DIRECTORY OF ARCHIVES - WORLDWIDE

The Directory of Archives is an update-able list of archives and institutions in care and custody of material and references from the Subcontinent. If you’d like to recommend more that we should add, please ensure that the links indeed work and the archive site/catalogue exists online, and send us an email.  

All links open new windows to external sites.

List collated by The Memory Company

PEOPLE’S ARCHIVE OF RURAL INDIA

A journalism website reporting stories of 833 million rural Indians.

Audio, Books, Documents,  Narratives, Oral Stories, Photographs

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF INDIA

Custodian of the 2.7 million references and records of enduring value

Audio, Books, Documents,  Video, Illustrations, Records

ASIA ART ARCHIVE

 Independent non-profit documents and provides accessible to histories of art.

Audio, Books, Correspondence,  Documents, Film, Newspapers, Periodicals, Photographs, Prints

BRITISH LIBRARY ARCHIVES

19th and early 20th centuries collections include texts of Jatra, books of play songs of that period.

Audio, Books, Correspondence, Documents, Film, Manuscripts, Maps, Microfilm, Newspapers, Periodicals, Photographs, Prints, Statistics, Surveys

IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM (IWM)

Coverage of conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth, from WWI to present day. Includes archives of images and documents about Indian Soldiers, Army traders and Merchant Navy.

Audio, Books, Correspondence, Documents, Film, Manuscripts, Maps, Microfilm, Newspapers, Periodicals, Oral Stories, Photographs, Prints, Prototype, Statistics, Surveys

INDIAN BOOK COVERS 1964-1984

Book-related design and illustration from all over the world.

Books

MAGIC LANTERN MOVIES

Catalogue of films from India and the world – documentaries, fiction, shorts, animation and experimental.

Films

1947 PARTITION ARCHIVE

Preserving the  1947 chapter of collective history.

Film, Narratives, Oral Stories

EARLY BENGALI DRAMA

Treasure of numerous photographs, documents and articles relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Books, Correspondence, Documents, Film, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs

KHUDA BAKSH ORIENTAL PUBLIC LIBRARY

Pre-British era books and manuscripts about Hindu and Islamic Texts and Literature in Arabic, English, Hindi, Urdu, Persian & Sanskrit

Books, Digital, Documents, India, Manuscripts, Prints, Religious Texts,

SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY ARCHIVE

Includes significant and disproportionate contribution of South Africa’s Indian community to the struggle against apartheid

Photographs, essays, articles, documents

TAMIL NADU ARCHIVES

 Government and Secretariat records open for historical research, official reference.

Books, Documents, Newspapers, Periodicals, Records

FILM DIVISION OF INDIA

Holds more than 8000 titles on documentaries, short films and animation films.

Films, Digital Films

TASVEER GHAR

South Asia’s popular visual sphere including posters, calendar art, pilgrimage maps, cinema hoardings, advertisements, and other forms of street and bazaar publicity.

Documents, Maps, Posters, Calendars, Newspapers, Periodicals, Photographs,Prints

INDIAN PRINCELY RECORDS – UOC

Manuscripts and typescript documents of 34 princely states that existed as distinct political entities in pre-independence India.

Documents, Manuscripts, Maps

SANSKRIT MANUSCRIPTS

University of Pennsylvania holds the largest number of South Asian manuscripts in North America.

Manuscripts

DIGITAL SOUTH ASIA LIBRARY

Digital materials for research on South Asia. Participants in the Library include the Library of Congress, Asia Society, British Library, the University of Oxford and Cambridge, and institutions in South Asia.

Maps, Maps, Statistics, Dictionaries, Images, Books, Journals, Correspondence, Manuscripts, Newspapers, Periodicals, Statistics, Surveys

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF UK

The national archive for United Kingdom holds over 500 years of records from Indian Subcontinental material acquired and created by the British Empire.

Audio, Books, Correspondence, Early Cinema, Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals, Performing Arts, Photographs, Prints, Prototype, Certificates, government and people records

BRITISH PATHE

World’s leading multimedia resource with a history stretching back over a century. The finest and most comprehensive archive of film footage.

Newsreel, film, footage, video, stills

VICTORIA MEMORIAL HALL

Hundreds of original documents, records, Correspondence, Photographs, of colonial historical importance along with the History of Bengal.

Books, Correspondence, Documents, Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs, Prints

CROSS ASIA

Portal offering access to printed and electronic resources concerning South Asia. Archival collection of early printed literature, commercial art and documents. In cooperation with Heidelberg University.

Books, Correspondence, Film, Manuscripts, Microfilm, Newspapers & Periodicals, Performing Arts, Photographs, Prints

DIGITAL HIMALAYA PROJECT

Ethnographic materials from the Himalayan region. Based at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. co-located at Yale University.

Audio, Books, Correspondence, Documents, Film, Manuscripts, Microfilm, Nepal, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs, Prints, Prototype

 

THE CINEMA RESOURCE CENTRE

Public archive of Indian cinema designed to enable research on the audio-visual cultural artefacts produced by Indian films, especially in regional languages of South India.

Cinema, Documentary Films, Documents,  Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals, Performing Arts, Photographs, Prints

ROJA MUTHIAH RESEARCH LIBRARY

Unique Collection of Roja Muthiah Chettiyar. 2,50,000 Tamil imprints & publications for research. Spanning  humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Most publications from 19th and 20th c.

Books, Correspondence, Documents, , Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs, Prints

DIGITAL PUBLIC LIBRARY OF AMERICA

Efforts led by organizations, including the Library of Congress, HathiTrust, and the Internet Archive.

