Charting change in Asian Landscapes: Festival of Ideas, Cambridge University Library, Saturday 26th October

Do hope to see you in Cambridge University Library on Saturday morning, 26th October 2019 - a drop-in event (no need to book) which is part of the Festival of Ideas.  Between 10 am and 12.30 pm in the Library's Map Room, you will be able to view spectacular photographs and water-colours, and study fascinating maps and panoramas charting enormous changes to Mumbai and Hong Kong landscapes.

An Economist's Collection in Cambridge - Austin Robinson

The work of entering the books held in the Archive Collection of the Centre of South Asian Studies onto the online catalogue continues.
Austin Robinson (Sir Edward Austin Gossage Robinson 1897-1993) was Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge from 1950 to 1965, one of the founders of the Economic Faculty and Fellow of Sidney Sussex between 1931 and 1993. The Economic Faculty building at Cambridge is named after him.

In the 1980s he gave to the Archives of the Centre of South Asian Studies four boxes of economic papers from 1926-1980 concerning India, Pakistan and Bangladesh,

A selection of Robinson Papers

A selection of Robinson Papers

and a collection of books, some of which are still held in the main library of the Centre  and fifteen in the Archives sequence.  Other more general books were given to Sidney Sussex College and can be found by using the keywords Provenance: bequeathed by Sir Austin Robinson on iDiscover

From 1926-28, when he went to India soon after marrying Joan (nee Maurice), he tutored the young Maharajah of Gwalior.  In his mid-seventies he was Senior Adviser to the United Nations Advisory Team to ASEAN (the Association of South East Asian Nations).

Archive ROB 1 is a biography by H.M. Bull of Madhav Rao Scindia of Gwalior 1876 -1924      Gwalior : A.D. Press, 1926), the father of Robinson’s tutee.  Archive ROB 13 is The Gwalior Annual Civil List : compiled in the Finance member's office Gwalior and published by authority, corrected up to 30th June 1927. (Lashkar : Alijah Darbar Press, 1927) and, unique to Cambridge, is 
Archive ROB 5
 

Hindu fairy tales by Dewan Sharar, illustrated by Ernest Aris. (London : George G. Harrap, 1936.)
Other books in the collection reflect a general interest in India such as :

Archive Rob 9 fly leaf

Rob 7 Dewar, Douglas    Indian birds : being a key to the common birds of the plains of India. (London : John Lane, 1923), Rob 9 Frazer, R.W. Literary history of India. (London : T. Fisher Unwin, 1898) which, along with Rob 10 Wilson, H.H. Select specimens of the theatre of the Hindus. (London : Parbury, Allen & Co., 1835) had previously belonged to Mary C. Wilde his Great Aunt.

A Burmese collection

Christopher Lorimer was employed with Steel Brothers at their rice-mills in Rangoon from 1926 to 1942. He left Burma during the evacuation in 1942, using the Tamu route into India.

The papers Christopher Lorimer donated to the Archives of the Centre of South Asian Studies consist of eight boxes covering the period 1695-1944.  They include letters to his mother (1929-30) and his diaries which cover the whole of his service in Burma (1925-42) and give an insight into the social and business life of contemporary Burma ;  historical documents - the nine army commissions of the East India CO., conferred on Colonel John Crow (1779-1813 and a distant relative) which cover his career from Ensign to Colonel ; and, relating to the Mutiny period in India, the papers of Major Laughton, Chief Engineer at the siege of Delhi until 22 June 1857. He also gave 57 photographs relating to Burma.
He gave twenty seven books to the Archives, the earliest is An account of an embassy to the kingdom of Ava : sent by the Governor General of India in the year 1795 by Michael Symes. London : Printed by W. Bulmer and Co.; and sold by Messrs G.&W. Nicol and J. Wright, 1800 (Archive LOR 22)

Plant descriptions in appendix to
Embassy to Ava. Archive LOR 22

and, printed in 1828, Charles D'Oyly, Tom Raw, the griffin : a burlesque poem, in twelve cantos illustrated by twenty-five engravings. London : R. Ackermann. (Archive LOR 24).

