The People of India A Series of Photographic Illustrations, with Descriptive Letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan. 1868

The ethnologic study "The People of India" is a collection of photographs made by British photographers in India. Detailed histories of these groups, the collection documents the caste and culture groups of India for a British India Office multi-volume publication. Explore the ethnological study "The People of India" as you transcribe photos and plates detailing Indian culture, activities, and occupations from the 1850s and 1860s. A note on the context of this work: The collection was developed following nearly a century of violence and turmoil within this region between local populations and British representatives. Though originally envisioned as a small collection, the political context of the period influenced the final product of the ethnological study: cataloguing the people of various regions while asserting the dominance of English governance and ways of life, as well as a demonstration of the technological prowess of the English with the daguerreotype. 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. 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. Indian culture groups portrayed include Bhogta, Bhoti, Chero, Dombo, Gond, Gujarati, Ho, Kachari, Kishangarh, Kota, Lepcha, Mishmi, Munda, Naga, Pahari, Paithan, Rajput, Saora, Singpho, Thakur, Tharu, and Toda. Peoples portrayed are from parts of India and surrounding areas, now in Afghanistan, Burma, Iran and Pakistan, such as Assam, Bareli, Behat, Cachar, Chittagong, Delhi, Hazara, Hisar, Kohat, Lahore, Madras, Munjpur, Mysore, Palamau, Shahabad, Shahjahanpur, Sikkim, and Sind. The social and political relationships detailed here are inextricably related to the complex realities of international trade and the history of the British administration of colonies. Photographers represented include J.C.A. Dannenberg, R.H. DeMontmorency, E. Godfrey, W.W. Hooper, H.C. McDonald, J. Mulheran, G. Richter, Shepherd & Robertson (later as Bourne & Shepherd), B. Simpson, B.W. Switzer, H.C.B. Tanner, C.C. Taylor, and J. Waterhouse. The collection was composed by John Forbes Watson (1827-1892) and John William Kaye (1814-1876). Watson served as an assistant surgeon in the Bombay Medical Services from 1850 to 1853. While in India, Watson began to research Indian agricultural resources. In 1859, Watson became director of the India Office's India Museum, devoted to promoting trade in the British Empire. While there, he published several monographs on Indian plants and textiles. He served as keeper of the museum from 1867-1879. Kaye was secretary of the India Office's Political and Secret Department. You can help others learn more about this complex collection from the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives by transcribing the plates and text.