Prem Bery

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Prem Bery
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy at Cottage Industries Emporium in India.jpg
Prem Bery with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy at the Central Cottage Industries Emporium in India during Kennedy's goodwill tour of India (1962)
Known forSocial work
Refugee Handicrafts
Central Cottage Industries Emporium

Prem Bery, also spelled Prem Berry, was an Indian social worker and director of exports of ready-to-wear clothes at the Central Cottage Industries Emporium (CCIE), in Janpath, New Delhi, India. She co-founded the 'Refugee Handicrafts', with Fori Nehru and Kitty Shiva Rao in 1947, and took up the post of its honorary secretary in 1949, three years before it merged with the CCIE. In her role as director, in 1953 she was sent to London to manage an Indian handicrafts exhibition during the Coronation of Elizabeth II. Back in India she was typically responsible for hosting state visitors.

Contents

Early life

Prem Bery was from Lahore and evacuated the city in 1947. [1]

Indian handicrafts

Bery was noted to be part of Delhi's social elite who contributed to preserving India's handicrafts. [2] In 1947 Bery co-founded Refugee Handicrafts in Delhi with Fori Nehru and Kitty Shiva Rao. [3] The aim was to utilize the skills of refugee women in order to increase their family incomes. [3] [4] The three housewives turned social reformers provided materials for the women to sew, knit, embroider, cut and perform other needlework. [1] [3] They then collected the completed products and sold them from door-to-door. [5] [6] In 1949 Bery became the organisation's honorary secretary. [7] The business expanded and Inderbhai Haksar offered his shop 'Patel Brothers' in Connaught Place for the sale of the refugee merchandise. [3] [6] The business then moved to a building on Barakhamba Road, and later came under the Indian Cooperative Union (ICU) and relocated to the old American barracks at Janpath, where it was absorbed into the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, then being run by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. [3] [7] There, in March 1952, Bery was appointed director of exports of ready-to-wear clothes, and remained there for several years. [1] [7] [8] In her role as director, the following year she was sent to London to manage an Indian handicrafts exhibition during the Coronation of Elizabeth II. [1] Back in India she was typically responsible for the training of staff and hosting state visitors. [6] [7] [9] In 1962 Bery took First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy on a tour of the CCIE during Kennedy's goodwill tour of India. [10]

Personal and family

Bery's husband was the Government's dental advisor, Narendra Nath Bery. [10] They had three children. [11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sackley, Nicole (2022). "10 - The Bankura Horse as Development Object : Women's Work, Indo-American Exchanges, and the Global Handicraft Trade" (PDF). In Fischer-Tiné, Harald; Slate, Nico (eds.). The United States and South Asia from the Age of Empire to Decolonization: A History of Entanglements. Amsterdam University Press. pp. 235–266. doi:10.1017/9789400604421. ISBN   978-94-006-0442-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2024.
  2. ↑ Sharma, Kaamya (4 March 2019). "The Orientalisation of the Sari—Sartorial Praxis and Womanhood in Colonial and Post-Colonial India". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 42 (2): 219–236. doi:10.1080/00856401.2019.1577700. ISSN   0085-6401.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Nehru, B. K (2012). "Part IV - ICS: Government of India (1939-1949)". Nice guys finish second: memoirs. New Delhi: Penguin Books. pp. 211–212. ISBN   978-0-14-341782-8. OCLC   1117765699.
  4. ↑ Dalmia, Yashodhara (2013). "2. The Rebel". Amrita Sher-Gil: A Life. Penguin Books. pp. 22–23. ISBN   978-81-8475-921-1.
  5. ↑ Kaushik, Vijay Kumari (1998). "11. UNO and Women". Women's Rights and World Development. Vol. 5. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. p. 358. ISBN   81-7625-015-5.
  6. 1 2 3 Varma, Indira (2023). "18. Cottage Emporium: the house of romance". Lest We Forget: How Three Sisters Braved the Partition. Westland. p. 137. ISBN   978-93-5776-855-9.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Salvi, Gouri (1999). Development Retold: Voices from the Field. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 99–120. ISBN   978-81-7022-798-4.
  8. ↑ Dhamija, Jasleen (2008). "The Handicrafts movement". Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya. New Delhi: National Book Trust. pp. 74–76.
  9. ↑ "Jasleen Dhamija, Shining stars of the firmament". www.india-seminar.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2025.
  10. 1 2 Dental World: Quarterly Journal of the Pierre Fauchard Academy. The Academy. 1962. p. 131.
  11. ↑ "Foreign Service Spouse Series: Hazel Sokolove" (PDF). Foreign Affairs Oral History Program. The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 January 2025.
  12. 1 2 3 "First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's (JBK) trip to India and Pakistan". www.jfklibrary.org. 1962. Archived from the original on 16 February 2025. Retrieved 16 February 2025.
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