1910s INDIA PHOTO ALBUM - EX-PATS WORKING FOR ANGUS JUTE CO., CALCUTTA

Item #704

This green 10.5 x 9.25” photo album from 1916 contains around 300 black-and-white photos from American, English, and Australian people living in India. Specifically, the people pictured appear to have worked at or around the Angus Jute Co. in Calcutta (now Kolkata), which was established in 1913 and closed in 1983 after the staff murdered the manager. During the early 1900s, jute was an important resource, especially as it was used to make the sandbags that lined trenches in Europe. There are photos of the bungalows at which people stayed, foundations for new buildings, the offices of the company building and a picture of a belt machine at MIT, and workers retting and cleaning jute fibers. However, many of the photos are simply of the ex-pat workers in the company, who are frequently shown playing tennis or golfing, hanging out with an adorable dog named Vice, and traveling to areas around Kolkata like Howrah, and other cities like Puri and the French colony of Chandernagore. They are also shown on the S.S. “Tenyo Maru” and the S.S. “Empress of Russia”; from these ships, they took photos of Manila and Honolulu. The group also went to Japan and took photos of temples in Kamakura and Yokohama. Some of the people photographed are identified by annotations: they include Willard Gilman Brackett, a 1914 Harvard graduate who married Martha Pernon in 1917 and was part of the Angus Jute Co.; Bill Ogden; Francis Vianest and his children, Tony and Peggy; Phil Rowe; Mary Gadsen; and others. There are also wrestlers identified as Walter Cromwell “Jack” Wood from Rhode Island, Ping Yok Loo from China, and Edward Woodsworth Rounds of Washington, all of whom belonged to the MIT wrestling team. There are many photos of local life in India, including a snake charmer, workers, a Jain temple, and other local architecture and gardens. A loose note contains 3 handwritten captions accompanying photos. At the back of the album is a mounted photograph of 2 men. Photographs measure between 3.25 x 2.5” and 6.5 x 4.5” and are glued to the pages, most annotated with names of people and locations. There are around photos that have been peeled off the page, leaving tears to the pages, and at least one photo appears to be missing. About the last ten pages of the album are unused and it appears that a few at the beginning of the album have been removed. The front and back cover are worn, but the spine is in surprisingly good shape.

Price: $499.99