Library

Photographic Collections


The photographic collections housed by the Trust include images from the Allchin, van Lohuizen, Betjeman, Harle and Wilson collections. To learn about access to these collections, please contact us.


Allchin Photographic Collection

The Allchin photographic collection contains over 10,000 slides, now numbered and indexed. The slides cover the Allchins’ archaeological activities in South Asia from 1951, featuring a wide range of geographical and archaeological sites and materials, and works of art and architecture. The collection is especially interesting because many sites they photographed unfortunately no longer exist.
The archive includes nearly 200 photographs, taken by Bridget Allchin in 1951, of objects in the Kabul Museum, Afghanistan, from sites including Begram, Fondukistan, Hadda, Kunduz and Nuristan. These are now available to view online at the Cambridge University Digital Library (CUDL), via the link below.

Allchin Archive - Kabul Museum Photographs

Van Lohuizen Photographic Collection

The Van Lohuizen photographic collection was the first to be acquired by the Trust, comprising a large body of slides (c.1500), photographs, transparencies and well documented negatives (c.7000), chiefly of art historical interest, which were bequeathed by Professor Johanna van Lohuizen.


Betjeman Photographic Collection

The Ancient India & Iran Trust is grateful to have been entrusted with a substantial collection from the estate of the late Penelope Chetwode (Betjeman). This includes about 6000 slides, photographs and negatives; the oldest going back to her time in India at the beginning of the last century, and the more recent recording her travels in India during the later decades of her life.


Harle Photographic Collection

Former AIIT trustee, Dr James C Harle was Keeper of the Department of Eastern Art at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford from 1962 to 1987 and author of numerous books on the history of art and sculpture in India. His photographic material is well labelled and documented, consisting of a large collection of high quality negatives and prints of Indian sculpture and architecture, and a select range of colour transparencies of similar subjects with the emphasis on architecture.


Howard Wilson Archive

Professor Howard Wilson’s photographic record of Sri Lanka was built up over a period of 15 years. After his death in 1998, his widow, Marti Wilson continued his work arranging and digitising the collection. It is now available online on the Cambridge University Digital Library (CUDL) containing images of ca. 1500 slides, accessed via the link below.

For enquiries about reproductions or viewing the original items please contact the Librarian