A Photo Album of Julius Muller – Suriname 1883-1885
by Anouk Mansfeld
Julius Eduard Muller (1846-1902), an esteemed and influential politician in Suriname, was also an amateur photographer. His view of the colony lives on in a photo album created for a friend and business partner.
In the photography collection of the KITLV, on loan at the UBL, is an album1 with a heavy wooden book cover, containing 76 albumen prints depicting Suriname between 1883 and 1885; almost a century before the end of colonial rule. Of particular interest is the dedication in the front: This album is presented to the Honourable Mr. J.F.A. Cateau van Rosevelt, as a token of respect and gratitude, by your servant and friend Julius E. Muller, Paramaribo, 7 September 1885.
Born and raised in Paramaribo, Julius Eduard Muller (1846-1902) was an esteemed and influential politician and businessman. As an amateur photographer, Muller played an important role in the history of late 19th-century photography. The photographs in the present album are all albumen prints, a process that was used worldwide between 1880 and 1895. Since there are no known negatives of Muller’s work, it can be assumed that he worked with dry gelatine glass plates.
Further reading, see leidenspecialcollectionsblog.nl, May 16, 2023
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