What can you learn about the religious and working practices of groups as you transcribe this study? Do you know details of occupations and the caste system from the 1850s and 1860s? Explore the sixth volume of "The People of India" and you transcribe photos and plates detailing Indian culture groups and occupations including tradesmen, carpenters, and tribes.
What can you learn about the religious and working practices of groups as you transcribe this study? Do you know details of occupations and the caste system from the 1850s and 1860s? Explore the sixth volume of "The People of India" and you transcribe photos and plates detailing Indian culture groups and occupations including tradesmen, carpenters, and tribes.
The ethnologic study "The People of India" is composed of photographs made by British photographers in India and descriptions of their lives. The pages of Volume Six detail, among other relationships, family histories for ruling chiefs and leaders. Details of military ranks and service are also explained and perhaps reflect the contrasting practices of the British military. Taken in the 1850s and 1860s, these photographs portray the people of many castes, culture groups, and occupations in India—posed individually and in groups—for a multi-volume publication.
The collection captures people living in India and surrounding areas; these are areas we now know as Afghanistan, Burma, Iran and Pakistan. The descriptions that accompany the images reflect the social and political relationships that were tightly bound to the complexities of governance and trade. The final collection was gathered by John Forbes Watson (1827-1892), director of the India Office's India Museum and keeper of the museum from 1867-1879, and John William Kaye (1814-1876) the secretary of the India Office's Political and Secret Department.
Please note that some language in this collection may be culturally insensitive or offensive to some viewers. It is presented as it exists in the original document for the benefit of research. The material reflects the culture and context in which it was created and not the views of the Smithsonian Institution.
Learn more about this collection as you transcribe the six volume and its contents; via Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