In addition to books on the history of Burma and Steel Brothers and the Bombay Burmah trading company he also gave a book by B.E. Smythies, Birds of Burma containing 31 coloured plates from paintings by A.M. Hughes. Rangoon : American Baptist Mission, 1940 (Archive LOR 19) with a note on the fly leaf that it has been kept safe for him during the occupation of Burma and his name erased.

He continued to collect books in his retirement including India and British portraiture, 1770-1825 by  Mildred Archer. London ; Karachi : Philip Wilson for Sotheby Parke Bernet : Oxford University Press, 1979, (Archive LOR 1)

Annotations in his books give additional background to his work and family history :

I bought this book when I was on leave from the army ..
a "refugee" from Burma staying in Calcutta.

At the Officers' dance one night at the club
I had the good fortune to catch the Princes
 of  Berar in a "Paul Jones"

Archive LOR 11

Paul Chater, Assemblage of Indian army soldiers and uniforms. London : Perpetua Press, 1973 with a note "Christopher Lorimer, grand nephew of William Wyld, 4th Bengal Light Cavalry (Lancers). Their uniform was pale blue with yellow facings.

Foundation of the Centre of South Asian Studies and the Archive Book Collection

The Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge, was established in May 1964. It is primarily responsible for promoting within the University the study of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Himalayan Kingdoms and Burma, but has also, over the last 25 years, extended its activities to include Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, the Philippines and Hong Kong.

The first director from 1964 to 1983 was Bertram Hughes [Ben] Farmer who had previously been  Lecturer in Geography, Cambridge University 1952; Reader 1967-83 and Member, Land Commission, Ceylon 1955-58. He presented 11 volumes (FAR 1-11) to the Archives.

Sir Arthur Dash who served in various posts in Bengal between 1910 and 1942 and was Chairman, Bengal Public Service Commission 1942-47 and Eastern Pakistan Commission 1947-51 was appointed in February 1967 to take charge of Phase I of the Archive Project. He appealed for material in circulars sent to members of the Indian Civil Service Pensioners’ Association.  He also presented 18 volumes (DS 1-18), mainly relating to Bengal.

The archive was principally collected by Mary Thatcher between 1968 and 1981. She was tasked with creating an archive of the British in South Asia, and told not to collect the papers of ‘anyone famous’. As a result of her work, we currently have approximately 610 collections of papers, detailing the life and work of a wide range of people, including those of her father W.S. Thatcher who from 1912-1914 was a lecturer at the Agra College.

The papers, audio tapes films and photographs are listed on the Archive pages of the Centre. Books are mostly shelved according to donor, and have card catalogue entries. Over 900 of these books from 140 donors may now be searched via the online catalogue. This and future blog posts will highlight major donations or themes within the collection. The personal libraries provide additional information relating to the interests and occupations of the donors and what they regarded as worthwhile to ship home and then present to the Centre. There are guidebooks to historic sites, language primers, surveys, novels, history books (often heavily annotated), legal text books and specialized publications.

The largest donations which have been catalogued have come from Lady Alan Lloyd (Archive A 1-108) and Lady Chatterjee (Archive E 1-136). Eighty people or institutions gave 1 book each, often their own work, and publication dates range from 1800 to the late twentieth century.

One nineteenth century publication:

"Curry & rice", on forty plates, or, The ingredients of social life at "our station" in India by George Francklin Atkinson. 3^rd ed.  London : Day & Son, [1860], (Archive Misc 159), was given by Mrs Margaret Stavridi, wife of Alexander Gregory Stavridi, an engineer with the East Indian Railway between 1921 and 1948. She was a writer and designer and was much involved in welfare work, especially during the 1939-45 war. It is not as might first appear a housekeeping manual for newly married couples settling down in India (although the Archives have several examples of these such as Carne, Lucy, Simple menus and recipes for camp, home and nursery. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co., 1902. (Archive ALP 8 )

Archive ALP 8

George Francklin Atkinson, Curry & Rice.

but “a satirical work that critiqued the lives and behaviors of British colonialists in India. Atkinson served with the Bengal Engineers between 1840 and 1859. Written immediately following the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the work describes a fictional Indian village called Kabob. Included in the narrative are forty full-page tinted lithographs of daily life around the village, which he illustrated himself. Atkinson caricatured colonial officials in a humorous way, presenting brief vignettes of different fictional British characters residing in the village”. 

