Children playing with toy lakatoi canoes, Mailu, Papua New Guinea, ca.1905

Group of young boys with toy sail boats. One of 25 prints in a small album of "Snapshots".; Will Saville served the London Missionary Society in the Mailu district of Papua for thirty-five years following his appointment in 1900. In 1903 he married Frances Lawes, also the child of an LMS missionary, Rev Francis Edwin Lawes, and the niece of the pioneer missionary photographer, William George Lawes. Saville's knowledge of the Mailu area, its society and language was significant in increasing anthropological knowledge in this field. He published a grammar and dictionary, as well as translating the New Testament and producing a number of religious books in the Mailu language, as well as an anthropological study, "In Unknown New Guinea" in 1926. "In Unknown New Guinea" featured over sixty photographs and represent examples of Saville's photographs taken and presented as anthropological evidence. Missionaries regarded many of the customs they encountered as being totally incompatible with the pursuit of a Christian life. The study of these customs was therefore significant in the missionary's work, to understand and convert the indigenous populations amongst whom they lived. In addition to these studies of customs and traditions, Saville also took many photographs of children, including some more informal images included in this small album of "Snapshots".

一群手持玩具帆船的少年。此为"快照"小型相册中的25幅印刷品之一。威尔·萨维尔（Will Saville）于1900年受任后，在巴布亚的迈卢（Mailu）地区为伦敦传道会（London Missionary Society, LMS）供职三十五年。1903年，他与弗朗西斯·劳斯（Frances Lawes）成婚；弗朗西斯同样出身传教士家庭，其父为伦敦传道会牧师弗朗西斯·埃德温·劳斯（Rev. Francis Edwin Lawes），其叔父为传教先驱兼摄影师威廉·乔治·劳斯（William George Lawes）。萨维尔对迈卢地区、当地社会与语言的了解，对推动该领域的人类学研究具有重要价值。他曾出版该地区的语法手册与词典，以迈卢语翻译《新约圣经》并撰写多部宗教著作，还于1926年出版人类学研究专著《未知的新几内亚》（In Unknown New Guinea）。该书收录六十余幅照片，均为萨维尔拍摄并用作人类学佐证的影像作品。传教士认为，他们所接触到的诸多本土习俗，与基督教信仰的践行完全相悖。因此，对这些习俗的研究于传教工作而言极具意义：唯有深入洞悉其所驻留社群的原住民群体，方能实现对当地土著的教化与信仰皈依。除上述关于习俗与传统的研究外，萨维尔还拍摄了大量儿童影像，其中部分非正式快照便收录于这本小型"快照"相册之中。