ARCHIVES KEEPING

DR.P.SUTHAKARGuest Faculty

Department of HistoryGovernment Arts College Ariyalur

Archives

• Archives are collections of documents or ‘records’ which have been selected for permanent preservation because of their value as evidence or as a source for historical or other research. Records are created by the activities of organisations and people; they serve an active purpose whilst in current use and some of them are later selected and preserved as part of an archival collection.

• Archive collections are usually unique, which is why it is so important to take proper care of them. They need to be carefully stored and managed to protect and preserve them for current and future use

Important

• Archives have value to nations and regions, organisations, communities, and individual people. They provide evidence of activities which occurred in the past, they tell stories, document people and identity and are valuable sources of information for research.They are our recorded memory and form an important part of our community, cultural, official and unofficial history.

History of Archives

• The practice of keeping official documents is very old. Archaeologists have discovered archives of hundreds (and sometime thousands) of clay tablets going back to the third and second millennia BC in sites like Ebla, Mari, Amarna, Hattusas, Ugarit, and Pylos. These discoveries have been fundamental to know ancient alphabets, languages, literature, and politics.

• Archives were well developed by the ancient Chinese, the ancient Greeks, and ancient Romans (who called them Tabularia). However, they have been lost, since documents written on materials like papyrus and paper deteriorated at a faster pace, unlike their stone tablet counterparts. Archives of churches, kingdoms, and cities from the Middle Ages survive and have often kept their official status uninterruptedly until now. They are the basic tool for historical research on these ages.

• England after 1066 developed archives and archival research methods.[12] The Swiss developed archival systems after 1450.

• Modern archival thinking has many roots from the French Revolution. The French National Archives, who possess perhaps the largest archival collection in the world, with records going as far back as 625 A.D., were created in 1790 during the Revolution from various government, religious, and private archives seized by the revolutionaries.

International Archives

• The International Council on Archives (ICA; French: Conseilinternational des archives) is an international non-governmental organization which exists to promote international cooperation for archives and archivists. It was set up in 1948, with Charles Samaran, the then director of the Archives nationales de France, as chairman, and membership is open to national and international organisations, professional groups and individuals.[1] In 2015, it grouped together about 1400 institutional members in 199 countries and territories. Its mission is to promote the conservation, development and use of the world's archives.

• ICA has close partnership links with UNESCO, and is a founding member of the Blue Shield, which works to protect the world's cultural heritage threatened by wars and natural disasters, and which is based in The Hagu

• ICA's mission statement reads: "The International Council on Archives (ICA) is dedicated to the effective management of records and the preservation, care and use of the world's archival heritage through its representation of records and archive professionals across the globe. Archives are an incredible resource. They are the documentary by-product of human activity and as such are an irreplaceable witness to past events, underpinning democracy, the identity of individuals and communities, and human rights. But they are also fragile and vulnerable.

• The ICA strives to protect and ensure access to archives through advocacy, setting standards, professional development, and enabling dialogue between archivists, policy makers, creators and users of archives. The ICA is a neutral, non-governmental organisation, funded by its membership, which operates through the activities of that diverse membership. For over sixty years ICA has united archival institutions and practitioners across the globe to advocate for good archival management and the physical protection of recorded heritage, to produce reputable standards and best practices, and to encourage dialogue, exchange, and transmission of this knowledge and expertise across national borders

Archives in India: Ancient, Medieval and Modern

• Established in March 1891, National Archives of India, an edifice of Lutyen’s Delhi at the intersection of Rajpath and Janpath is the sentinel of nation’s documentary heritage. It has been conducting training courses in archives keeping since 1941.

• The Institute of Archival Training was set up in National Archives of India in 1976 and was renamed as School of Archival Studies in 1980. It was established to meet the demand of trained custodians of archival and library wealth. The school conducts theory and practical classes to train archivists, record managers, preservationists and microphotographists. The training programmeis supplemented by seminars, workshops and extension lectures by eminent archivists, preservationists and microphotographists from leading institutions and universities.

Creation of Archives:

• Establishment of registry

• Racking

• Shelves and other materials

• Archives and Libraries

Organisation of Archives in India

• Court Archives

• Public Department

• Revenue Department

• Secret Department

• Central Government Archives

Organisation of Archives in European Countries

• France

• England

• Archives in U.S.A.

• Canada

Preservation of Archives

• Methods of Preservation

• Preliminary and precautionary measures

• Preventive measures

• Factors of deterioration

Atmospheric factors

• Temperature

• Humidity

• Sunlight,

• Dust

• Impurities,

Micro-organisms and pest

• Pests, Silver fish, Termites or White Ants, Wood Warm, other insects

• Methods of Preservation and repair of Archival material

Administration of Archives

• National Archive

• Tamil Nadu Archive

• Functions of Archives

• Uses of Archives.

