‘Mabuhay ka, John Tewell!’: A photo archivist’s legacy
John Tewell, the name synonymous mostly to American-era archival photographs of the Philippines, has died, age 81.
Born in the United States in 1943, Tewell, a former pilot and longtime resident of the Philippines, dedicated his life to researching and collecting photographs, making these images accessible to the public for free.
These archival images show glimpses of Philippine history, culture, and heritage, which are significant for scholars, educators, collectors, and enthusiasts.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) condoled with the family, friends, and colleagues of Tewell, who died on Feb. 11.
The NHCP described him as an “enthusiastic” collector of photographs of the Philippines “which illustrated life in the country from the 19th to 21st centuries.”
“Aside from curating images from various repositories in his Flickr account, he also collected physical prints of historic photographs which he shared freely,” it added.
The NHCP also said that Tewell’s images were utilized by its many museums in its permanent and special exhibitions and audiovisual presentations and documentaries.
“Tewell will forever be remembered by a grateful Filipino nation, whenever his photographs are seen in our history museums and beyond,” it said.
Apart from NHCP, Project Saysay also paid tribute to Tewell as “he proved that one does not have to be Filipino to appreciate the rich history and heritage of the Philippines.”
“As long as the photographs he collected and curated are freely shared, he will continue to be fondly remembered and appreciated,” it said.
The National Museum also mourns the passing of Tewell whose “images were instrumental in visualizing the vibrant history of the National Museum of the Philippines.”
Storied past
In a post in the Facebook group Manila Nostalgia, heritage advocate Isidra Reyes thanked Tewell for his love for the Filipino history, culture, and its people.
“Much gratitude and appreciation for the photos you painstakingly gathered and brought to life of our country’s storied past,” she said.
Reyes also paid homage to Tewell, her friend for more than a decade.
“John selflessly and most often gratuitously shared his photos with the public through his Flicker account, social media posts, books, and magazine articles which would include his high-resolution photos of our storied past,” Reyes told Lifestyle in a recent interview.
She describes Tewell’s photo archive of historic Philippine images as “his gift to the Filipino people” and must be honored for his untiring dedication.
She had personally known Tewell since 2014 and shares a common passion on sharing on social media rare archival images of the Philippines.
She said Tewell had a vast collection of physical and digital copies of historic Philippine photographs.
“Let us honor his memory and thank him for his selfless advocacy of bringing Philippine history to life through the images he discovered, enhanced, and shared with the Filipino people. Mabuhay ka, John!” she added.
Filipino heritage
Tewell combed libraries and archives in the US and other online international repositories for images of the Philippines spanning mostly from the late 19th century to mid-20th century.
These images show various aspects of the Filipino daily life, people, villages, war years and destruction, and post war developments which present different layers of history and provide representations of the rich Philippine culture and heritage.
At times, the images also involved landscapes and geographical features, showcasing the natural beauty of the country.
These images became favorites of colorizers who would render colors to the original black-and-white photographs, a move that Tewell did not oppose given that proper attribution is made.
Through this, Tewell left a lasting legacy to the Filipino people who he had described as the owners of the images he collected.
As mentioned by the NHCP, he once said that it is his “belief that I don’t really own the pictures [as] they belong to the people of the Philippines, their heritage.”
His passion did not only involve collecting but also cleaning the images in his collection for these to be neat and more presentable.
With his passing, Tewell left a significant contribution to the country through his archival collection which he altruistically shared to the public.
