Postcards from the Past Exhibition held in Shillong and Guwahati.

Postcards printed in older times, carrying on them photos of people and places, are valuable almost-first hand sources of historical information, apart from being materials of archival worth that require immediate protection and conservation. In each postcard, a unique story is embedded, which when signed, another layer gets added to the story. As part of the celebration of the World Day for Audio-visual Heritage, on the 27th of October, 2022, the Northeast India AV Archive organised the ‘Postcards from the Past’ Exhibition at St Anthony’s College Shillong, showcasing the collection of postcards in the Northeast India AV Archive. 

The postcards that were displayed during the event had been printed during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The collection of postcards carry narratives and stories of a time and a place that we wish to understand more deeply. These postcards were printed in Europe by Christian missionaries to raise revenue for the ministry that they had established in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills. Some of these were also printed by the famous Ghosal Brothers and other photographers from Shillong. The postcards mostly depict landscapes of the Khasi and Jaiñtia Hills, the establishments of the British in Shillong and encapsulate the customs, annals and unique practices of the Khasis and Jaiñtias in the twentieth century, all of which contribute considerably to the study of the history of the Khasi, Garo and Jaintia Hills and its people. One postcard shows a Khasi man carrying another on a sling over his shoulders, as if embodying the concept of a modern day taxi. Another one shows the presence of unique vault-like structures erected in erstwhile Iewduh, which do not exist any longer. One of the most striking among the postcards is the one which depicts the stark beauty of the Wah Umkhrah (Umkhrah River) in the early twentieth century, which when juxtaposed with its appearance today, is heartbreaking. Another shows the view from the place where the Courtyard Shillong stands today. 

These postcards were contributed to The Northeast India Audiovisual Archive by well wishers. Some of the postcards printed by the Ghosal Brothers were retrieved from an antique store in London, bought and contributed by PhD scholar Gertrude Lamare. 

The second edition of ‘Postcards from the Past’ was organised at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Guwahati, on the 26th of March, 2023, as part of the archive’s effort to spread awareness about our work and expand the impact of the archive into the other states in northeast India. The response that was received from the students and faculty upon their interaction with the postcards was overwhelming and mutually educational.