Estrella Alamar, community collector and archivist of Filipino American history, dies at 86

Estrella Ravelo Alamar, a dedicated archivist and cataloguer of Filipino American history and well-loved member of the Hyde Park community, died on Oct. 23 at the age of 86.

She was born to Florentino Ravelo and Ambrosia Galutera in 1936 on the West Side of Chicago, and in 1940, the family moved to Hyde Park. The oldest of four sisters, Alamar has been in the neighborhood ever since.

A second-generation Filipino American, Alamar attended Hyde Park High School and DePaul University. She went on to teach primary education in Chicago Public Schools, retiring after 30 years.

Alamar is well-known for her dedication to preserving and protecting Filipino American history over the years. She recorded her family’s history dating back to her parents’ birthplace of the Philippines, and did the same for other community members.

Following this lifelong passion, in 1986 she founded the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago, and later co-founded the Filipino American National History Society Midwest Chapter, where she served as a vice president from 1990-1992. In 1999, she opened the FAHSC Museum of Filipino American History and Heritage in Chicago; it was co-founded with her late husband, Justo O. Alamar, who passed away before its opening in 1998.

Because the museum was self-funded, it was closed three years later; The entire collection was moved to their house, where it remains to this day.

According to Tito Ruben, Executive Director of the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago, Alamar’s archival interest came from her father, who emigrated in the early 1900s. He worked in various locations on farms and railroads before deciding to settle in Chicago. There, he started to collect photographs and to write about their history.

In a 2018 interview, Alamar said of growing up in Chicago in the mid-20th century: “We were a minority within a minority… There’s very little known about the Philippines, and because of the extent of history that we have through the pictures and the papers that my parents collected, we have the foundation of what our history is here in Chicago.”

“Who would get to know about this history if someone did not start to show it,” she continued. In the video background, there were high-stacked boxes containing photos and documents said to date back to the 1920s.

In 2001, she co-authored the book “Images of America: Filipinos in Chicago,” a pictorial book depicting everyday Filipino Americans in the city along with notable figures. It inspired many books by the same name in other cities across the U.S., such as “Filipinos in Los Angeles” and “Filipinos in Stockton”.

Prior to her death, she was working on a second edition of the book with Ruben, which spanned the period after the 1960s.

Throughout her adult life, Alamar was also a frequent presence at the events of cultural institutions in the city, like the Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry and the Chinese American Museum. She was an active member of Chicago Cultural connections and the Chicago Cultural Alliance.