Scope and Content of Collection

The album of 107 photographs contains images of well-known Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim monuments, with an emphasis on the monuments of Mughal India. There are views and details of temples, stupas, mosques, tombs and mausoleums, and fortified palaces. Locations represented include Agra, Benares (Varansi), Delhi, and Lucknow. The monuments of Agra, such as the Taj Mahal, the buildings in and around the Red Fort, and Akbar's tomb in nearby Sikandra, are particularly well represented. There are also several group portraits of Indian families and portraits of Indian of various ethnic groups and professions. The British presence in India is evident in views of Victorian Bombay (Mumbai) and Calcutta (Kolkata).

Also included is one loose gelatin silver print of a Jaipur street scene.

The photographers who took most of the photographs in the album have not yet been identified. However, nine photographs are know to be by Harrington & Norman. These are signed in the negative: Harrington & Norman, Photo's, Calcutta; and/or bear the firm's wet stamp: Harrington & Company / Photographers / Calcutta & Darjeeling. One photograph bears the blind stamp: G. R. Lambert & Co. Singapore.

The album has blue and cream cotton brocade covers.

The titles of the individual photographs are from the English captions in the negative or the English annotations on their versos, as noted. For consistency, titles devised by the cataloger retain the nineteenth century spellings used throughout the album.

Arrangement

Arranged in a single series: .
Series I. Views of India, 1860-1890