Autobiographical papers: ‘You ask how my life in India began?’ (2 copies each 13pp.).
Christmas letter written by Vivian Bose, her husband, telling of illness and death of Irene, 1975. 10pp.
Biographical sketch. 4pp.
37 Letters, mostly to her parents, written 1924-1968, mainly about welfare work. Gandhi’s death – etc.
Undated letters and jottings.
21 Stories written by Irene Bose reflecting her life and experiences in India.
‘We Poor’ Survey: a research project from U.S.I.S. on Villages. The supporting questions are present but answers are vague.
Two notebooks of poems and descriptions of India written by Irene Bose.
Two notebooks of poems collected by Irene Bose.
Bose Papers: Box 1
Unwoven carpet of Hindustan by Irene Bose. A memoir written by Mrs. Bose from time to time throughout her life in India. (C.1926 – 1974). TS 211 pp.
Beginning of welfare work in cotton mill – mistakes and problems – the enormous social problems, customs and beliefs – the tragedy and the beauty of Indian village life.
Marries Vivian Bose, an Indian, and a High Court Judge. Description of the family house and city. Entrance into the family and an appreciation of the great personality of her husband’s grandfather. Household management.
Starts educational village work again. Picks on Koradi as being suitable.
Preliminary discussions in the village for permission to begin.
Miss D., the social worker, begins with medicine. Her reception. Results of this medical beginning. Miss D. moves to a house nearby in Mahdulla.
Time-sense in timeless people. Lord Irwin, Bhagwat the headman, and the well. Profile of Bhagwat. Progress and village life. Characters and small incidents in village life.
A journey into the jungle. Christmas in tribal territory.
Entertaining a variety of people in the war.
Beginning a new village school. Success and problems of water and caste. Adult classes begin. Comments and incidents which the school brings.
The multifarous consequences of the school. First visit to grandfather’s house in Calcutta. Traditional relationships.
Description of a three day fair for children.
Famine – and famine relief organisation – aspects of hunger.
Discussions about religious beliefs and marriage.
Jumble sale and the incredible jumble.
Famine again – broken rice sold. Critique of government policy -Grain shop and the tragedies of famine.
Grain shop put on Government rationing scheme. Incidents in the grain shop.
From grain ship to Investiture.
An act of great courtesy done by the men of the village.
The visit of a saddhu.
The case of a boy with a broken hip.
Goats.
Three day Viceregal visit to the city.
Gandhi – incidents of meetings.
The visit of a Scandinavian woman who tries unsuccessfully to reform the village.
Incidents of a sick child, a sick woman, a kitten – all indicative of Indian village life.
Dasera Festival described.
Statue of Queen Victoria.
Incident of a woman who had been imprisoned during the war as part of the Quit India Movement.
Small, very illustrative incidents of life in India and Indian characteristics.
Flashback to cholera epidemic, and the fight against superstition, ignorance, and the disease.
News of Gandhi’s death and the following day of universal common prayer.
