Ames Online Library Guides
Compiled by Donald Clay Johnson, Curator, Ames Library of South Asia, Univ. of Minnesota with Web assistance by George Swan
Charles Lesley Ames concentrated his book collecting on the British-Indian interaction. With such an interest the Ames Library of South Asia is exceedingly rich in writings of individuals who went to India for a variety of reasons and subsequently published accounts or studies. Women were but one such group of individuals whose writings Mr. Ames collected.
We are inputting data for this guide chronologically, based on the publication date of the book. The earliest imprint that we have is 1743 and we will eventually end the guide with India's independence in 1947. Users thus can select a specific time frame and see what works by or about women are available. Also included in the guide are additional works within the University of Minnesota library system which pertain to women in India.
We have also provided access via categories related to why the authors were in India. One thus can search via the following categories:
| ACTRESS | AMERICAN | ARTIST |
| FRENCH | GOVERNMENT | INDIAN |
| JOURNALIST | MARRIAGE | MEDICINE |
| MILITARY | MISSIONARY | POET |
| SOCIAL REFORMER | SWEDISH | SWISS |
| TEACHER | THEOSOPHIST | TRAVELLER |
| WRITER |
It is important to note that many women were in India either as spouses or relatives of men who worked there or were stationed there. Hence the categories GOVERNMENT and MILITARY. It is assumed that their writings will give perspectives upon governmental administration or military activities in India. Those interested in the writings of Americans and Indians (this does include several biographies of Indians written by western women) can find them by searching AMERICAN or INDIAN respectively. MEDICINE refers to both doctors and nurses or any other connection to the health industry. Most of the writings of Annie Besant and H. P. Blavatsky have been arbitrarily placed in the THEOSOPHIST section, even though they wrote on a diversity of topics. TRAVELLER relates to anyone who simply travelled in India and did not live there for an extended period of time. WRITER refers to those individuals writing belles lettres.
If any work had illustrative material in it we have scanned in one or two pictures. This provides visual documentation of the cultural values of the author. An icon beside an entry indicates visual representation from the book is also given. This will be provided up to 1922 for publication date, the seventy-five year parameter for copyright protection.
Those interested in accounts of specific cities of India will be served by a future web project which will index the travel literature of India for the descriptions of both men and women of the cities of India.
Please treat this guide as a work in progress and give us your reactions to it.
David R. Faust
Ames Library, S-10 Wilson Library