History

The genesis of the National Archives of India may be traced back to the year 1860 when Sandeman, the Civil Auditor, in his report stressed the need of relieving the offices of congestion by destruction of the papers of routine nature and transfer of all valuable records to a ‘Grand Central Archive’. Nothing could come out, however, in concrete shape until 1889 when Professor G.W. Forrest of Elphinstone College, Bombay was entrusted the job to examine the records of the Foreign Department of the Government of India. Earlier he had earned reputation as an Archivist for his work in the Bombay Records Office. In his report, he made a strong plea for transferring all records of the administration of East India Company to a Central Repository. As a result, Imperial Records Department (IRD) came into existence on 11 March 1891 which was located in Imperial Secretariat Building at Calcutta (Kolkata). Professor G.W Forrest was made its Officer in Charge. His main task was to examine, transfer, arrange and catalogue records of all the Departments and to organise a Central Library in place of various Departmental Libraries. After G.W. Forrest, the work at Imperial Records Department (IRD) progressed well under S.C. Hill (1900), C.R. Wilson (1902), N.L. Hallward (1904), E. Denison Ross (1905), A.F. Scholfield (1915), R.A. Blaker (1919), J.M. Mitra (1920) and RaiBahadur A.F.M. Abdul Ali (1922-1938) who were scholars as well as Records Keepers in their own right.

Subsequent to the transfer of the National Capital from Calcutta (Kolkata) to New Delhi in 1911, Imperial Records Department (IRD) shifted to the present building in 1926. After independence, the IRD was rechristened as National Archives of India and Head of the Organization was designated as Director of Archives from Keeper of Records. Dr. S.N. Sen, who succeeded A.F.M. Abdul Ali and held office till 1949 gave an overall orientation to the activities of Imperial Records Department/ National Archives of India. For the first time, records were thrown open for bonafide research in 1939 and by 1947 all pre 1902 records were available for consultation. A Conservation Research Laboratory (CRL) was established in 1940 to conduct researches into problems relating to conservation which was, Dr Sen’s visionary contribution. Training in Archives Keeping was introduced in 1941 and in 1944, a scheme of Post War Re-organisation of Archives offices in India was laid down by the Indian Historical Records Commission. In 1947, the Departmental Journal The Indian Archives came into existence which contains research papers on source material of modern Indian history, conservation of documents, records-management, reprographics, archival awareness and all other allied aspects of functional archives.

Thus, National Archives of India marched towards the path of progress after independence to play a more dynamic and inspiring role in the archival field of the entire country. It witnessed manifold expansion of its activities since then in the field of accession of public records, acquisition of private papers/ collections and library material, records management, research and reference, publication, training, conservation, reprography, outreach programmes, coordination at national and international level and expansion of office at regional areas. The Department witnessed further impetus to its status in June 1990 when the office of the Director of Archives was re designated as Director General of Archives. At present National Archives of India is an attached office under the Ministry of Culture and has a Regional Office at Bhopal and Records Centres at Jaipur, Puducherry and Bhubaneswar.

Preservation

• The National Archives is making earnest efforts to ensure longevity to documents in its custody through preventive, curative and restorative processes.
• The Department has conservation Research Laboratory which was setup in 1941. Since its inception, it is engaged in research and development work like developing indigenous technique for restoration, testing of materials required for restoration and storage.
• The Laboratory is equipped with latest models of Paper Testing Machines viz. Tensile Tester, Folding Endurance Tester and Bursting Endurance Tester etc to facilitate examination of various kinds of preservative material.
• A unique process of repairing and rejuvenating documents with the help of cellulose acelate foil and tissue paper which is known the world over as Solvent or Hand Lamination process has been invented by the Department.
• The Laboratory has been successful in formalizing a process for rejuvenating palm leave that have gone dry and cracking because of age or loss of flexibility.
• Another very significant achievement has been fabrication of a portable thermostatically controller airtight vault which is a multifunctional chamber and could be used for sterilization, vapour phase de-acidification and drying of documents, books and other material.

Reprography

• The National Archives is as well trying to ensure longevity to documents in its custody through an elaborate Microfilming Programme which is being practiced by it for over 3 decades now,
• Microfilming is being used as a measure for preservation of records against deterioration from use or loss due to natural ageing and fading of inks.
• The Reprography Division equipped with modern machines not only attends to the needs of scholars apart from its normal function but is also engaged in the gigantic task of preparing security microfilm of valuable records as a precautionary measure against loss by fire, flood, war and sabotage.
• his set of negative copies of microfilm rolls is being kept in the Regional Office at Bhopal. The Division is also converting the analogue microfilm images to digital images to incorporate the same with the specially tailored, Archival Information Management System Software.
• The Reprography Wing has also a mobile Microfilming Unit which visits various parts of the country to Microfilm documents that cannot be brought over to the National Archives in New Delhi or its Regional Office/ Records Centres in Bhopal, Jaipur, Pondicherry and Bhubaneswar.

For more information please visit www.nationalarchives.nic.in