The Taj Mahal Trading Co. Philadelphia. 1926.
Staple-bound pamphlet. 8 pp. Blue ink-stamp at upper margin of front wrapper reading “Watkinson Library, Hartford Conn.” Black ink-stamp at foot of front wrapper reading “Oct. 11, 1926.” CONDITION: Very good, minimal creasing to corners, minimal soiling to margins.
A scarce, detailed report on a major exhibition of South Asian cottage industries presenting their wares before an American audience.
This pamphlet provides information on the state of the colonial South Asian economy, agricultural industries, and handicraft trades under the British. From the outset, the authors state that despite being “the brightest jewel in Britain’s crown,” the Indian subcontinent remains “essentially an agricultural country.” While this may have caused some difficulties, the authors take a more positive note, and say that it was “the necessities of life required by the agriculturist” that “gave…the innate artistic sense of a people whose culture can be traced back for centuries an outlet…for India’s…arts and her handicrafts.” Here advertised are seventeen Indian, Burmese, and Sri Lankan businesses, many of whom were craftsmen and shawl-makers, some jewelers, and some of whom provided foods such as chutneys and mango preserves.
The exhibition of Indian craftsmen, artisans, and vendors inside the 60,000 square-foot India Pavilion was part of the broader Sesquicentennial Exposition of 1926, hosted just outside Philadelphia. In celebration of “the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” the fair “opened to great fanfare,” yet “failed to attract enough visitors to cover its costs.”
OCLC locates 5 holdings. We have placed one similar copy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Sources Consulted: Martin W. Wilson, “Sesquicentennial International Exposition (1926),” at EncyclopediaOfGreaterPhiladelphia online.
The Taj Mahal Trading Co. Philadelphia. 1926.
Staple-bound pamphlet. 8 pp. Blue ink-stamp at upper margin of front wrapper reading “Watkinson Library, Hartford Conn.” Black ink-stamp at foot of front wrapper reading “Oct. 11, 1926.” CONDITION: Very good, minimal creasing to corners, minimal soiling to margins.
A scarce, detailed report on a major exhibition of South Asian cottage industries presenting their wares before an American audience.
This pamphlet provides information on the state of the colonial South Asian economy, agricultural industries, and handicraft trades under the British. From the outset, the authors state that despite being “the brightest jewel in Britain’s crown,” the Indian subcontinent remains “essentially an agricultural country.” While this may have caused some difficulties, the authors take a more positive note, and say that it was “the necessities of life required by the agriculturist” that “gave…the innate artistic sense of a people whose culture can be traced back for centuries an outlet…for India’s…arts and her handicrafts.” Here advertised are seventeen Indian, Burmese, and Sri Lankan businesses, many of whom were craftsmen and shawl-makers, some jewelers, and some of whom provided foods such as chutneys and mango preserves.
The exhibition of Indian craftsmen, artisans, and vendors inside the 60,000 square-foot India Pavilion was part of the broader Sesquicentennial Exposition of 1926, hosted just outside Philadelphia. In celebration of “the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” the fair “opened to great fanfare,” yet “failed to attract enough visitors to cover its costs.”
OCLC locates 5 holdings. We have placed one similar copy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Sources Consulted: Martin W. Wilson, “Sesquicentennial International Exposition (1926),” at EncyclopediaOfGreaterPhiladelphia online.
![Paul Oberst, photog. [Studio portrait of children in an oriental rug store].](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/687efeb0f3827b1e917a0b60/77315bff-97b4-43e3-803d-d55c73f26b9a/OberstChildRugmakersPhotoScn.jpg)
