1954
Burma Translation Society
This photograph shows the Burma Translation Society governing council in 1954, including many of the leading writers of the time. Standing (from left to right): U San Htwa, U Ba, U Khin Zaw, U Myo Min, U Thein Han, U Kaung, U Wun and U Thant. Sitting (from left to right): Dr Htin Aung, Education Minister U Than Aung, retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Sir Mya Bu, Prime Minister U Nu, Finance Minister U Tin, Supreme Court Justice U E Maung and U Cho.
The semi-official Society's main mission was to make outside knowledge available to the Burmese people. In 1954, the Society had just published the first volume of the Encyclopedia Burmanica (the advertisement can be seen in the picture) - a project initiated by U Nu because he believed that the country was suffering from an "ever increasing number of ignoramuses and Mr Zeros" and that only the spread of knowledge and education could make possible genuine development. The first volume was compiled in Burma and printed in the UK and when it arrived by ship at the Brooking Street wharf, U Nu and most of the cabinet were there to greet the ship. Four more volumes of the encyclopaedia were compiled and printed in Buckinghamshire, UK, and the final volume (Volume 6) was printed in Burma in 1962.