Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 995

Repository:

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

Extent:

1 volume

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Photograph Album by a British Engineer in Pakistan, 1951-1952, Ms. Coll. 995, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1951-1952 (inclusive)

Form:

Snapshots, Photograph albums, Photographs, and Manuscripts, English -- 20th century

Abstract:

This photograph album was kept by a British engineer working on a hydroelectric project that included building dams at Warsak and Kurram Garhi, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. During a five-month period from 1951 to 1952 the engineer recorded work sites, engineers, landscapes, and street scenes. There are also images from his stops in Cyprus and Rome on his return trip to London.

This photograph album was kept by a British engineer working on a hydroelectric project that included building dams at Warsak and Kurram Garhi, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The volume spans five months from late 1951 to early 1952 comprising corner mounted black-and-white snapshots of various sizes on the recto of each leaf. Typed captions are pasted below each photograph.

The album follows the engineer's journey from London, England to Karachi, Pakistan as indicated by the map pasted on the inside front cover. The map shows his travels from England to Pakistan and the return trip. A typed label pasted on the map gives specific dates of his journey, leaving London on 1 October 1951 and returning on 21 March 1952. There are images of landmarks and street scenes in Karachi, pictures of a bazaar and a mosque in Peshawar, and landscapes and work sites at Warsak and Bannu. A printed leaf pasted in the album entitled "Warsak Project" has a description of the project's scope and plan to deliver hydroelectric power to a large region of Pakistan. Images of Warsak capture the dam site, seismic survey work (including explosions on the river), and a campsite showing the engineers and workers on the project. There are photographs of trips to Bannu and the Kyber Pass including local peoples and villages. Photographs at Bannu depict the work sites for the Kurram Garhi Dam. The end of the volume has photographs taken in Cyprus and Rome, where the engineer stopped on his return trip to London.