(19 December 2017) The latest release of photographs published on Cambridge Digital Library by the Royal Commonwealth Society department includes a large selection of historic prints of India, digitised with the generous support of the Smuts Memorial Fund. The photographs date from the 1860s to the late 1920s, and offer a diverse range of scenes and subjects, taken both by accomplished professional photographers and talented amateurs.
The largest album was compiled by the distinguished medical officer, zoologist and explorer, Cuthbert Christie (1863-1932), Y3022V. Much of Christie’s career was spent in Africa, combating sleeping sickness and collecting zoological specimens for the British Museum and Museum of the Belgian Congo. Between 1899 and 1901, he worked for the Indian Medical Service as a Special Medical Officer for Plague in Bombay, and also held posts in Ahmednagar and Satara. Christy’s photographs document his medical duties and his travels throughout India. The RCS also holds two diaries he kept during this period, which when read alongside the photographs, shed much fascinating light on his experience of the subcontinent (RCMS 124/3).
Cambridge University Library Special Collections has the full story and photographs.
Quartz India also has a selection of photographs here.
