At present, the core of the Foundation's collection is its extensive archive of 19th century Philippine photography. Our archives now house over three thousand original images and they continue to expand. The museum recently acquired in the United States one of the only documented Philippine daguerreotype still in existence, a portrait of the American photographer W. W. Underwood who had a studio in Escolta in Manila in the 1840's. This was taken only a few years after the invention of photography in France in 1839. The collection has numerous examples of other early types of photographic formats such as cartes-de-visite, cabinet cards and stereo views as well as a very extensive holding of albumen prints mounted individually and in original albums. Albumen prints take their name from the albumen of egg whites which was used to bind light sensitive chemicals to paper in order to produce the most common type of 19th century photographs. Philippine photographs taken before the 1890's are rare. The Foundation is especially privileged to own two large albums by a British photographer Albert Honiss who had a commercial studio on the Escolta in the 1860's and early 70's. Honiss was commissioned by the American Company Russel and Sturgis to photograph their properties in the Philippines and this collection of images comprises a priceless national portrait for that era. A generation later in 1892 Manuel Arias y Rodriguez, a Spaniard living in Manila, took up photography as an amateur. By the turn of the century, he established his company, the "Agencia Editorial" at Escolta.

In 1995, researchers for the GBR Foundation discovered a group of over four hundred original albumen prints by Arias, many signed and inscribed by the photographer. Arias produced artistic views not only of Manila and its important landmarks, he also made many provincial excursions in his carriage loaded with cumbersome photographic equipment. These trips resulted in beautiful photos of scenes around Laguna de Bay, Taal Lake, Batangas and Cavite. In 1896 Arias evolved from being a nature photographer to being a war correspondent and followed the Spanish Army and Marines into Cavite in pursuit of Aguinaldo's revolutionary army. All of these images are now duplicated and safely stored in the Foundation's Manila archives.

The approaching turn-of-the-century saw a dramatic increase in political and military events in the Philippines and this is reflected in the Foundation's photographic holdings. One of Mr. de los Reyes' first major photographic purchases was the complete Philippine archives of the American news photo service Underwood and Underwood. This company had in its possession thousands of "news" and background images from the period of the Philippine American War. Many of these were dirty, crumbling, cardboard and mounted on which had to be meticulously cleaned, rephotographed and placed in protective sheets by the museum's staff, a project lasting well over a year.