With eleven mounted real photo postcards, all ca. 8,5x13,5 cm (3 ¼ x 5 ¼ in). Sixty-four photos with period white ink captions in German on the mounts; three real photo postcards with visible handwritten text in German on versos. One large studio photo with an ink stamp “B. de la Calle M. Medellin-Colombia, S.A.” on verso; another large photo with a blind stamp “Manuel A. Lalinde P.” in the left lower corner; one real photo postcard with an ink stamp “Benjamin de la Calle M. Medellin-Colombia” on verso. Period white ink manuscript dedication on the inner side of the front cover. Period black pebbled cloth album; binder’s paper label on the inner side of the rear cover. Rear cover with a minor crease, a few photos mildly faded or with mild silvering, but overall a very good album with historically interesting photos.

Historically significant collection of original amateur and rare studio gelatin silver photos, documenting the life of the German business community and upper-class residents in the Antioquia Department of Colombia in the early 20th century. The album was compiled by a young German commercial agent, Emil E. Prüfert, who worked for the company of a Bremen businessman, Adolf Held (1859-1927). The latter had a big cattle farm near Barranquilla, Colombia, developed steam navigation on the Magdalena River and became one of the founders of Deutsche Antioquia Bank (Banco Aleman Antioqueño), which was established in the autumn of 1912 with the headquarters in Bremen and the central branch in Medellin. Held remained the chairman of the bank’s board of directors until his death. In the mid-1920s, Prüfert became a partner in Held’s company and in 1936 published its history to commemorate the firm’s 50th anniversary (Prüfert, E. Zur Geschichte von A. Held…, 1886-1936. Barranquilla, 1936). Since 1934 or 1936, he served as the head (Landesgruppenleiter) of the Nazi party in Colombia, with the headquarters in Barranquilla. For that reason, Prüfert was included in the U.S. black list and was expelled from the country in 1942. The same year, Banco Aleman Antioqueño was renamed Banco Comercial Antioqueño, and its management positions were given to Columbians.

The album has Prüfert’s inscription, indicating that in 1916, it was given as a Christmas present to Adolf Hartmann, who was one of the executive managers of the Banco Aleman Antioqueño in Medellin. The collection includes about thirty individual and group portraits of the members of the German community in Antioquia, with most names thoroughly captioned. Among them are Emil Prüfert, Adolf Hartmann, another executive manager of Banco Aleman Antioqueño - Erich Thiel, one of the bank’s Columbian directors - Manuel Maria Escobar, bank employees - Hans Sitarz (1889-1958) and Reinhard Gundlach; Georg Schütte (a partner in the coffee export company, “Schütte, Bünemann & Co.”), his employee August Borné; Ernst Reinecke and Hr. Hülsmann (partners in the agent company “Hülsmann & Reinecke”), Wilhelm Repchen, their wives and children, &c. The images portray the Germans in their houses, on a railway station in Girardota, dining or sitting on an outdoor veranda in Poblado, picnicking in the hills near Santa Elena, horse riding, swimming, &c. See more about the history of Banco Aleman Antioqueño and Germans in Antioquia at the time in the published memoirs of Hans Sitarz (Como Hombre de Negocios en Colombia (1911-1929): Notas Autobiograficas de Hans Sitarz/ Fischer, Th., Ed. Bogota: Banco de la Republica, 2019).

The photos of Medellin include views of the main entrance to Banco Aleman Antioqueño (with a visible sign above the front door), the University of Antioquia, the monument to Pedro Justo Berrio, four scenes of a Corpus Christi procession, three large views of the devastation after a fire, &c. A large image shows the interior of a bank – most likely, the Banco Aleman Antioqueño’s branch in Medellin.

There are also interesting photos of Envigado (the main square with the city cathedral), Rionegro (market square, Germans at a river, “Missia Carlota Hernandez mit Hartmann, Prüfert u. Gundlach,” Puente del Hospital over Rio Negro), Marinilla (Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, traditional house), a street in Cartagena, a “laguna” near Guarne, a road near Girardota, &c. Several images portray upper-class Colombians and show their countryside haciendas - “Fernando Escobar,” “M.M. Escobar,” possibly a relative of Pablo, and his female relatives, “Clarita Posada,” “Margarita Restrepo,” haciendas “Palermo” and “Don Diego,” and others. The other photos show Colombian countryside, little towns and villages, rivers and streams, urban scenes with street cars and automobiles, portraits of Colombian mule drivers, families, children, &c. Several photos at the rear illustrate a steamer voyage with a stop in Curacao. Over thirty smaller photos on the last leaves show the construction and inauguration of a railway.

Overall an important collection of rare original photos documenting the history of German business in Colombia in the early 20th century.