Second Mothers - Wet Nurses in 19th Century Peru
Family portraits with the women who were hired to feed the children | Courret Collection
Tonesi, Pedro and maid (1884) by Eugenio CourretNational Library of Peru
The importance of the Courret Collection
The National Library of Peru holds photographic collections of great relevance for the visual and historical memory of the country. Among these is the Courret Collection, an archive that bears witness to the work carried out by the studio Fotografía Central E. Courret y Cía.
The testimony of 19th century life
This studio operated in Lima between 1863 and 1935. Its images, preserved on glass plate negatives, record the social, political and economic life of the country. Among these records are portraits of children with their nurses.
Alzamora Ciccero girl and milk nurse (1885) by Eugène Courret.National Library of Peru
Infants and wet nurses in the Courret Collection
In Peru, the presence of a wet nurse in households dates back to the colonial past.
Caring for the young
Hiring a wet nurse, otherwise known as a milkmaid, was very common. These women not only provided nourishment but were responsible for much of the daily care of the children.
A common solution
Wet nurses were also a very common solution for families of foreign immigrants who came to the country during the boom time.
The Courret Studio and the construction of the narrative
Girl and maid (1935) by Eugenio CourretNational Library of Peru
A historical practise
Wet nurses were women who, after the abolition of slavery in 1854, sought their livelihood in paid activities, otherwise known as mercenary breastfeeding.
A source of income
The work allowed them to secure money for their subsistence. These images filled family albums and business cards.
The history in images
Wet nurses were integral to the upbringing of generations of Peruvians, shaping not only their physical development but also their emotional and cultural lives.
Henry Frederick Meiggs and milk nurse (1889) by Courret BrothersNational Library of Peru
The witness to the power of women
The photographs in the Courret Collection give us an insight into the daily life of 19th century Peruvian wet nurses.
Bibliography:
Estela, C. (2021). The glass society. The migrant photographer Eugène Courret and the construction of visual memory and identities in Peru during the second half of the 19th century. Artelogie, Vol. 16. Available at: https://journals.openedition.org/artelogie/8872?lang=en
Rosas, C. (2005). The illustrated vision of black and mulatto milkmaids in the family environment (Lima, 18th century). In: O'Phelan and Salazar-Soler, C. (eds.). Passeurs, cultural mediators and agents of the first globalization in the Iberian World, 16th-19th centuries. Lima: Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Riva-Agüero Institute, French Institute of Andean Studies, p. 311-343.
Schwarz, H. (2017). Courret Study. History of photography in Lima. Lima: Metropolitan Municipality of Lima.
Villegas, F. and Torres, J. E. (2005). Transgressed images. Portrait and photography in Lima: 1842-1920. Illapa. No. 2, p. 39-56.
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