Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1154

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.08 linear feet (1 volume)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Women's Auxiliary Corps (India) World War II photograph album, 1945, Ms. Coll.1154, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1945 (inclusive)

Form:

Maps (documents), Postcards, Photographs, and Photograph albums

Abstract:

This collection is composed of one volume of photos taken in India by a member of the Women's Auxiliary Corps (India), W.A.C. (I), in 1945. A majority of the photographs capture local sights, mostly in Dagshai, Delhi, and New Dehli.

The Women's Auxiliary Corps (India) or WAC(I) was formed in April 1942 with the aim of giving women of British and Indian nationality duties with the British Army, of which they were an integral part with full military status. Entry was restricted to women between the ages of 17 and 50, but was open to any race, caste or creed, recruiting from British and Indian women living in British India or the Indian states. There was no segregation in the corps and Indian, British, Anglo-Burman, Anglo-Indian and others lived and worked together. However, given the restrictions of gender and caste in Indian society, in practice most volunteers came from the Anglo-Indian (mixed race) and Indian Christian communities. By 1945 the WAC(I) had some 1,160 officers and 8,900 other ranks, employed mostly in clerical, administrative, cipher and signals duties in rear areas. The WAC(I) was the only women's military service in India and provided personnel to serve with the air force and navy, the latter being renamed the Women's Royal Indian Naval Service in March 1945 but remaining a part of the WAC(I). The WAC(I) cap badge consisted of a laurel wreath enclosing the letters "WAC" over "INDIA".

The creator of this volume may have been a member of the permanent staff of the WAC(I) Officer's School in New Delhi.

From: Deefholts, Margaret and Susan Deefholts, editors. Women of Anglo-India: Tales and Memoirs. New Jersey : CTR Publishing, Inc., 2010.

This collection is composed of one volume of photos taken in India by a member of the Women's Auxiliary Corps (India), WAC(I), in 1945. A majority of the photographs capture local sights, mostly in Dagshai, Delhi, and New Dehli. The volume also contains some hand drawn maps, post cards and newspaper clippings. The balance of the photographs are of women in the WAC(I) both in uniform and while touring various sights. The creator of the collection included many historical and contextual descriptions to accompany the photographs of temples, palaces and other subjects in her photos.

Some of the sights captured include The Red Fort in Dehli along with the Pearl Mosque, Pavillion of Justice and the Jama Masjid. In New Dehli, the creator photographed the Gateway to India and Qutab Minar. There are also photographs of the Gwalior Fort, including the slave girls' garden, Man Mandir palace and Saas-bahu temple. Photographs also chronicle a trip to Udaipur with the Jagannath Temple, Jag Mandir Palace and Lake Pichola.

Women Auxiliary Corps (India) members legibly named in the volume include: Rosemary Brooke, Molly Duncan, Valerie Eacott, Freni Irani, Betty Lister, Betty Ogilvy, and Sheila Stoner. Several photographs are labeled, "My Fanny." The creator of the volume is always referred to as "Self."

Researchers will find that the spelling of various towns and sights mentioned in the finding aid are the modern spelling and are not consistent with the spelling used in the actual volume of photographs.