Category: Arts & Humanities, Photography, University of Chicago, Calcutta
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The Bond collection consists of photographs taken during World War II by Frank Bond while serving in the Army Air Corps, 40th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, stationed in India and Burma. The squadron was formed in 1943 and transferred by sea to India in 1944. In India, the unit was assigned first to Gushkara, approximately sixty miles west of Calcutta, and then to the Alipore Air Base in suburban Calcutta. Bond was a specialist in the development of film from aerial photography that provided essential intelligence to the Allied forces during their advance through central Burma. As the campaign in Burma progressed, Bond was transferred to Akyab Island in the Bay of Bengal where he helped to establish the field photographic developing and printing laboratory.
About the Collection The Hensley Collection is comprised of photographs taken during World War II by an American serviceman, Glenn S. Hensley. The photographs, numbering almost 600, were given to the University of Chicago Library by the photographer. The text accompanying the images is derived from notes written by Mr. Hensley. The images include a rich array of photographs taken in Calcutta during 1943-44 by Mr. Hensley, a professional photographer participating in the surveillance of the Japanese in Burma for the U.S. Army. During his off-duty time Mr. Hensley used his ethnographer's eye to capture daily life in a number of locations around India. The majority of the images are from Calcutta and its environs.
