Through My Father's Eyes:
The Filipino American Photographs of Ricardo Ocreto Alvarado
November 21, 2002 to March 31, 2003
Ricardo Alvarado immigrated to San Francisco in 1928 from the Philippines. He was part of the early 20th-century wave of Filipino immigrants known as the Manong generation. At first, he made a living working as a janitor and houseboy. During World War II, he served his new country as a medical technician in the Army's highly decorated First Filipino Infantry Regiment. When he returned from the Pacific, he supported himself as a cook. In many ways, his biography reflects the conspicuously limited career opportunities so many immigrants encountered in the 1940s and '50s.
But what set him apart was his remarkable eye, his sheer genius for capturing on film the special celebrations and daily rituals of the Filipino-American (Pinoy) community in San Francisco after the war. More than a hobby, photography was his passion. He canvassed the Bay Area's city streets and rural back roads for subjects. His view camera gave him entree into large social functions—weddings, funerals, baptisms, parties, and dances—well as into intimate family gatherings. He recorded street scenes, beauty pageants, cock fights, agricultural workers tending crops, and entrepreneurs on the job.
When he died in 1976 he left behind a rich trove of historically significant and visually arresting images, yet they remained hidden until his daughter, Janet Alvarado, found his collection of nearly 3,000 photographs and recognized their importance. She formed The Alvarado Project to ensure that her father's unique record of Pinoy life would be preserved and would receive the attention it deserves.
The Smithsonian Institution is proud to bring to the nation this unique record of Asian Pacific American life. Curated by Dr. Franklin Odo and Janet Alvarado, Through My Father's Eyes is a collaboration of the Smithsonian Asia Pacific Program; the National Museum of American History, Behring Center; and the Alvarado Project.
For information on bringing Through My Father's Eyes to a museum in your community, visit the website of SITES (Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service) or contact Ed Liskey at 202-357-3168 ext 121.
