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Photographic album of Rangoon
2018.R.6
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution: Special Collections
Title: Photographic album of Rangoon
Creator: Beato, Felice, 1832-1909
Creator: American Baptist Mission Press (Burma)
Creator: Watts & Skeen
Identifier/Call Number: 2018.R.6
Physical Description: 1 Linear Feet(1 album)
Date: circa 1896
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
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Abstract: Photographic album of Rangoon contains 47 cyanotype views of businesses in Rangoon, each paired with a full-page advertisement
on the opposing page. Businesses depicted include general outfitters; provisioners; haberdashers; boot, shoe and saddle makers;
purveyors of wine and spirits; chemists; tobacconists; sellers of pianos and other musical instruments; stationers, booksellers
and publishers; banks; and coach works. A few views of local monuments, sites, and government buildings are also present.
These include the post office; government house; the public buildings; the Cantonment Garden; and the Shwedagon Pagoda.
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Photographic album of Rangoon, ca. 1896, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2018.R.6.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2018r6
Arranged in a single series: Series I. Photographic album of Rangoon, ca. 1896.
Digitized by the repository in 2018. The images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2018r6
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 2018.
The finding aid was written by Beth Ann Guynn in 2018.
Scope and Content of Collection
Photographic album of Rangoon contains 47 cyanotype views of businesses, government buildings, and local monuments in Rangoon
and Mandalay. Each photograph is paired with a full-page advertisement on the opposing page. Views of the businesses are either
of the building exteriors or of the shop interiors; some businesses are represented by both. Businesses depicted include general
outfitters; provisioners; haberdashers; boot, shoe and saddle makers; purveyors of wine and spirits; chemists; tobacconists;
sellers of pianos and other musical instruments; stationers, booksellers and publishers; banks; and coach works. Among the
businesses depicted are the photography studio and supplier of photographic goods, Watt & Skeen, and the American Baptist
Mission Press, a printing, publishing and stationery house run by the American Baptist Mission. Also included is the Irrawaddy
Flotilla Company, represented by a view of its steamer. While the accompanying advertisements often list businesses as having
establishments in both Rangoon and Mandalay, all but a few of the views depict Rangoon locations.
In addition to business establishments, a few views of local monuments, sites and government buildings are present. These
include the post office; government house; the public buildings; the Cantonment Garden; and the Shwedagon Pagoda, and the
palace at Mandalay. Opposing these photographs are advertisements for business establishments not depicted in the album. Of
particular note is a half-page advertisement for the photographer Felice Beato's decorative arts business, with stores in
both Rangoon and Mandalay, declaring that Signor F. Beato is a dealer in "Burmese carved work, silverware, embroideries, handmade
washing silks, curios, old arms; ivory carvings, etc."
The title on the album's title page reads in full:
Photographic Album of Rangoon, Comprising the Leading Business Houses, and Views of the City and Mandalay. The title on the front cover reads:
Photographic Album of Rangoon and Mandalay.
The album is bound in blue cloth with the title in gilt on the front cover. A binder's ticket on the rear paste-down reads:
Bound at the / American Baptist Mission / Press. Rangoon.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Stores, Retail -- Burma -- Rangoon
Small business -- Burma -- Rangoon
Mandalay (Burma) -- Description and travel
Photographs, Original
Photograph albums -- Burma -- 19th century
Cyanotypes (photographic prints) -- Burma -- 19th century
RAngoon (Burma) -- Description and travel
Rvhe ti guṃ Ce tī toʻ (Rangoon, Burma)