Dr. Verrier Elwin (1902-1964), born in England, was one of the best-known anthropologists working in India. His seminal work also includes over 10,000 black and white photographs taken by him of the tribes in Central and North East India from the 1930s to the early 1960s. Today, this work constitutes a very significant photographic archive from this period of history.
The exhibition at INTACH Headquarters in 2016, following the Oral Traditions Conference at Shillong, displayed a small part of the archive of photographs taken by Verrier Elwin that document a critical period of transition in history. The objective was to draw attention to the urgent need to conserve and digitalize the archive, to be able to preserve Elwin's unique legacy for the future, and to take up further study of the communities first documented by him.