Portret van (vermoedelijk) een Surinaamse vrouw aangeduid als Ada c. 1890 - 1915

This is a small albumen print, likely made in the late 19th century by R. del Castilho, showing a woman thought to be from Suriname named Ada. Small photographs like this were popular and affordable, though accessing a photographer’s studio was still limited by class and status. Suriname, as a Dutch colony, was deeply structured by social hierarchy with white European colonizers at the top, and enslaved Africans and their descendants at the bottom. This portrait could have been commissioned as a symbol of status for someone aspiring to rise in society. The woman’s dress and hair are simple yet neat, which could signal a certain level of respectability within the colonial context. As historians, we can use resources like colonial archives, studio records, and studies of fashion and photography in Suriname to learn more about Ada, her life, and what this portrait might have meant to her and her community.