Williamson Collection

The Frederick Williamson Collection

Frederick Williamson was a British Political Officer stationed in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet in the 1930s. He was also an ardent photographer. Between December 1930-August 1935, he and his wife, Margaret Williamson, shot approximately 1700 photographs throughout the Himalayan region. As well as documenting the Williamsons' personal travels, the photos provide an unusually well-preserved and well-catalogued insight into social life in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet during the 1930s. The Williamson Photographic Collection is housed in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University and a 2001 exhibition entitled "Collected Sights" featured a number of Williamson's photos. Of equal interest are the 23 reels of 16mm cine film which Williamson shot while in Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. These have now been digitised and are being made available online.

Click here to see Williamson's 16mm films from the 1930s.

Click here to see a number of Williamson's photographs online.

Click on the pictures below to view sample images with hand-written captions from Williamson himself. All three were taken in Lhasa, Tibet, in 1933.

           

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