![Country shoe makers, probably in Western India 1873](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3G9AeTFsrlQNptT-svepcniZ4JgShCt-3CHBzGOiqsu6sSw-Fg0jGHGroygq2QHgJKszZbFsO4pnz1efJ-vkPxjTJfP09DKAezvFxrzZvjUTJGV6ns51dFGUR2KfRioqbrQQvPYBNfLF3/s400/Country+shoe+makers,+probably+in+Western+India+1873.jpg)
Photograph of country shoe makers, probably from Western India, taken by an unknown photographer in c. 1873, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections. This image of a group of shoemakers seated at work on the verandah of a workshop was shown at the Vienna Universal Exhibition of 1873. After photography was introduced into India in the 1840s it rapidly grew in popularity, particularly as a means to record the vast diversity of people and their dress, manners, trades, customs and religions. The first official attempt to create a comprehensive record of Indian types was the 'The People of India'; an ethnographical survey edited by John Forbes Watson and John William Kaye, and published in eight volumes from 1868 to1875.