Zimbabwe Album
name: label: Photographer
content: Rausch, William, 1862-1900
place: label: Place
content: Bulawayo
topic: label: Topic
content: Rhodesia
label: Topic
content: Imperialism -- England
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Museum purchase
creator: label: Photographer
content: Rausch, William, 1862-1900
culture: label: Culture
content: Ndebele (Matabele)
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: William Rausch was born in Cape Colony, South Africa in 1862. His earliest photos date from 1895, after he moved to Bulawayo and established himself as a photographer. He is one of four photographers listed in Matabeleland during this time: C. Hines, C. H. Newberry, J. Parkin, and W. Rausch. Rausch died of pneumonia at Memorial Hospital on 24 September, 1900. H. A. de Beers was appointed as executor and his estate was finalised 24 January 1901.

Rausch took these photographs between 1896 – 1900 during the 'Scramble for Africa' when European nations were vying for control of the continent and its resources. In Southern Africa, Cecil John Rhodes, a British businessman, mining magnate (De Beers diamond company) and Prime Minister of the Cape Colony (1890 – 1896) was establishing British control in Rhodesia (the region now known as Zimbabwe), which was named after him. The photos by Rausch captured the British troops fighting in the Second Matabele War, which pitted the British against the local Matabele tribe. In March 1896, the Matabele revolted against the authority of the British South Africa Company, owned by Cecil Rhodes. The Mlimo, spiritual leader of the Ndebele, convinced his people that the 4,000 settlers were responsible for the drought, locust plagues and the cattle disease ravaging the country at the time. Bulawayo came under siege but British troops were sent to defend the major settlements, with war raging on until October 1897. The photographs show British military operations, preparations of troops, high powered artillery, armored engines and trains.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Photograph album (Photographic album, silver gelatin or collodion prints, H x W x D: 49.53 x 35.56 x 10.16 cm (19 1/2 x 14 x 4 in.)
)
label: Extent
content: 300 Gelatin silver prints (Inside album, Contemporary half morocco, oblong folio, silver gelatin or collodion prints
, 155 x 205 mm (6.1 x 8.07 in. ); 290 x 370 mm (11.4 x 14.5 in.); or smaller)
unitdate: label: Date
content: c. 1896-1900
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: EEPA.2019-008
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photograph albums
label: Type
content: Gelatin silver prints
label: Type
content: Photographs
bibliography: label: Bibliography
content: Oates, Frank. 1881(edited by C.G. Oates). Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls: a naturalist's wanderings in the interior of South Africa, from the letter and journal of the late Frank Oates. London: C.K. Paul.

Ranger, Terence. 2010. Bulawayo burning: the social history of a southern African city, 1893 – 1960. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: James Currey.

Selous, Frederick Courteney. 1896. Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia; being a narrative of events in Matabeleland both before and after the recent native insurrection up to the date of the disbandment of the Bulawayo field force. London: Rowland Ward.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Glass -- Collodion -- 19th century
scopecontent: label: Content Description
content: Oversize photographic album of approximately 300 photographic views and scenes of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), silver gelatin or collodion prints, mostly mounted 4 images per page recto and verso on card sheets, mostly all signed and captioned in the negative. Photographs by William Rausch of Bulawayo, including images of daily life, landscapes, ancient ruins, dams and rail construction, mining and trading in Rhodesia and preparations of troops involved in the Second Matabele War (c. 1896). The album contains rare images of the ruins of Great Zimbabwe before it was excavated.