(Philippines) Johnson, Leo E.

Philippine Constabulary Diary For 1914.

Various locales. 1914-1917. Profusely Extra-Illustrated with all manner of ephemera including photographs,news clippings, decorative receipts and invoices,letters and memoranda, ship's documents, labels, menus, business cards,etc - laid onto pages throughout. Approx. 135 pps. Thick 8vo. 5.5"x7.75". Bound in titled, cloth backed imprinted boards. (Letts's No. 35 Indian and Colonial Rough Diary for 1914).

A most unique treasure trove of colonial Philippine history, the diary is an exhaustive accounting, both in word and ephemeral effects, of a young American serving in the Philippine Constabulary during the early years of the 20th Century. Leo E. Johnson was a 23 year old ( b. 1891) graduate of the Oregon Agricultural College (now OSU), recommended to the Philippine Constabulary by the Military Instructor at that school.His handwritten journal begins on 19 June 1914. "I left home on the 20th day of June 1914. Home is at Carlton,Oregon, about 45 miles southwest from Portland." Travelling from there to San Francisco, he embarked for the Orient aboard the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's S.S. Siberia. Johnson records his passage across the Pacific,documenting his visitis to Honolulu, Yokohama,Tokyo, Kobe, Nagasaki, Formosa and his arrival at on Manilla 20 July 1914, where he is inducted as an officer and enrolled in the Constabulary Academy at Baguio. Through often brief but evocative entries, the young Johnson records his daily professional and social activities as he matriculates from cadet to final posting in juristicion of the Central Luzon District. Lt. Johnson's entries are enhanced by his scrapbook like presentation of a great quantity and variety of ephemera. From steamship menus to military outfitting invoices, from party invitations and Club receipts to photographs and luggage labels and much more, a stunning portrait of the Colonial era Philippines vividly emerges. Eminently readable and brimming with nostalgic remnants, Lt. Johnson's diary is a splendid glimpse into a world long past.

Rear cover detached but present. Boards rubbed and moderately soiled. Spine cloth well worn with some splitting.Several ephemeral pieces loose. A delicate but firm Good copy.

Item #8699