Source UCSB LIBRARY website viewed 29 March 2017.

Photograph found in Archive FOS 8

A later blog post will look at the forensic and legal manuals presented by members of the Police Service but, Charles William Foster 1885-, Portait parle system of description for police purposes, Lahore : Civil and Military Gazette, 1913. (Archive FOS 8),  is a good example of a publication not available in other libraries but donated by the author.  It is a modification, for local police officers, of the identification system based on physical measurements of facial features devised by the Frenchman Alphonse  Bertillon, with some of Foster’s manuscript notes tucked into the back and a photograph of serving officers in the front.

Suzan Griffiths, Cataloguer.

SAALG Visit to Royal Asiatic Society, Thursday 16 February 2017

SAALG Visit to Royal Asiatic Society, Thursday 16 February 2017

SAALG members are invited to the Royal Asiatic Society (14 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HD) for an introduction to its collections and a talk on its most recent major acquisition, the Thomas Manning Archive. The afternoon will consist of a presentation in the Society’s lecture theatre, followed by an exhibition of highlights from the Manning Archive, as well as selected treasures from the Society’s South Asian Collections.

The event will run from 2pm – 4pm on Thursday 16 February. If you would like to attend, please email RAS Librarian Ed Weech at ew@royalasiaticsociety.org to confirm your place. Lunch is not provided but tea and coffee will be available on arrival. Attendees are invited to make a contribution of £3 on the day to help cover the costs of the event.

Thomas Manning (1772-1840) was one of Britain’s first scholars of China, and in 1810 became the first British person to visit Lhasa, capital of Tibet, where he met the Dalai Lama. Originally a mathematician, as a young man Thomas Manning conceived a desire to study China and learn what Chinese literature and philosophy could teach European societies, a project to which he dedicated most of his adult life.

Until recently, relatively little was known about the content of Manning’s studies, due both to his aversion to publishing and an absence of primary sources. However, a few years ago his archive was re-discovered, and in 2015 it was acquired by the RAS, with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Arts Council England/Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund, Friends of the National Libraries, and private donations. Cataloguing of the archive was recently completed and the collection is available to scholars.

Founded in 1823, the Royal Asiatic Society provides a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas. Its charitable mission is to promote both scholarly study and general interest in Asian histories and cultures, a goal it achieves through public lectures, publications, and through providing free access to its historic collections.

"It's an archival problem": Simon Schaffer in conversation with Sujit Sivasundaram

Do read in full this fascinating conversation about the history of science at http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/a-world-of-science - the University of Cambridge Research Bulletin. I have pasted some highlights below.

One conundrum the researchers debated was how global narratives of science could have been missed by scholars for so long. It largely stems from the use of source materials says Schaffer: “It’s an archival problem: as far as the production and preservation of sources is concerned, those connected with Europe far outweigh those from other parts of the world.”

“If we are to de-centre from Europe, we need to use radically new kinds of sources – monuments, sailing charts, courtly narratives, and so on,” explains Sivasundaram. He gives an example of Sri Lankan palm-leaf manuscripts: “The Mahavamsa
is a Buddhist chronicle of the history of Sri Lanka spanning 25 centuries. Among the deeds of the last kings of Kandy, I noticed seemingly inconsequential references to temple gardens. This led me back to the colonial archive documenting the creation of a botanic garden in 1821, and I realised that the British had ‘recycled’ a Kandyan tradition of gardening, by building their colonial garden on the site of a temple garden.”

