CHAPTER IV 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.
Accessions During the period April-November, 1977, the Department acquired 26 bundles from the Department of Science and Technology and 67 authenticated Bills passed by the various State Legislatures and assented to by the President of India. The Department also received by way of gift a document entitled `Music before Mosque' from Shri Hare Krishna Pattanayak of District Midnapore and a microfilm roll bearing transcription of taped interview with Shri B. P. Koirala from Shri Bhola Chatterjee. In addition, microfilm copies of records acquired from abroad comprise : one roll of Linlithgow Papers from India Office Library and Records, one roll relating to the correspon- dence exchanged between the Governor of New South Wales and Colonial Secretary on the one hand and Lord Dalhousie, Lord Canning and Lord Elgin on the other hand from National Library, Canebarra, and 29 rolls of records of India Interest from National Archives, Washington.
Record Management Under its Record Management programme, the Department appraised 69211 files, 2424 registers and 10,822 loose letters belonging to Ministries of (i) Finance (ii) Works Housing also Department of Science and Technology and Archaeological Survey of India; and also Central and other agencies. Out of these 33,471 files, 458 registers and 5,533 loose letters were recommended for permanent retention.
Towards Freedom Project The Unit examined the collections of M. R. Jaykar (1937-42) and Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1938-40) and records of Viceroy's Executive Council (1939-45) President's Secretariat
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(1937-47). Thee Unit also examined records of the following agencies : Home (Political, 1943-45), political (Secret 1943-44), External Affairs Department (1941) and Department/ Ministry of Labour (1937- 47). Further in the same connection, the microfilm rolls of the private papers of Linlithgow Haig (1937-38) and Erskine (1938), and Crawn Representative Records were also examined. About 9309 pages of the selected material were typed out during April-November, 1977.
Preparation of Reference Media Good progress was maintained under the programme of preparation of summary inventory of records belonging to Foreign (Secret) Department (1799 to 1817) and during the period the work on records for the year 1803 was completed and that on records for the year 1804 was taken up. Also subject lists of 11212 files of the different branches of Public Works Department and 11,164 items of the collections of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, D. K. Malaviya, Mahendra Pratap, P.S.S. Ayer, B. D. Chaturvedi, Dufferin and from the material earlier collected by the History of Freedom Movement Unit were prepared.
Research and Reference Service About 540 Indian and Foreign Scholars were provided with facilities for research among the records during April-November 1977. Approximately 140 more research scholars are expected to visit the Research Room in the current year.
Repair and Reprography During the period under review 88,186 sheets and 26 maps were repaired while 624 volumes and 509 books were bound in the Department. About 3,56,256 exposures of microfilm metres of positive printing, 1275 copies of enlargements and 4893 zerox copies were prepared.
Training in Archives Keeping Under the One Year Diploma course, 18 trainees (1976-77) completed their course and 19 candidates for the year 1977-78 course were selected. Under the short-term courses in Record Management and Repair of Records 17 and 24 candidates respectively, coming from various Government Departments/agencies availed themselves of the facilities.
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Publication Volume XVI of the Fort William-India House correspondence and Volumes, XXIV Nos. 1-2 (January-December 1875) and Vol. XXV No. 1 (January-June 1876) of the Indian Archives were published. Besides Bulletin of Research Tneses Dissertations, Vol. VII was brought out in cyclostyle.
National Register of Private Records Vol. VIII containing information received during 1966-67 from the States of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, U.P. and National Archives of India was brought out in cyclostyle form. Compilation of Vol. IX of the National Register is presently in progress.
Indian Historical Records Commission The proceedings of the 43rd and 44th sessions of IHRC held at Lucknow (January 1975) and Bikaner (February 1976) respectively were printed off. The proceedings of the 45th session held at Mysore in February 1977 have since been compiled and sent to the press for printing.
Library About 7737 journals and periodicals were received.
Exhibition
National Archives of India organised an exhibition (30th May-1st June 1977) of Persian documents and manuscripts covering the period 1287-1885.
Other Activities Dr. N. H. Kulkarnee, Assistant Director of Archives was deputed by the Government of India to attend the meeting of the Committee on Archival Development of International Council on, Archives (October 3- 4, 1977) and XVII International Round Table on Archives (October 5-8, 1977) at Caglian, Italy. At the meeting Dr. Kulkarnee was able to project the role of developing countries particularly India in the Development of Archives.
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