Audio, Cinema, Film, Footage, Books, Correspondence, Documents, Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs, Prints

SAADA : SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE

 Documents the rich history of South Asians in the United States and ensuring that our community’s stories are protected and preserved for future generations.

Books, Correspondence, Film, Manuscripts, Microfilm, Newspapers & Periodicals, Performing Arts, Photographs, Prints

TATA CENTRAL ARCHIVES

The first Business Archive in India. Material of historical and critical significance to the Tata Group as one of the largest and most respected business houses in India.

Oral stories, Books, Narratives, Correspondence, Documents, Film, Manuscripts, Microfilm, Nepal, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs, Prints, Prototype

HISTORY OF JAZZ IN INDIA :  TAJMAHAL FOXTROT

The story of India and Bombay  through lives of a menagerie of musicians, Jazz Singers, Performing Artists, both Indian and American, who helped jazz find a home in the subcontinent.

Audio, Books, Album Covers, Publicity Material, Narratives, Newspapers & Periodicals, Performing Arts, Photographs

CITIZENS ARCHIVE OF PAKISTAN

Documents Pakistan’s history.Non-profit organization dedicated to Cultural and Historic Preservation and Educational Outreach.

Audio, Books, Documents, Film, Manuscripts, Narratives, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs, Prints

PANJAB DIGITAL LIBRARY

Locates, digitizes, preserves, collects and makes accessible the accumulated wisdom of the Panjab region, without distinction as to script, language, religion, nationality, or other physical condition.

 

Books, Documents, Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs, Prints,

ALKAZI FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS

Archive of rare 19th and early 20th century photographic prints from South Asia and South East Asia amounting to over 90,000 images located in Delhi, London and New York to facilitate Research.

Photographs, Prints

NEPAL PICTURE LIBRARY

Digital photo archive run by photo.circle creates a broad visual archive of Nepali social and cultural history. NPL has collected over 70,000 photographs from various private and organizational sources across Nepal.

Narratives, Photographs

ADITYA ARYA ARCHIVE

Collection of Historical and rare collection of photographs by Photojournalist Kulwant Roy, and subjects related to Freedom Movement by Aditya Arya.

Photographs. Prints

PAD.MA

Public Access Digital Media Archive an online archive of densely text-annotated video material, primarily footage, home videos and not finished films.

Film, Film Footage, Home Videos

RAJASTHAN ORIENTAL RESEARCH

Center run by the Government of Rajasthan surveys, collects & preserves ancient manuscripts in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Aprabhamsha & Rajasthani. 

Books, Manuscripts

RARE BOOK SOCIETY OF INDIA

Digitised Rare books, prints and art of India.

Books, Manuscripts, Prints

SPARROW : ARCHIVE ON WOMEN​

Specialised archives that have emerged from work in Women’s / Gender Studies

Audio, Books, Documents, Film,  Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs

MANIPUR STATE ARCHIVES

Manipur State Archives under the Directorate of Social Welfare, Art & Culture, Manipur.

Books, Documents, Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs

DASTOOR MEHERJIRANA LIBRARY

Library established in Navsari in 1874 Navsariwala Seth Burjor Bamanji Padam; collections of manuscripts relating to the Zoroastrian religion in the world.

Books, Documents, Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs

GODREJ ARCHIVES

Business archive of the Godrej Group responsible for selection, collection, management and preservation of records covering 115 years their history.

Books, Manuscripts, Documents,  Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs, Prototypes, Personal Belongings, Publicity Material, Product Documentation, Office Records

ARCHIVE OF INDIAN MUSIC

A repository of gramophone recordings of India. AIM digitizes and preserves. Hindustani classical, Carnatic classical, Theatre, Early cinema and Folk

NARRATIVES

NATIONAL MISSION FOR MANUSCRIPTS

Project by Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India unearths and preserves the vast manuscript wealth of India.

Books, Documents, Manuscripts, Prints

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF INDIA

The largest library in India by volume and India’s library of public record designated to collect, disseminate and preserve the printed material produced in the country.

Books, Documents, Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals

NATIONAL FILM ARCHIVE OF INDIA

NFAI promotes research and academic activities on every aspect of Indian Cinema. Centre for dissemination of a healthy film culture in the country. 

Films, Documentary Films, Film Catalogues

GODREJ ARCHIVES

 Museum on political leaders of India. Autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India.

Books, Manuscripts, Documents,  Newspapers & Periodicals, Photographs, Office Records

KALANIDHI : IGNCA

A repository of research and reference material in Humanities and the Arts encapsulating the entire spectrum of textual, visual and auditory data.

Audio, Books, Journals, Periodicals, Photographs, Microfilm, Slides, Prints

BRITISH LIBRARY VISUAL ARCHIVES : FLICKR

The British Library’s collections on Flickr Commons offer access to millions of public domain images, which we encourage you to explore and re-use.

Photographs, Illustrations

ARCHIVES OF REUNION ISLANDS

Collects material from Colonial and Modern French territory of Madagascar, the Seychelles Islands, the Comoros Islands, Mauritius, Mozambique, India. Mid-19th century to the 1960s.

Records, Documents, Postcards, Photographs, Manuscripts, Prints

MUSEO : MUSEUM OF PHOTOHRAPHIC ARTS

Modern museum on art and science of photography. Antique cameras from over 100 countries, photographic equipment, historical archives

Books, Documents, Manuscripts, Newspapers & Periodicals

ARCHIVE.ORG

Historical resources from the Indian Subcontinent

Books, Manuscripts, Documents,  Newspapers & Periodicals, Magazines
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