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Album Photographique: Amélie-les-Bains et Cambodge
2002.R.17  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Arrangement
  • Biographical/Historical Note
  • Access
  • Acquisition Information
  • Scope and Contents of Collection
  • Processing History
  • Preferred Citation
  • Publication Rights

  • Contributing Institution: Special Collections
    Title: Album Photographique: Amélie-les-Bains et Cambodge
    Identifier/Call Number: 2002.R.17
    Physical Description: 1 album(s) (64 photographic prints)
    Date (inclusive): 1893-1894
    Abstract: An album of photographs showing the influence of French colonialism in Cambodia during the 1890s.
    Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record  for this collection. Click here for the access policy .
    Language of Material: Collection material is in French.

    Arrangement

    The collection is arranged in a single series: Series I. Album Photographie: Amélie-les-Bains et Cambodge, 1893-1894.

    Biographical/Historical Note

    Album compiled by an unknown French maker, possibly hailing from Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda, as the first three photographs in the album are from that town.
    While the photographer is unknown, he may appear in several of the photographs in the album. There are also two images attributed to a Mr. Bosc, possibly a colleague of the man who assembled the album.

    Access

    Open for use by qualified researchers.

    Acquisition Information

    Acquired in 2002.

    Scope and Contents of Collection

    The album of 64 albumen photographs captures Cambodia, and particularly Phnom Penh, at the end of the nineteenth century. While the album begins with three views of Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda, France, the remainder of the images are of Cambodia. Following the views of Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda are a portrait of a European man, likely the compiler and/or photographer of the album, and a map by Paul Pelet titled "Nouvel atlas des colonies francaises Cochinchine et Cambodge."
    Approximately half of the photographs in the album document the land, buildings, people, and celebrations of Cambodia. Sixteen of the images show pagodas and palaces, 13 document the peoples of Cambodia and their occupations (including soldiers, elephant drivers, Buddhist monks, and carriers), and five record important local or national celebrations. These include two images of the inauguration of Phnom Penh's Silver Pagoda on 1 January 1894, which was built under the auspices of King Norodom, and three of the fête de Norodom on 17 February 1894.
    The remainder of photographs in the album document the French colonial influence on Phnom Penh's cityscape. Included are images of the Treasury, the cathedral, a European style hotel, the Palace of Justice, the hospital, the bank, the public-works building, a prison, and the commerce building. There are also three images that record the demolition and reconstruction of a building along the city's main thoroughfare. Documentation of bridges and waterways shows the effects of the Mekong River as it crests its banks and then becomes nearly empty each year. Two views of a bridge damaged during the floods show it in its original state and during its repair.
    The album is half-bound in black leather with navy blue leatherette covers. Light blue and white paper labels adhered to the front cover have the title printed in black ink: 1893-1894 – Album Photographique – Amelie-les-Bains et Cambodge. The album contains 64 photographs mounted on 30 tape-bound pages and one endpaper. The photographs are albumen prints from dry collodion glass plate negatives.
    Each photograph is accompanied by a French caption written on the page in black ink. These captions have been used as the titles of the individual photographs. Two of the photographs are credited to Mr. Bosc in their captions.
    Note: Phnom Penh is spelled "Pnom-Penh" throughout the album.

    Processing History

    Processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn; finding aid encoded by Holly Larson with grant funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). Guynn updated the finding aid in 2021.

    Preferred Citation

    Album photographique: Amélie-les-Bains et Cambodge, 1893-1894, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 2002.R.17
    http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2002r17

    Publication Rights

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Phnom Penh (Cambodia) -- Description and travel
    Architecture -- Cambodia
    Clothing and dress -- Cambodia
    Pagodas -- Cambodia
    Cambodia -- Buildings, structures, etc.
    France -- Colonies -- Asia
    Albumen prints -- Cambodia -- 19th century
    Albumen prints -- France -- 19th century
    Indigenous peoples -- Cambodia
    Festivals -- Cambodia
    Bridges -- Design and construction
    Architecture, Colonial -- Cambodia -- French influences
    Buddhist temples -- Cambodia
    Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda (France)
    Cambodia -- Description and travel
    Cambodia -- Social life and customs
    Occupations -- Cambodia
    Streets -- Cambodia