River Outing (Yangon, Myanmar)

This lantern slide, “River Outing (Yangon, Myanmar),” shows a large group of people in a boat that has just pushed away from the shore. In the foreground are the silhouettes of two people watching the boat. This lantern slide was taken in Yangon (also known as Rangoon), Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon is the former capital of Myanmar and the capital of the Yangon Region. The first Y.M.C.A. in Myanmar was organized early in 1899. The Association focused on traditional programs (hostels, sports and recreation, and education), but sources are unclear about whether it was seen as too westernized or embraced by citizens. Late in 1898, O. H. McCowen, an Irish solicitor, was sent there as a secretary. Within five years, three buildings had been occupied successively: a central branch, the "Godwin Road branch," and the "Town branch." The first two branches were in buildings owned by the Y.M.C.A. The "Town branch" was housed on the ground floor of a building belonging to the English National Y.M.C.A. Council. Both this council and the International Committee of the Y.M.C.A.s of the USA and Canada sent out secretaries who developed the work and made the Association an effective force in the life of the city. By 1914 there were six full-time secretaries and four buildings in Burma. During 1945, when Rangoon was liberated, there was devastating damage to YMCA property: all of the buildings and records were destroyed. Undaunted, the secretaries rebuilt the buildings, focusing on the same principals it had before the war. The Burma Y.M.C.A.s belonged to the National Council of India, Burma, and Ceylon until 1945, when the Y.M.C.A. was reorganized under Burmese leadership. In 1951, a National board was formed, distinct from the former affiliation with India and Ceylon. This slide is part of Springfield College’s lantern slide series depicting Y.M.C.A. work in India, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar in the early twentieth century. The series was prepared by the Foreign Division of the American and Canadian Y.M.C.A, which established self-sustaining associations staffed by trained secretaries in foreign lands. This is the only slide in the series taken in Myanmar.Text on border reads, "26; Burma Rangoon Outing; Made by Joseph Hawkes, New York City.