ARCHIVES
 

The National Archives of India, besides continuing its normal programmes of activities during the year, made further strides in promoting archival development both at regional and international levels. An account of these activities is given in this chapter.

Participation at International Level.-Dr. S. N. Prasad, Director of the National Archives of India, attended the VIII Congress of the International Council on Archives held on 27th September-1st October 1976 at Washington. He was unanimously elected one of the two Vice- Presidents of the International Council on Archives. This is the first time that any archivist from the Third World was elected as an office-bearer of the Council. On an invitation of the Government of Saudi Arabia, Shri S.A.I. Tirmizi, Deputy Director of Archives visited Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca and Medina to advise the Government in that country in planning its archival infrastructure. Shri R. C. Gupta, Deputy Director of Archives visited Kabul for 10 days in August 1976 to assist the Afghan Foreign Office in the selection of repair and preservation equipment for their archives.

Regional Archival Development.-To promote the archival development in the region through cooperative efforts, South and West Asia Regional Branch of International Council on Archives (SWARBICA) was inaugurated on December 11, 1976. In this connection a three days' conference (December 10-12, 1976) was held at New Delhi. The Regional Branch was joined by 5 countries, viz., India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran. Some more countries were expected to join before long. The conference was inaugurated by Prof. S. Nurul Hasan, the then Union Minister of Education and Social Welfare, on December 11, 1976.

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Important Developments.-Another noteworthy event during this period was the creation of a full-fledged Institute of Archival Training. The Institute was formally inaugurated on December 11, 1976 by Prof. R. S. Sharma, Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research at New Delhi. It is of interest to note in this connection that training in archives-keeping has been imparted by the National Archives of India for more than three decades.

Five more new projects in the Fifth Five-Year Plan were san- ctioned. These are : Correspondence Course in Archival Science ; Opening of Record Centre at Jaipur ; Instituting a State Unit of National Register of Private Records ; Expansion of Repair and Reprography Unit ; and Expansion of Record Management Programme.

Accession.-During April-November, 1976, the Department acquired 5,403 files of Crown Representatives of Gujarat State Agency and Rewa Kantha State Agency (1847-1947) ; 159 files of Foreign and Political Department; 65 files of the Ministry of Works and Housing; 3 volumes of Indices of Ministry of Home Affairs ; and 3,505 files of the Ministry of External Affairs (1936-49).

About 4,500 additional volumes were expected to be received by the end of 1976-77.

Of the more important papers acquired under the programme of acquiring private papers. mention may be made of the papers relating to the Punjab conspiracy case ; typscript of an interview with Sir Sita Ram and notes of his autobiography, a journal Amar Shaheed Hari, and a few photographs of freedom fighters connected with Lahore conspiracy case.

On the recommendation of the Historical Documents Purchase Committee, documents and papers (mainly in Hindi) relating to labour and kisan movement in erstwhile Gwalior State, a collection of 16 issues of Larai Ka Akhbar (1918-19) and 14 manuscripts and 160 documents (Persian) were in the process of being acquired.

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In addition, the Department acquired 134 microfilm rolls of the Lord Linlithgow Papers (1936-43), 53 rolls of Sir George White Papers (1879-1912), one roll relating to importation of coolie labour into Queensland (1861---83), and one roll containing four books about Armenians.

Record Management.-Under its Record Management programme, the Department appraised 66,822 files belonging to the Central agency, Ministries of External Affairs and Defence, President's Secretariat, and Gwalior Residency, out of which 22,264files were recommended for permanent retention.

The Committee on Record Management, constituted by the Government of India, completed collection of evidence of historians and archivists on the problem connected with record management and submitted its report to the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Indian Historical Records Commission.

Preparation of Reference Media.--Summary inventory of records belonging to Foreign (Secret) Department (1799-1811) was under preparation. Subject-lists of the papers of the Departments of Finance, Commerce and Public Works and 11,319 letters from collections of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, B. D. Chaturvedi, P. K. Malviya, Dadabhai Naoroji, N. K. Bose, S. C. Dixit and Raja Mahendra Pratap were prepared during April-November, 1976.

Subject-list of about 4,800 letters of Private Papers, 19,477 files of various branches of Public Works Department and 38,941 manuscript pages of Foreign (Secret), were to be prepared by the end of the year. Under the compilation of Guide to the Records in the National Archives of India, the following series were completed : Education, Health and Lands (1864-1932) ; Department of Education (1945-51), Department/Ministry of Health (1945--47); Department/Ministry of Agriculture (1945--57); and Imperial/Indian Council of Agricultural Research (1929-57).

