Caribbean

1910 · ref. 23891 — 1910. Pineapple plantation photo archive circa 1910s documenting cultivation harvest and transport on an unidentified tropical plantation during the expansion of commercial pineapple production for export markets and black sharecropping labor. The photographs concentrate on the agricultural cycle rather than plantation buildings or domestic life moving from densely planted acreage and individual ripening fruit to large accumulations of harvested pineapples and a mule drawn wagon loaded for transport. Pineapple cultivation expanded substantially in the Caribbean and Hawaii during the early twentieth century making the crop increasingly visible within American commercial agriculture and food consumption. Photo archive of 10 silver gelatin photographs each approximately 3 x 4 inches Caribbean location circa 1910s. Several photographs survey extensive fields planted almost entirely in pineapple including broad views in which rows of spiked plants extend toward distant hills and close studies showing mature fruit rising from individual plants. Other images record the harvest after removal from the field: pineapples are arranged in substantial piles beside cultivated acreage while two white men pose before one accumulation holding individual fruit. Another photograph shows a mule drawn wooden wagon filled above its sideboards with harvested pineapples with one white man standing beside the wagon another seated atop the load and a black man positioned with the mule team further highlights post emancipation plantation labor. The men's differing positions within the harvest scenes preserve visible evidence of diverse groups participating in the plantation's agricultural economy alongside the animal powered transportation used to move a bulky commercial crop from the field. Commercial pineapple production was developing rapidly across several regions connected to the United States Hawaii and the Carbons during this period. The photographs belong to that broader transformation of pineapple from a geographically restricted tropical fruit into an increasingly standardized export commodity but neither crop morphology nor the visible terrain distinguishes securely among these producing regions. More specifically the images record the material stages behind that trade: dense monocrop planting maturation in the field manual harvesting accumulation of fruit and transportation by mule drawn wagon. Light handling wear occasional edge and corner losses minor curling and scattered toning; image surfaces remain generally clear with strong detail. Overall in good condition. A concentrated photographic record of early twentieth century pineapple agriculture showing the field harvest labor and transport required to move a tropical crop toward commercial distribution. unknown books