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Knoop Far East Photographic Collection

 Fonds
Reference code: SLI 5

Scope and Contents

A collection of approximately 1,600 photographic images, some duplicated, assembled by Douglas Knoop on a world tour undertaken in 1913 and 1914.

The collection consists of slides, photographs, negatives and postcards, in colour and black and white.

The images cover natural features, human interest such as street scenes, and major events such as earthquakes, as well as incidental events on the tour (e.g. on board ship). The countries recorded include India, Ceylon, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, China, Korea and Japan, but there are also some images of other places visited on the journey, including the Russian Far East and the USA.

Dates

  • Creation: 1913 - 1914

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Available to all researchers by appointment. This archive has been digitised and is available to view online. See 'external documents' section below for the link

Biographical / Historical

Douglas Knoop (1883-1948) was appointed Lecturer and thus Head of Department in the new Department of Economics, University of Sheffield, in 1909; at that time the Department was part of the Faculty of Arts. In 1920 he was appointed Professor, a position he retained until his retirement in 1948, when he was awarded the title Emeritus Professor.

The images in this collection are of places visited during Knoop's "world tour" undertaken in the academic session 1913 - 1914, mainly in the Far East. The University's Annual Report for 1912-13 states: "Mr. Knoop, having been elected to an A.K. Fellowship, is now, under the terms of the Trust, undertaking a voyage round the world". A report repeating these words appeared in the Sheffield Daily Independent for 12th November 1913, and arrangements to appoint a temporary Lecturer for the session are detailed in the Faculty of Arts Board Minutes. The fellowship referred to was an Alfred Kahn Travelling Fellowship.

Extent

3 Box(es) (Approx. 1,600 images)

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

As received

Custodial History

The collection was donated to the Library c1993 by the Department of Geography, and at first was thought to be the work of Professor R.N. Rudmose Brown, Professor of Geography 1931-45, in whose possession it had formerly been. However, given that the photograph albums are inscribed D. Knoop, and there is no evidence that Rudmose Brown ever undertook a similar tour of the Far East, it's likely that the collection was given by Knoop to Rudmose Brown at some point because of its geographical interest.

Description rules
International Standard for Archival Description - General
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository

Contact:
Western Bank Library
University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN United Kingdom
+44 (0) 114 222 7299