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A new project for preparing the list showing gaps in the series of records in the National Archives with the purpose of obtaining their microfilmed copies from the India Office Library and Records was taken up. In this connection Shri S. A. I. Tirmizi, Deputy Director, visited the India Office Library for a month (20th October-22 November, 1976). After his return, another officer left for London (on December 1, 1976) to continue the work further.

Research and Reference Service.-About 328 Indian and foreign scholars were provided with facilities for research among records during April-November 1976. Approximately 225 research scholars more were expected to attend by the end of the year.

Repair and Reprography.-Besides attending to the normal activities relating to repair and reprography, two officers were deputed to the Parliament Secretariat Library to repair two calli- graphic copies (English and Hindi) of the Constitution of India.

'Towards Freedom Project'.-The Unit examined the collection of B. D. Chaturvedi, M. R. Jayakar (1937-42), Bhulabhai Desai (1939--47). P. D. Tandon (1937-42) and Dr. Sampurnanand (1937-40). Besides, History of Freedom Papers (1937), and the records of the Department of External Affairs (1937-40), Crown President's Secretariat; Political (Secret 1939-40), Crown Representatives Records (1938-43) and the Viceroy's Executive Council (1937-42) were also examined. The microfilm rolls of Zetland Papers (1938-40), Linlithgow Papers (1938--43) and Erskine Papers (1938) were examined. About 5,461 pages of selected materials were typed.

A team of officers visited the State Archives of Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, West Bengal and, Assam and examined their records with a view to select out material relevant to the project.

The Unit was to continue examination and selection of material from private papers is well as Government records. The Unit also was to select materials from State Archives of Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra Kerala and Rajasthan

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Publications.-Vol. VII, and Vol. XVIII of the Fort William India House Correspondence, Annual Report of National Archives of India for 1975, and The Indian Archives, Vol. XXIII, Nos. 1-2 (January-December 1974) were published. Bulletin Of Research Theses and Dissertations, Vol. VII, was brought out in cyclostyled form.

National Register of Private Papers.-Vol. VII containing information received during 1965-66 from the State Archives of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Orissa, Punjab, Tamilnadu and Uttar Pradesh was brought out in cyclostyled form. Compilation of Vol. VIII was taken up.

Indian Historical Records Commission.-The forty-fourth session of the Indian Historical Records Commission was held on February 21-22, 1976 at Bikaner. The inaugural address was delivered by Shri Ram Kishore Vyas, Speaker, Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha. The printing of Vol. XLII of Indian Historical Records Commission proceedings was completed, while Vol. XLIII and XLIV were expected to come out shortly. Proceedings of National Committee of Archivists, Vol. IV, was brought out in cyclostyled form.

Library.-6,794 journals and periodicals were acquired.

Training in Archives-Keeping.-Under the one-year diploma course, 15 trainees (1975-76) completed their course and 20 candidates for 1976-77 were selected for the course. A special training programme of three months' duration in repair of records was organised for two trainees from the National Archives of Malaysia and Vrindaban Research Institute. Another short-term training of 7 weeks' duration was also conducted. In addition, a special training course in Archives Administration was also started for 10 Afghan trainees who came to this Department under the Indo-Afghan Cultural Exchange Programme.

Other Activities.-Dr. S. N. Prasad, Director of Archives, visited Darbhanga Raj Archives, Orissa State Archives and Maharashtra State Archives to advise them regarding reorganisation of

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Archives and construction of new Archives building. Another officer visited Bombay to examine the records of the Tarriff Commission and to assist them in the preparation of record retention schedule. He also visited Bharatpur to examine the records of the erstwhile rulers of the State.

Exhibition.-On the occasion of the international seminar or- ganised to mark the Seventh Centenary Celebrations of the great poet, Amir, Khusrau, an exhibition of original documents, manuscripts and photographs, entitled, 'Amir Khusrau and His Legacy' was organised by the Department in February, 1976. Besides, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Regional Branch of International Council on Archives covering South and West Asian 9countries, an exhibition of documents and contemporary photographs was also organised (December 11-18, 1976) depicting social, cultural and commercial contacts between the countries of the region, viz., Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, Nepal Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.