Between the Covers

Unbound. Oblong folio measuring 15.25" x 12". Spiral bound brown leather boards. Contains 39 gelatin silver photographs measuring between 2.5” x 2” and 11.5" x 4.5" with captions. Spine and pages of the album are detached but present with tears, very good with fine photographs. Much of the ephemera is loose from the album.

A scrapbook from the estate of Reverend William W. Bell during the years 1940 through to 1963 when he lived in India, particularly Darjeeling, Delhi, Burma, and Calcutta. Bell worked with the Y.M.C.A. as a missionary with his son, Willis, who worked for the Prisoners of War Work in the 1940s during World War II. Bell specifically worked at a missionary school in Calcutta. The album includes real photograph postcards, panorama landscape shots of the mountains in Darjeeling and a hand colored photograph of the Taj Mahal. The photographs are well shot and stunningly show the daily lives of some of the Indian people during this time. Of these photos are shots of people washing their clothes, guiding pull carts full of food with camels, and doing their daily prayers for the Islamic religion. There are beautiful shots of the makeup and ornamental jewelry and outfits worn. Some of the photographs show images of elephantiasis, missing limbs, and protruding stomachs from different ailments that faced the population. Much of the scrapbook is comprised of newspaper clippings about Bell’s work as a missionary. Some of the clippings talk about how he oversaw the Italian prisoners of war in 1941 and preached for soldiers to show “kind humble and humility” towards the prisoners. He also spoke on the unlikelihood for India to change politically during the war “it would be hard for India to be democratic due to the fanatical religions in the country but there may be a chance for this after the war”. There is one negative letter in the album showing that his views were not completely appreciated during that time, “go back home earn your bread by pulling rickshaws”.
Letters and a telegram to and from Bell are also included in the album often from people asking for financial help, help with marriages, and correspondence about technology to better India including a letter to a sanitary refrigeration company, W. Halder & Brothers, for their “Kelvinator” product to help create an “icier and nicier(sic) India”. Some of the correspondence also includes letter from other churches asking Bell to speak at their church about his experiences. One letter, directly from Bishop John A Subhan, expressed gratitude to Bell for his work after he retired in the 1960s.

An extensive collection of newspaper clippings, photographs, and letters about William W. Bell, a missionary preaching in India during World War II.

Item #445454