History - Old Indian Photos

Photograph of country shoe makers, probably from Western India, taken by an unknown photographer in c. 1873, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections. This image of a group of shoemakers seated at work on the verandah of a workshop was shown at the Vienna Universal Exhibition of 1873. After photography was introduced into India in the 1840s it rapidly grew in popularity, particularly as a means to record the vast diversity of people and their dress, manners, trades, customs and religions. The first official attempt to create a comprehensive record of Indian types was the 'The People of India'; an ethnographical survey edited by John Forbes Watson and John William Kaye, and published in eight volumes from 1868 to1875.