Private Archives:

• Definition

• Difference between private and public archives

• Categories of Private Archives

Nehru Memorial Museum

• The Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) is a museum and library in New Delhi, India, which aims to preserve and reconstruct the history of the Indian independence movement. Housed within the Teen Murti House complex, it is an autonomous institution under the Indian Ministry of Culture, and was founded in 1964 after the death of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. It aims to foster academic research on modern and contemporary history.[2] Today, the Nehru Memorial Library is the world’s leading resource centre on India’s first prime minister.[3] Its archives contain the bulk of Mahatma Gandhi's writings,[4] as well as private papers of C. Rajagopalachari, B. C. Roy, Jayaprakash Narayan, Charan Singh, Sarojini Naidu and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. In March 2010 it launched a digitization project of its archives, and by June 2011, 867,000 pages of manuscripts and 29,807 photographs had been scanned and 500,000 pages had been uploaded on the digital library website.[3] Amongst noted publications of the NMML are Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Man of Destiny by Ruskin Bond, Nehru Anthology (1980) and Nehru Anthology.

• Nehru Memorial Museum & Library has over the years supported scholars and historians across India. Through its fellowship programme, the Nehru Memorial Fellowship, it has funded some of India’s best academics such as Chief Information Commissioner OP Kejriwal.[5] It is also one of the best libraries in Delhi for the social sciences as it has a huge collection on labour related issues in the form of PhD dissertations, reports, books, journals and news papers

Parry and Company

• East India Distilleries (EID) Parry Limited is a public company headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu that has been in business for more than 225 years. It has many firsts to its credit, including the manufacturing of fertilizers(1906) for the first time in the Indian subcontinent. The company is currently engaged in the manufacture and marketing of sugar and bio-products.[3] Parry's is the oldest surviving mercantile name in Chennai

Asiatic Society of Bengal – Bengal Club

• The Asiatic Society was an organisation during the British Raj in India, founded to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the philologist William Jones on 15 January 1784 in a meeting presided over by Justice Robert Chambers in Calcutta, the then capital of the British Raj.

• At the time of its foundation, this Society was named as "AsiatickSociety". In 1825, the society dropped the antique k without any formal resolution and the Society was renamed as "The Asiatic Society". In 1832 the name was changed to "The Asiatic Society of Bengal" and again in 1936 it was renamed as "The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal". Finally, on 1 July 1951, the name of the society was changed to its present one. The Society is housed in a building at Park Street in Kolkata (Calcutta). The Society moved into this building during 1808. In 1823, the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta was formed and all the meetings of this society were held in the Asiatic Society.

Vishva Bharathi• A study of the evolution of Visva-Bharati during the lifetime of its founder, Rabindranath

Tagore, offers an insight into what this institution was intended to achieve. Rabindranathfounded a school for children at Santiniketan and it was around this nucleus that the structure of an unconventional university developed through careful planning.

In 1863, on a seven-acre plot at the site of the present institution, Debendranath Tagore, the poet's father, had built a small retreat for meditation, and in 1888 he dedicated, the land and buildings, towards establishment of a Brahmavidyalaya and a library. Rabindranath's school Brahmacharyasrama which started functioning formally from December 22, 1901 with no more than five students on the roll, was, in part, a fulfilment of the wishes of his father who was a considerable figure of his time in the field of educational reforms. From 1925 this school came to be known as Patha-Bhavana.

The school was a conscious repudiation of the system introduced in India by the British rulers and Rabindranath initially sought to realize the intrinsic values of the ancient education in India. The school and its curriculum, therefore, signified a departure from the way the rest of the country viewed education and teaching. Simplicity was a cardinal principle. Classes were held in open air in the shade of trees where man and nature entered into an immediate harmonious relationship. Teachers and students shared the single integral socio-cultural life. The curriculum had music, painting, dramatic performances and other performativepractices. Beyond the accepted limits of intellectual and academic pursuits, opportunities were created for invigorating and sustaining the manifold faculties of the human personality.

Sringeri Mutt • Jagadguru Sri Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada established the first of the four Amnaya Peethams1 at Sringeri more than twelve centuries ago to

foster the sacred tradition of Sanatana Dharma.

• Hallowed for all times by Sage Rishyashringa who stayed and performed Tapas here, Sringeri attracted the great Acharya with a remarkable sight.

• A contemporary painting of SringeriTradition has it that after the Acharya had dispersed all the non-Vedic creeds prevailing in the country, He was on the look-out for a convenient and holy place where he could establish an institution to spread the truths of Advaita Vedanta. When the Acharya came to Sringeri, he saw an unusual sight on the banks of the Tunga. A cobra was seen spreading out its hood over a frog in labour pains, to give it shadow from the scorching mid-day sun. Struck with the sanctity of the place, which could infuse love between natural adversaries, the Acharya chose this very location to establish His first Math.

• Sri Kappe Shankara – A Shrine on the banks of the Holy Tunga river in memory to the glorious sight witnessed by Sri Adi Shankaracharya; A serpent giving shade from the scorching sun to a pregnant frog in labour painsThe Madhaviya Shankara Digvijayam describes that the Acharyacame across many virtuous people at Sringeri and taught them the doctrine of Advaita. He then invoked the Divinity of Knowledge, Goddess Sharada and consecrated an icon of the Goddess. Thus the Peetham He founded at Sringeri in South India for fostering the Vedas and the sacred tradition of Sanatana Dharma came to be known as the Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham.

