PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE FAR EAST 1840-1920 by William F. Stapp
A 1994 article from the George Eastman House IMAGE magazine recently made available as a PDF. Published in connection with a Photokina exhibition, it includes a long article on photography in India, China and Japan and brief biographies of photographers.Read more

by Liz McKendrick
Pakistan is very much in the news these days as it shares part of its border with Afghanistan. News reporters are seen standing in cities near the border such as Quetta or Peshawar – names that bring back images of the Afghan wars of the 19th Century when Britain first sent a military presence to this part of the world.Read more

Colonial Violence and the Management of Perception

by Zahid Chaudhary

A detailed, insightful examination of Beato's famous photographs from Lucknow in March 1858 showing skeletons and the remnants of battles just fought in the city.Read more

by Liz Mckendrick

The final article in a series of three on Tibetan postcards, their subjects and makers originally published in 2009 in Picture Postcard Monthly.Read more

by Liz Mckendrick

In 1910 China invaded again but withdrew four years later and between then and 1950 Tibet managed to take control of its own affairs producing its own stamps and currency as well as a flag. However in 1950 the Chinese invaded again and in 1959 the Dalai Lama, along with 100,000 Tibetans, was finally driven into exile across the border to northeast India to live in Dharamsala.Read more

by Liz Mckendrick

Postcards from Tibet are quite a rare find these days so it is not very often that I manage to add a new one to my small collection. Considering Tibet’s history the lack of vintage cards it isn’t really surprising–surrounded on three sides by inhospitable mountain ranges with several of the world’s highest peaks amongst them and at an amazing 4000 metres above sea level Tibet is in one of the most isolated regions of the world.Read more

Wiele and Klein was one of the best known photographic studios in South India, and survived in different forms and under different owners from the 1880s until the 1940s. Based primarily in Madras (Chennai), they also had studios in Bangalore (Bengaluru) and Ootacamund among other locations.Read more

This very useful essay by R.E.L. Tanner, an English scholar, explains why the study of postcards can reveals much about history that other historical sources usually miss. He goes through a long set of instances and examples of where postcards reveal something important and unexpected about its subjects.Read more