Library Guides: Afro-Central America: Latin American Library Special Collections

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The Latin American Library Special Collections hold a wide range of primary sources for the study of Central America.

Among the collections that most heavily document Afro-descendants in Central America are those related to the banana companies and construction of the Panama Canal. Click on the links below to access finding aids. Contact LAL@tulane.edu for more information.

Banana worker, gelatin silver print, c. 1940s. From the collection of Wayne Stoffle Photograph Albums 32, Image Archive, The Latin American Library.

Banana Companies in Central America

Wayne Stoffle Photograph Albums
c. 1946. Seven albums containing 173 gelatin silver photographs (5" x 7") taken by Admiral Wayne Stouffle when active in the United States Navy during his visits to Panama and Guatemala, with a few views of Haiti and Cuba. The images show scenes or urban and rural life, the life of U.S. naval officers in the Panama Canal Zone, and also of Maya people in Guatemala.
Costa Rica Album
c. 1890-1900. A photograph album of 24 leaves containing 30 gelatin silver prints photographs of Costa Rica by H. N. Rudd and Paynter Brothers photographers. They show views of San José including the National Theater, other Costa Rican towns, the United Fruit Co. building, and banana and coffee production. All photographs are identified with captions.
John N. Teunisson United Fruit Company Photograph Collection
1906. 35 mounted 7" x 9" black and white photographs taken in Louisiana, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, British Honduras, and Guatemala taken by John N. Teunisson. Teunisson took these photographs during a quarantine tour of inspection of Central American fruit ports by U.S. health authorities as guests of the United Fruit Company. The photographs focus on public and domestic buildings, local bands, and hospitals. These photographs were compiled into an album with the cover title, "With C.H. Ellis through Central America and Panama, 1906."

Panama Canal Zone

Panama Canal Zone Stereograph Collection
1913. 13 stereograph views of the Panama Canal and life in the surrounding Canal Zone area. Included are images of the Gatun locks, the Gatun Dam, the Culebra Cut, ships passing through the Canal, construction zones, the Colón harbor, and everyday scenes of the Canal Zone residents and workers.
Ben Johnson Collection of Photographs of the Panama Canal
1911-1912. 13 photoprints and postcards of the Panama Canal under construction and the Canal Zone.
Canal Zone Photograph Collection
1907-1909. 101 black and white photographs of varying sizes (3" x 5" to 7" x 9") of the Canal Zone, Panama City, and of construction on the Panama Canal. Some of the items are commercial photographs by W.A. Fishbaugh. The collection also contains larger photographs of Havana, Cuba and maps of the Canal Zone and the Panama Canal itself.
Canal Interocéanique de Panama -- Etats-Unís de Colombie Album
1885. A 30 page oversize album containing sixty original albumen photographs of Panama that date to 1885 and document work on the canal by the French company under Ferdinand de Lesseps. Photographs show architecture and everyday life in Panama. The album contains a dedication by P.M. del Valle to Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada of Mexico.
Panama and Canal Zone Photograph Album
c. 1925. An album of 201 gelatin silver prints taken and assembled around 1925. Included are 6 contemporary color postcards of Panama and 10 sepia postcards of Colombia. All of the photographs were probably taken by a U.S. visitor who traveled the region by steamship. The images provide scenes of the Canal Zone, the canal locks, official and ornate buildings, private residences, and working class residents of the Canal Zone. Also included are views of boats and ships, the Marco Polo Yacht Club, the Balboa YMCA, the Hotel Titchfield, the Titchfield School, the home of Dr. Moseley, the ruins of Spanish fortresses, mission churches, and plantations.