Bouw van het Kinderhuis van het Leger des Heils 1916

This anonymous photograph shows the construction of the Salvation Army Children's Home. We can see the building's bare brickwork and wooden scaffolding, revealing the nuts and bolts of institutional construction. The Salvation Army, an international Christian charity, expanded its activities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and such institutions were often created in colonial contexts. It’s likely this children’s home would have been built in order to educate the children in the local area. The image itself is a fascinating document. It allows us a glimpse into the historical context of the construction. What does the building tell us about the Salvation Army's social mission? What can its architecture tell us about the cultural values it wanted to instill? Historians would likely use a range of archival sources, such as Salvation Army records, to better understand the image. The meaning of this building is contingent on its social and institutional context.