India Archives and Libraries

Archives collect and preserve original documents of organizations, such as churches or governments. Libraries generally collect published sources such as books, maps, and microfilm. This section describes India’s major repositories of genealogical and historical records and sources.

If you plan to visit one of these repositories, write and ask about the collection, hours they are open, services, and fees several weeks before you arrive.

India is a vast country that comprises a number of States and Union territories. At present there is no network of public libraries all over the country. The university libraries in India are at various stages of growth. Aside from the older university libraries and the libraries of the Central Universities, there are few university libraries with any sizable collections in subjects of study and research. The majority of the university libraries, especially those established by the acts of state

legislatures after independence, are struggling to build up their collections.

All requests to the National Archives of India may be addressed to:


 * National Archives of India Director General of Archives Janpath, New Delhi 110001 Telephone: 00-91-11-23383436 (Director General of Archives) 00-91-11-23389027 (Deputy Director of Archives, Records) 00-91-11-23073007 (Asstt. Director of Archives, Records) 00-91-11-23073462 (Research Room) 00-91-11-23384797 (Public Relations Cell) Fax: 00-91-11-23384127 Internet: http://nationalarchives.nic.in/content/library Email: [mailto:archives@nic.in archives@nic.in]

In 1891 (during the British period), the National Archives of India was established as the Imperial Record Department in Calcutta. Since 1947, the National Archives of India has established four regional offices at Bhopal, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar and Pandicherry. Their contact details are as follows:

Record Centre, Janpath National Archives of India Janpath New Delhi-110001, India Telephone: 00 91 23383436 Fax: 00 91 3384127 Email: [mailto:archives@.nic.in archives@.nic.in]

Regional Office of Bhopal National Archives of India Civil Lines (near Hamidia College) Bhopal – 462001, India Telephone: 0755-2660173 Fax: 0755-2660117

Record Centre, Jaipur National Archives of India 10-A, Jhalana Institutional Area Jhalana Doongr Jaipur - 302 004, India Telephone: 0141-2707499 Fax : 0141-2701815

Record Centre, Bhubaneswar National Archives of India 1078/3355 Shatabdi Nagar P.O. Baramunda Colony Unit-8 Bhubaneswar - 751 003, India Fax: 674 2471327

Record Centre, Pondicherry National Archives of India Jeevanandapuram Lawspet Pondicherry - 605 008, India Fax: 0413 2253104

Many records have been collected and maintained in Great Britain. The National Archives of England and The British Library are the best sources of genealogical research.

The National Archives of England Kew Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU England Telephone: 44 (0) 20 8876 3444 Minicom: 44 (0) 20 8392 9198 Internet: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

The British Library Oriental and India Office Collections 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB England Telephone: 44 (0)20 7412 7873 Fax: 44 (0)20 7412 7641 Internet: http://www.bl.uk/collections/orientaloffice.html Email: [mailto:oioc-enquiries@bl.uk oioc-enquiries@bl.uk]

The following repositories are also of interest to the researcher.

National Library (Calcutta) Belvedere Kolkata 70027 West Bengal, India Telephone: 91-33-2479-1381 to 1384 Fax: 91-33-2479-1462 Internet: http://www.nlindia.org/index2.html Email: [mailto:nldirector@rediffmail.com nldirector@rediffmail.com]

American Library 24 Kasturba Gandhi Marg New Delhi 110001 Telephone: 91-11-2331-4251 and 91-11-2331-6841 Fax: 91-11-2332-9499 Internet: http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov E-mail: libdel@state.gov

St. Xavier's College 30 Mother Teresa Sarani, Kolkata - 700 016 INDIA Telephone: 0091 33 2280 1919 Internet: http://www.goethals.org/ Email: [mailto:goethals@dataone.in goethals@dataone.in]

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Teen Murti House New Delhi - 110 011, India Telephone: 91-11-3010666 Fax: 91-11-3793296 Internet: http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=130921 Email: [mailto:nmml@vsnl.net nmml@vsnl.net ]

Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library Ashok Rajpath Patna (Bihar), India - 800004 Telephone: 91-612-2301507 Fax: 91-612-2300315 Internet: http://kblibrary.bih.nic.in/ Email: [mailto:pat_kbopl@dataone.in pat_kbopl@dataone.in ]

Rampur Raza Library Hamid Manzil Qila Rampur - 244901 U.P, India Telephone: 91-595-2325045, 2325346, 2327244 Fax: 91-595-2340548 Internet: http://razalibrary.gov.in/index.asp Email: [mailto:raza-library@nic.in raza-library@nic.in ]

The Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji's Saraswathi Mahal Library Thanjavur-613009 Tamil Nadu, India Internet: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5180/serfoji.html