Reverend Oliver Cutter is one of those Chirtian Missionaries in Assam who has helped Assamese language to enter the
modern era.
Arunodoi
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Oliver Thomas Cutter was born in United States in 1811. He started his journey towards east in
1831 along with his wife Harriet Cutter. He first landed in Burma(Myanmar) and from there he
crossed Patkai to reach Assam in 1836 along with
Nathan Brown's family. He together with Browns
started a prinitng press in Sadiya. They started to print books in Assamese, Khamti and Singfou
language from there. They also started school and authored some text books for the schools.
But due to Singfou rebellions, they were forced to leave Assam and go back to Jaipur. But they
kept on publishing books from Jaipur. After few years, Cutter's family came back to Assam and
this time settled down in Sibsagar. From Baptist missionary press, they published
'Arunodoi'
in 1848. It is the first ever Assamese magazine published and was rich with literature, science,
trivia contents. In 1853, Cutter family left Assam.
Oliver Cutter's wife Harriet, also contributed to the Assamese language and literature.
Her English-Assamese 'Vocabulary and Phrases' was published in 1840. It was reprinted again
in 1877.
You can discuss more about Olive T. Cutter and Assamese literature here.
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