Chinmay Tumbe, Professor

“Something like this didn’t exist in India. We thought, why not start a repository of all archives across India, to bring resources together in one place. We wanted to help the community that works in historical research.” Launched on International Archives Day this June 9, the master-list took a total of two months to compile, with efforts from archivist Abhishek Mishra, and assistant archivist Neetu Kumari. “As a complete archival buff, I visit archives all over the world, but even I had no idea just how many there were in India,” says Professor Tumbe.

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The team is particularly proud of the map of archives, which shows location pins of all the repositories they have listed. “It’s fascinating to zoom in on, say, Jammu and Kashmir, and see how many archives are located there. Now, if I plan a trip somewhere and want to explore the history there, I can refer to this map and make a list of museums I might want to visit,” says the professor, adding that the map itself has been viewed 11,000 times in just four days since the launch.

It’s an invaluable resource particularly for students. “If you want to do research, you must refer to archives. But many students don’t know how to locate them. Say, you live in Mumbai, and want to write an essay on its history, this resource can be your ready reckoner.”

11,000
No. of times the map of Archives on India was viewed in 4 days