Moreover, says Sivasundaram, the mechanisms of knowledge assimilation are often overlooked. Europeans often accumulated knowledge in India by engaging with pandits, or learned men. “The Europeans did not have a monopoly over the combination of science and empire – the pioneering work of Chris Bayly shows how they fought to take over information networks and scientific patronage systems that were already in place. For Europeans to practice astronomy in India, for instance, it meant translating Sanskrit texts and engaging with pandits.”

Twenty libraries in Delhi you've never visited

Anyone planning a research trip to Delhi should read Daniel Majchrowicz's archive review in the October 11th 2013 issue of  SAGAR: a South Asia Research Journal.

Daniel, a PhD candidate in the field of Islamic Cultures of South Asia at Harvard University, reviews twenty libraries often overlooked by visiting scholars.  The online article includes links to library websites (where available), location maps, and lots of helpful tips about the collections and buildings, including the best times to visit them.

The Salvation Army in South Asia

SAALG members who attended our 90th conference at the University of Cambridge Library enjoyed a day of fascinating talks, a visit to the wonderful new Centre of South Asian Studies building and a chance to view a wide range of collections including films, maps and archives. One of the many highlights of the day was discovering the significant South Asia related material held at the Salvation Army International Heritage Centre (which comprises archives, a library and a museum).

Image copyright: Salvation Army International Heritage Centre 

Hari Jonkers, Archives Assistant, introduced us to items relating to the Salvation Army's international administration including the South Asian Zonal Department, records of 'Overseas Territories' - the Bangladesh Command, Sri Lanka Territory, Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar / Burma territory and various Indian territories. Their collection also includes personal papers of Salvation Army missionaries who served in South Asia such as the Lutz family.

Image copyright: Salvation Army International Heritage Centre 

Particular subject strengths have developed, for instance there is a considerable amount of material relating to Indian 'criminal tribes', including books and pamphlets held in their reference library.

Only a small fraction of the collections are currently searchable via the online catalogue  but new records are regularly being added and updates about collections can be found on the Heritage Centre's blog  where Hari has just posted more about their South Asia material. 

If you would like more information about the collections please contact:

Salvation Army International Heritage Centre, William Booth College, Champion Park, London, SE5 8BQ

Telephone: 020 7326 7800

Email: heritage@salvationarmy.org.uk

The Centre is open from 9.30 to 4.00pm Tuesday to Friday. To view items from the library or archive collection please make an appointment before you visit.

Sir Frederick Tymms: the flying civil servant

Frederick Tymms (on the left), with Rod Doucla [sic]
whilst working on the Cape to Cairo Air Route in 1929
Cambridge University Library RCMS 20/2/9/30

Frederick Tymms (2nd from left), camera in hand,
with Wolley Dod, Lindup, and Francis, whilst planning the Cape to Cairo Air Route, 1929
Cambridge University Library RCMS 20/2/9/10

Frederick Tymms (2nd from left) in Allahabad in 1934
with T. Campbell Black and C.W. Scott for the England-Australia Race
Cambridge University Library RCMS 20/2/15/1

'Imperial Airways - Delhi Flying Club - handing over',  January 1932
Cambridge University Library RCMS 20/2/10/139

The Royal Commonwealth Society collections in Cambridge University Library hold the archives of Sir Frederick Tymms,  RCMS 20, one of the most significant figures in the development of civil aviation, referred to by his biographer, E.A. Johnston, as the 'Flying Civil Servant'.

Tymms served as an Observer in the Royal Flying Corps during WW1, then joined the civil aviation department of the Air Ministry 1920-1927 where he became involved in the development of air routes across Africa and India in the 1920s and 30s.  His archives document the difficulties of locating suitable landing strips at regular distances across each continent and the excitement at the opening of new aerodromes. 

