CHAPTER XIII NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF INDIA
The main duties of the National Archives of India are accession, repair and preservation of records, research and technical service, training and publication.
2. Accession Nearly 13,000 records were received from various Government agencies during the year; notable are the records of the, Reforms Office (1919-48) and Home (Political) Department records (1917-45).
Among significant additions to the Department's collection of private archives and historical documents, mention may be made of the private papers of Badru-Din Tyabji, former President of the Indian National Congress and some Dadabhai Naoroji papers. Several parwanas, farmans, manuscripts and other private papers in Persian were pur- chased on the recommendation of the Historical Documents Purchase Committee. These include a manuscript entitled 'Tawarikh-i-Farkhunda' (dealing with the history of Hyderabad), a farman of Emperor Humayun, some letters relating to Gujarat and a petition dated March 24, 1748 by the Chief of the Dutch Factory of Surat.
Under the programme of acquisition of materials of Indian inter- est. Lord Hamilton's correspondence with Lord Elgin and Lord Curzon (1895-1903), and private correspondence of Lord Mayo with eminent personalities, both Indian and English, were procured from the Univer- sity of Delhi and Cambridge respectively. Eight microfilm rolls of Minto papers were acquired from the National Library of Scotland.
3. Compilation of Reference Media Abstract lists of the records of Foreign and Political Depart- ment, Legislative Department and Imperial Council of Agricultural Research were compiled and the press-listing of the Secret Department records for 1776180 completed. Handlists of Persian Correspondence for 1804, 1809-18 and those of its English transalations for 1807-10, the listing of microfilm copies of records obtained from various institutions in the U.S.A. and the cataloguing of additional manu- scripts from the British Museum were completed. Further progress was made in indexing Foreign and Political Department records (1781-83), the Alqabnama and the historical maps of the Survey of India.
4. Research and Reference The number of research scholars including those from the U.K., the U.S.A., Australia and Germany who availed themselves of the facil- ities for consulting records increased this year to 170 as against 140 last year. More than 4,000 typed pages, 3,744 photostat, 68 enlarge- ments, 9,372 negative exposures and about 8 metres of positive prints of microfilm were prepared for various scholars, and government and private agencies.
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5. Preservation and Photo-Duplication Steady progress was maintained in the Department's programme of preparing microfilm copies of pre-1859 records in its custody. About 5,00,000 manuscript pages were microfilmed and 17,000 metres of film processed, and more than 6,000 metres, of positive prints, 6,052 enlarged copies, and 9,282 photostat copies were prepared. Progress was also made in microfilming Reports on Native Newspapers. The microfilming of 140 volumes, comprising over 1,50,000 pages of reports relating to Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Punjab and U.P. was completed.
6.Research Laboratory Experiments on the effects of a number of insecticides used generally in record rooms were concluded. The search for suitable indigenous repair materials in place of imported tissue papers, hand- made paper, binding cloth etc., was continued. Results of the tests conducted on the tissue paper manufactured by the Handmade Paper Research Institute, Poona, appeared encouraging. The Institute was, therefore, requested to continue its efforts to produce paper of the desired quality.
7. Technical Service Twenty-three agencies and individuals were helped with technical assistance in preserving their collections of books and records, and among them were : Dr. Zakir Hussain, the Vice-President of India, the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram and Editor of 'Thought'. The Department continued to look after Gandhiji papers in its interim custody, re- ceived from Gandhi Smarak Nidhi. Several papers of Gandhiji in pri- vate custody were repaired free of cost under the scheme of preserva- tion of documents of national importance. certain framed paintings and illuminated Persian manuscripts were rehabilitated for the Indian Academy of Letters. The work of repair, binding and photo-duplication of rare books and manuscripts of Raza Library, Rampur, was continued. The mobile microfilming unit of the Department visited Kathmandu (Nepal) and Bikaner and microfilmed a large number of rare and pre- cious books and documents. Positives of 33 rolls of microfilms of Native Newspaper Reports, Madras (1900-36) were prepared for the Kiel University, Germany.
8. Training in Archives-KeepingSix candidates including two from Malaya successfully completed the Department's one-year Diploma Course in Archives-Keeping, 1961-62. Six candidates including 4 nominees of the State Governments were admitted to the 1962-63 course which commenced on 24th September '62. In addition, 4 Colombo Plan scholars from Nepal were given instruction in preservation and photo-duplication of records.
9. Exhibition A special exhibition of documents of Russian interest was held at the Office premises in November-December '62 when 2 distinguished Russian archivists, Messrs. Kopylov and Dmitriev were on a visit to India under the Indo-Soviet Cultural Exchange Programme. In collabo- ration with the Delhi University an exhibition of the documents of the celebrated mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujam was organised in the Delhi University Library Hall in December, 1962.
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10. PublicationsAmong the important publications issued during the year mention may be made of Vol. IV of Fort William-India House Correspondence, Vol. XII of The Indian Archives, Report of the Committee on Archival Legislation and Annual Reports of the Deparmtent for 1960 and 1961.
11. Grants to State Governments Grants amounting to Rs. 15,200 were made to the State Governments of Bihar, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for the compilation of material for the National Register of Records in private custody.
12. Advisory Bodies and Committees The National Committee of Archivists met at New Delhi in April '62 and Vain at Srinagar in September '62 and discussed matters of concern to Union and State Archives.
Two meetings were hold by the Historical Documents Purchase Com- mittee on 13th March and 5th September '62. The views of State Gov- ernments, Central Ministries, Members of the I.H.R.C. and certain statutory and public institutions on the recommendation of the Report of the Tara Chand Committee on Archival Legislation were examined and several important decisions were taken, one of which related to the abolition of the I.H.R.C. and, the setting up of an Indian Archival Council. The question of archival legislation is under examination.
13. Programme for 1963-64 In addition to completing its present accession work on hand the Department proses to accelerate its programme of locating and acquiring documents bearing on modem Indian history and the private papers, in manuscript or microfilm, of the former Governor-Generals and Secretaries. of State for India and of eminent Indian national leaders.
Greater emphasis will be laid on the appraisal and weeding of records of ephemeral value in the custody of the Department as well as in the record rooms of other government agencies. Different archive groups will be surveyed as a preliminary step to the compilation of a descriptive reference guide.
As regards publication work, the printing of Vol. XV of Fort William-India House Correspondence and Vol. 11 of Selections from Educational Records will be completed. It is proposed to send another 2 volumes of the former series and the third volume of the latter series to the press. Two more issues of The Indian Archives (Vols. XIV and XV) and the Annual Report for 1962 will be published. Two more volumes of Fort William-India House Correspondence will be made ready for the press.
Efforts will be made to find suitable indigenous substitutes for repair materials which are now being imported from abroad to conserve foreign exchange.
The mobile microfilming unit of the Department is proposed to be sent to Lahore for the photo-duplication of the famous Woolner Collec- tion of Sanskrit Manuscripts with the Punjab University, Pakistan.
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14. Budget Funds to the extent of Rs. 15,28,000 (including non-Plan and Plan schemes and also National Register Scheme Grants) were placed at the disposal of the Department-and its Regional Office at Bhopal and the proposed Regional Office at Hyderabad, for 1962-63 as against Rs. 14,08,000 during 1961-62. A provision of Rs. 14,19,300 has been included in the budget estimates of 1963-64.