Indian Libraries and Archives

A researcher’s experience in 2011

A researcher of pre 1800 military history,who was not connected with an academic institution, in 2011 wrote "I did visit the Madras Archives ...with little clue as to where to go. There was no Index and no one to help barring a few students of history who were wrestling with their own difficulties. All the archives at Madras were stacked high and one could not reach any of them except through a request put into the Librarian!! This could take up to a 24 - 48 hour period --- and one came out from there feeling quite dusty, suffocated, coughing and sneezing". Regarding the Maharashtra State Archives he wrote "To my many queries to them, I did get replies which were primarily to become certified to be able to use the Archives. There was, however, no reply as to whether there was an index to the contents of the Archives. In my correspondence with them over an extended 6 months it became clear that there were no researchers who would be able to handle any requests for people who could not physically access the Archives and so were not able browse through relevant documents".

External Links

• London School of Economics’ Archives Made Easy India gives details, written by Erica Wald in 2006-2007, of

• Asiatic Society (Calcutta)
• National Archives of India
• Tamil Nadu State Archives
• West Bengal State Archives

• These four India List posts give details of visiting the The National Archives, Janpath, New Delhi; Uttar Pradesh main archives at Lucknow, and their sub-office at Allahabad;Madhya Pradesh State Archives; West Bengal State Archives. Post 1, 2001 Post 2, 2001 Post 3, 2001 Post 4, 2007
• Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research (CAFHR) part of the United Service Institution of India (USI) may be a source of advice about location of military records
• The University of Chicago Digital South Asia Library’s Libraries & Archives in South Asia (LASA) Wiki
• American Historical Association’s Archives Wiki has some entries for India
• ICA International Council on Archives has some entries for India
• Directory of Indian Government websites has a page Art and Culture including some Archives and Libraries
• Ministry of Culture
• It appears likely that the West Bengal State Archives is part of the West Bengal Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, but currently (November 2011) there does not appear to be a mention of the State Archives on this Department's website
• Asiatic Society, Kolkata is an “Autonomous Body” linked with the Ministry of Culture
• National Archives of India is an “Attached Office” of the Ministry of Culture.
  • List of State Archives
• The National Library, Kolkata is a “Subordinate Office” of the Ministry of Culture
• Tamil Nadu Archives from TANAP a website about the Archives of the Dutch East India Company (VOC or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie), 1602-1796.
• Tamil Nadu Archives from Government of Tamil Nadu website.
• Gujarat State Archives
• Punjab Archives Lahore sindharchives.gov.pk
• Article dated 8 July 2011, The Tribune, Pakistan by Sonia Malik gives details of records held at the Lahore Museum in respect of over 100,000 Indian soldiers who served in the British Army during the First World War.
• Some Archives in India and other counties from the BBC’s Next Steps- Tracing your Asian roots on the Indian subcontinent.
• Some Archives in India from Moving Here- Tracing Your Roots
• Article What lies inside the secret state archives [Mumbai]? Mid-Day.com 10 October 2010
• Article dated Friday, 25 November 2011 about the collection of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai and the Maharashtra State Archives livemint.com
• Article Kerala Regional Archive to get records from Mumbai The Hindu 25 November 2010
• What a way to annihilate history! by Fozia Nazir Lone 26 February 2008 Greaterkashmir.com. Article about the Jammu and Kashmir State Archives in 2007. Regarding the records in Srinagar, "My real worry started when I was informed that the documents are not catalogued and the records in the boxes have got mixed up during the ‘pesticidal operation’ in late 1980s. The employees in the archives literally refused to enter the ‘hall’ due to health risks".
• Article Dust consumes Kashmir’s precious documents by Faheem Aslam 5 March 2011 Greaterkashmir.com
• A series of four Blogs by Dinyar Patel. The New York Times: Global Edition: India
  • In India, History Literally Rots Away 20 March 2012
  • Repairing the Damage at India’s National Archives 21 March 2012
  • India’s Archives: How Did Things Get This Bad? 22 March 2012
  • The Parsis, Once India’s Curators, Now Shrug as History Rots 23 March 23, 2012
• Indian Courts, a Government of India website.