Brother Bertram, Photojournalist

I’m a sucker for Hawaii’s unreachable past, a somewhat imaginary time when there really was a little grass shack in Kaleakakua to go back to. So I’m pretty excited about the photography show that’s running at the Lyman Museum in Hilo.

From the museum’s press release:

In 1883, a young Marianist named Bertram Gabriel Bellinghausen left Dayton, Ohio and arrived in Honolulu along with others from the Midwest as reinforcements for the Catholic Mission. Brother Bertram’s interest in the culture and in the science of photography allowed him to indulge his hobby with his camera while recording scenes of Hawaii through its lens.

“Nearly 800 glass plates of Brother Bertram’s photos taken from 1883 until 1905 were nearly tossed out with the rubbish in Honolulu in 1964. Many of these photos were not presented to the public in Hawaii until 2005,” explained Lyman Museum executive director Dolly Strazar. “We are fascinated with his ability to capture nature, witness a family’s special moment or record a historic moment. Many of Brother Bertram’s photos are, quite simply put, magical.”

I’m gobstruck, in this time of Flickr and 10 megapixel point-and-shoot cameras, by the idea of this monk dragging his plates and his heavy camera all over the Big Island in the rain and the heat and the humidity. I’m also wondering how on earth the plates ended up in a garbage can, and oh-so grateful to the person who had the insight to save them.

There are no current plans for a catalog, to my extreme disappointment—the only way to see the pictures is to head to Hilo.

The show runs through October, so you’ve got plenty of time to plan a trip.

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