• The Acharya appointed his prime disciple, Sri Sureshwaracharya as the first Acharya of the Peetham. Since then, the Peetham has been blessed with an unbroken Guru Parampara, a garland of spiritual masters and Jivanmuktas representing Sri Adi Shankaracharya. The succeeding Acharyas have led a life of such austere penance that it has led disciples to adore in them the radiance of Sri Adi Shankara Himself.

• Besides being a centre of spiritual power, Sringeri also came to be known as a great place of traditional learning owing to the presence of Goddess Sharada and the erudition of the Acharyas of the Peetham. The Acharyas were instrumental in bringing forth commentaries on the Vedas and in further expounding the Bhashyas of Sri Adi Shankaracharya. The Acharyas also wrote a number of independent works related to Advaita besides producing a number of hymns underlining their ardent devotion to the non-dual Supreme worshipped in multifarious forms.The Peetham thus came to be regarded as the Vyakhyana Simhasana, The Throne of Transcendental Wisdom. Consequently, the Birudavalihails the Acharya as the occupier of this throne. Many regard Goddess Sharada Herself to be moving in the form of the presiding Acharya of the Peetham.

• In the 14th century, royal patronage to the Peetham began with the founding of the famous Vijayanagar empire under the divine guidance of the 12th Acharya, Jagadguru Sri Vidyaranya. The austerity of the Acharya influenced the rulers to such an extent that they began ruling in the name of the Acharya and granted the Peetham the rights over secular administration of the land. At the rulers’ request, the Acharya began conducting a Durbar during the Navaratri festival – an occasion deemed by the rulers to honour their Guru. Subsequently, the Acharya came to be known as the Karnataka Simhasana Prathisthapanacharya and the Peetham became a mighty institution – a Samsthanam and is known to this day as the Jagadguru Shankaracharya Mahasamsthanam, Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham at Sringeri. Over the succeeding centuries, a number of empires and rulers including the Mysore Maharajahs Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Peshwasand the Keladi rulers and Travancore Rajas were drawn towards the Peetham and respected the Acharya as their Guru.

Indo-Portuguese Archive, Goa

• The Management A unit of this Directorate carries out the servicing of records to the public as well as research scholars. The Section holds Historical as well as public records. Historical records related to the erstwhile Portuguese colonial history and their relations with other parts of the world.

• Goa Archives has about more than 5000 Modi Marathi loose manuscripts. Many leading scholars have utilized some of them in the past and published them also in their books. The collection is mostly dealing with the correspondence with neighboring kingdoms like Sunda Kings, Sawant of Sawantwadi, Kolhapur Kings, Peshwas, Hyder Ali, etc.

• Records of the Land Registration offices of Ilhas (Tiswadi), Bardez and Bicholim are available in this Directorate. The Public records related to the Land Registration details including descriptions and inscriptions of the properties are made available for the public to apply and the certified copies of the same are issued. Apart from this Notorial records and Inventory files, records related to the Comunidades are also available in this Directorate. For more details, one may approach Archivist (General) for further information.

Archives of Shenbaganoor, Kodaikanal• The Jesuit Archives of Madurai Province is situated at Shembaganur (Kodaikanal). It contains hundreds of

manuscripts, diaries and official documents. Besides these primary sources it holds many studies and monographs which throw light on the missionary endeavours, and on the socio-economic, cultural and historical facts. Besides these, it serves as a storehouse of general knowledge in different languages, including the christian tradition and praxis. All are welcome to taste and relish these treasures. Our old World with its rich cultural and religious heritage needs to be probed and studied. Its linguistic treasures were waiting to be cherished; the missionaries mastered Tamil; they composed dictionaries and grammars; they created christianliterature in Tamil. One such missionary is honoured as the father of Tamil prose; another making changes in Tamil scripting To all these, the Jesuit Archive is a testimony.

• History and Present Condition of Madurai Jesuit Province Archives• It was only after the restoration of the Society of Jesus the archives began to take shape. In 1934

correspondences and diaries were stored at Trichy. The earliest and most substantial materials of the archives are related to the Jesuit Bishops Alexis Canoz, Jean Marie Barthe, Augustin Faisandier and other Jesuit bishops like Jean Peter Leonard and Tiburtius Roche. In 1936 the documents preserved in the Cathedral residence at Tiruchirappalli were brought to Sacred Heart College(SHC), Shembaganur. This was because the Society of Jesus was handing over the Diocese of Trichinopoly to the local clergy. Hence the province had the responsibility of preserving the documents pertaining to the Jesuits separately. This they did in Shembaganur.

SHC started in 1895 and it housed the Jesuit seminarians, doing their spiritual formation (Novitiate), their study of humanities (Juniorate), and Philosophy of the Madurai Mission. From 1937 onwards, one of the philosophy faculty, Fr. Gathier was in charge of the Archives. The first official archivist, Fr. Augustine Sauliere, the typist, Mr. Anthony Doss, and Fr. John Pujo, did a tremendous job in the Archives. From 1997 till 2005 many Jesuits took turns in serving at the Archives. From 2006 onwards the systematic work of scanning and computerizing the archival materials started. The particular portion of the building which houses the archives was constructed in 1924.