#PF31
Ca. 1930s
Two folders for film negatives. Folder 1: 8,5x9x3,5 cm (3 ¼ x 3 ½ x 1 ¼ in); with ca. 96 negatives, each 6x6 cm (2 ¾ x 2 ¾ in), all inserted into tissue paper pockets with printed numbers in the upper corners. No captions. Period brown full cloth folder with silver-lettered title “Album/Classeur/6x6.” Several negative slightly faded, but overall a very good folder. Folder 2: ca. 8x8,5x3 cm (3 x 3 ¼ x 1 ¼ in); with ca. 60 negatives, each 6x6 cm (2 ¾ x 2 ¾ in), all inserted into tissue paper pockets with printed numbers in the upper corners. No captions. With several pieces of paper with period ink captions in French, referring to the previously removed negatives. Period light brown folder with cloth spine and card covers; gilt-lettered title “Classeur/Film/6x6” on the spine. Housed in the original brown card clamshell box. The box is partly cracked on folds, several negatives mildly faded, otherwise a very good internally clean folder.
Interesting extensive collection of over 150 original film negatives, taken by a French traveller in French Polynesia in the 1930s. The negatives include portraits of the compiler and his wife or girlfriend posing in various settings on the beach and in their residences, wearing pareos and swimsuits, dining and having fun on the beach with their friends. Numerous negatives portray native women wearing traditional pareos and lei, playing musical instruments (guitar, accordion, piano), combing hair, posing on the beach and among palms, &c. There are also lively beach and village scenes with local couples and families, dancers in traditional costumes, fishermen, people in outrigger canoes, views of residences taken from the sea, forest and mountains, a portrait of a fisherman fixing his net, several scenes taken on board a schooner (“goélette”), a view of a city embankment and a naval ship in harbour (likely in Papeete), an image of a church building with the sign “Saint Lazare,” &c. Several paper labels with period manuscript captions to the previously removed negatives indicate that they were taken by “Andre” in 1938 in Papeete and during a sailing voyage to Raiatea. Overall a lively collection of original film negatives showing Tahiti and its people in the late 1930s.