During the 1930s and much of the 1940s Tymms was in India where he was appointed Director of Civil Aviation 1931-1942. For a brief period in 1942-1943 he became Managing Director of Tata Aircraft Ltd, Bombay, and from 1945-1947 was Director General of Civil Aviation in India.  The Tymms archive is rich in photographs from this period - see: RCMS 20/2/ 10-19.  There are views of the grand Secretariat buildings in New Delhi, in which Tymms had an office, of the Delhi Flying Club which he joined, and of his travels all over South Asia looking for viable air routes and opening aerodromes.  Early air races are documented, such as the MacRobertson England-Australia Race in 1934, as are numerous air stations and aeroplanes.  Tymms took photographs in Burma and the collection has fine aerial photography of the Arakan Coast. He also  took many photographs in Simla, the hill station to which the government moved for relief from the searing heat of Delhi, as well as in Kashmir where he holidayed with his wife. 

Tymms, a keen photographer , also captured on cinefilm some events associated with his work in civil aviation, as well as social occasions and holidays he enjoyed with family and friends.  His earliest film dates from 1925 and records the First African [aviation] Survey (Film 12).  There are three short black and white silent films made in South Asia in the early to mid-1930s - Films 16, 17 and 19.

Film 16 (the film can is labelled: Hyderabad. Jaipur. Simla. Delhi) includes busy street scenes, farming scenes, elephant rides, coastal scenes and a view of the Himalayas. There are several scenes of Qutub Minar, Delhi, of road trips, street vendors, shikar and fly fishing. 

Film 17 (the film can is labelled: North West Frontier Province. Kashmir. Palampur.  Simla) opens with views of the Khyber Pass and then moves to Dal Lake and Srinagar in Kashmir, and onto hill stations in  Himachal Pradesh.  It focuses on travel and landscape scenes, as well as local crafts.

Film 19 (the film can is labelled: Bombay. Ceylon. Burma. Singapore. Karachi) includes fishing boats, street vendors, temples, shoreline, a flower market, ball games, traditional Burmese dance, aircraft and airport buildings. It includes shots of the Shwedagon Pagoda and Buddhist monks in Rangoon, a paddle-steamer transporting railway wagons, sea-planes, Kallang airport in Singapore, and Karachi airport.

Tymms and his wife Millie had become great friends with J.R.D.(Jeh) Tata and his wife Thelly during their time in India, and they returned in October1962 to participate in Air India celebrations in Bombay on the occasion of J.R.D. Tata's reenactment of the first Karachi-Bombay flight, via Ahmedabad in 1932. Sir Frederick filmed some of the celebrations in colour.   Film 8  opens on 15th October 1962 in an Air India marquee at Bombay airport and includes footage of a Burmah-Shell Aviation Service bullock cart, a De Havilland Leopard Moth dating from the 1930s and a Boeing 707. The film also includes hugely contrasting scenes of Indian women carrying heavy stone on a building site, busy street scenes, and grand buildings in Delhi.

Tymms went on to represent the UK on the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (I.C.A.O.), led missions to New Zealand and the West Indies as a trouble-shooter to promote civil aviation, and was a founding member of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. He was elected Master of the Guild in 1957.    His wide interests embraced communication technologies, satellites and space travel, and the sovereignty of space.

The Tymms collection on civil aviation was donated to Cambridge University Library by Group Captain E.A. Johnston in 1994.  Johnston's biography of Tymms, To organise the air: the evolution of civil aviation and the role of Sir Frederick Tymms, the Flying Civil Servant, was published  by Cranfield University Press in 1995, ISBN 1871315468.

SAALG 90th Conference - Friday 21st February - University of Cambridge Library

Join us for the 90th SAALG Conference which will take place on Friday 21st February at the University of Cambridge Library. The theme for the day will be 'Archives' and we will have the opportunity to learn about a variety of collections and projects - there will also be a chance to visit the new Centre of South Asian Studies building in Cambridge.  

Image: Cambridge University Library Faoch via Flickr

The full programme is as follows: 

Image: Cambridge University Library - RCS QM 8/123 - From the Royal Commonwealth Society Library, Queen Mary Collection.  A view showing crowds of people watching the arrival of the Royal Party at a palatial building, Calcutta.

The fee for the day is £20 including lunch, full directions to the Library will be sent out before the day. Please email Helen Porter, SAALG Chair hp7@soas.ac.uk or telephone 020 78984153 to make a booking or for more information. The final day for registering is Wednesday 12th February.